Reassurance In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Biff Loman silently questions his ability to fulfill his father’s wishes. His father, Willie Loman, holds high expectations for Biff’s future and constantly brags to others about how successful Biff will be. Out of respect for his father, Biff conforms to the path that Willie has planned for him. In the beginning, Willie lives vicariously through his son, Biff, who has no choice but to conform in order to preserve father-son respect. However, when the mutual respect that his father holds so dear dissolves, Biff’s concealed questions expand their influence from his thoughts to his actions as Biff becomes his own man.

While Biff is in some ways desperate to impress his father, he is also conscious about the fact that Willy has failed his attempt to be successful in his career. He considers his dad’s dreams materialistic and unreachable. As a matter of fact, in the Requiem, even after his father’s death, Biff says: “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” Unlike Happy and Willy, Biff is self-aware and values facts; Willy never was a successful salesman and he never wanted to face the truth. On the other hand, Biff is conscious about his failures and the weaknesses of his personality. During an argument with his father, Biff admits that his dad made him “so arrogant as a boy” that now he just can’t handle taking

On the other hand, Willy is also emotionally involved with Biff because his son’s success of failure is his own. By becoming rich and influential, the handsome, personable Biff was slated to provide his own modest advancement. By making his fortune in the business world, Biff would prove that Willy had been right in turning down

Biff’s trouble with seeking the truth about himself is a development that is seen from the past and present parts of the play. This adversity was due to the fact he assumed no values of his own, but accepted those of Willys personal attractiveness and being well liked. This concept of himself is discouraged when he went to visit Billy Oliver for a business proposition and had failed. Biff had said, “I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been”. Here Biff is coming to terms with who he is, developing a different and mature mindset. The lie wasn't only about how he perceived himself, but of how others perceived him; an idea of what he aspired to be influenced by his father.

BIFF: You—you gave her Mama’s stockings! [His tears break through and he rises to go] (Salesman Act 2). After Biff left he began to work and wander providing him with the opportunity to look at himself and distance himself from delusions of grandeur that effect his father and brother so severely.

Willy wants dearly for Biff to become a business success, although Biff has an internal struggle between pleasing his father and doing what he feels is

Through the character of Biff Loman, Miller illustrates the survival of the American Dream. The dream is cultivated in Biff as seen in his personal happiness. Biff was becoming this person Willy wanted him to be; he was “well-liked” and a kleptomaniac because he wanted to make his father happy. He always went by what his father told him to do until when Biff walked into the affair between Willy and “The Woman.” This was Biff’s turning point; he realized that his father was a “phony liar” and didn’t want to be like him (1321). He was devastated from this event which led him to give up on going to summer school. From there, Biff left the family and began his independent life to work for “twenty or thirty different kinds of jobs.” He felt that all of them turned out the same until he began working on farms in Nebraska, North Dakota, Arizona, and Texas;

Biff recounts to Happy what occurred as he attempted to ask Bill Oliver, his old boss, for a loan to begin the brothers’ new business of selling sporting goods. Biff is under the impression he was a successful salesman for Oliver. Though once he meets Oliver, Biff realizes he was not a salesman, but merely a shipping clerk for Oliver. Biff abruptly realizes he has been lying to himself “for fifteen years” as he was

He gives up on his dreams of being rich and prepares to return to a simple life he enjoys. Also being back home and building a stronger relationship with his father,makes him realize how he wants to help Willy. While Biff is speaking, he mentions why he gives up the idea of being successful.“BIFF: He walked away. I saw him for one minute. I got so mad I could’ve torn the walls down! How the hell did I ever get the idea I was a salesman there? I even believed myself that I’d been a salesman for him! And then he gave me one look and — I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been! We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years. I was a shipping clerk.” (page 76). He believed this was his only chance of being rich so when his old boss didn’t recognize him , he knew he wasn’t gonna get anywhere . This is when he dumped the idea of being successful. Throughout most of the play, he procrastinates for a simpler life. So the acceptance of the thought of the American Dream not happening, works out well for Biff. A very important aspect through this play is the relationship between Biff and Willy. Biff saving Willy from suicide shows just how much he want to help his father. In act 1 page 51 :Willy [staring through the window into the moonlight]: “Gee, look at the moon moving between the buildings!” [biff wraps the tubing around his hand and quickly goes up the stairs.]This shows biff wanting to protect Willy because he removed the tubing willy was using to try and kill himself, something Linda was telling him about in the beginning of the book. While helping his father Biff also realizes that he is ready to return to a simple life he enjoys. In act 1 pages 13 and 14, Biff even invites his brother Happy to live with him out West to start up a ranch and speaks about it with enthusiasm.Biff says to Happy, “ Why don't you come out West with me?... mabe we could buy a ranch.Raise cattle, use our

Biff and Happy idolized their father when they were young. The stories they were told made them picture their father as a popular, successful, well-known salesman. As Biff grew up, he found himself being told things about his father like "A salesman has to dream, it comes with the territory." At the end of the story when Linda says they we free, Biff is free to realize

Richard J. Foster states, "Biff, who in the play as an amplification or reflection of Willy's problems, has

Happy’s self-delusions come from wanting to exceed his father’s expectations in hopes that one day his father would approve. Since Happy had always listened to his father’s over exaggerated stories it is possible that he himself learned to over exaggerate his own so that he could appear well-off and successful. One of Happy’s self-delusions is portraying that he is successful in his job, he claims to be the assistant buyer but in reality he is the assistant to the assistant “You big blow, are you the assistant buyer? You’re one of the two assistants to the assistant, aren’t you?” (pg.131).

Biff is one of the main characters in the play "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. Biff is Willy's and Linda's son. He was the star of the football team and had scholarships to 3 college's, but he flunked math and couldn't graduate, so he tried to work at many different jobs, and failed at each. Finally, he decided to head out west, and work on farms.

Willy’s perseverance to direct Biff into success has resulted to Biff’s desperate acts to earn praise from his father. However, Biff’s dishonest acts of stealing are often justified by Willy through disregard and excuse, even expressing that the “Coach will probably congratulate [Biff] for [his] initiative”. Instead of correcting his mistakes, Willy continuously expresses his belief of Biff’s predetermined success as a result of being attractive and well-liked. These acts effectively exemplifies Biff’s adherence to self-deception as he imagines himself as an important figure in other people’s lives. It can be seen that his belief of being destined for success prevents him from allowing himself recognize the destruction it brings. As a result, Biff has allowed how Willy views him become how he perceives himself. This self-deception has not only affected the actions in his childhood but as well as his decisions when finding his role in the workplace. As stated above, Willy’s consistent beliefs of his son’s predestined success results to Biff’s immense confidence in himself. However, this confidence have provided him a false perception of himself as he struggle to keep a stable job and even faces imprisonment. It can be seen that Biff’s lack of self-perception and compliance to ideals of Willy has only allowed him to restrain and prevent him from recognizing the difference between illusion and reality resulting in the lack of his

In the play Death of a Salesman, the author investigates human nature and represents his main character as a person whose dissatisfaction with his own life leads to his tragic end. The plot of