The Lost Father In Death Of A Salesman Research Paper

Unfortunately, he goes to his grave without knowing that, maybe he was not fit to be a salesman. After Willy's death, Charley says about Willy, "A salesman is got to dream" (Brown, 306), but one must wonder, did Willy Loman dream the wrong dream (Brown, 306)? Although Willy realizes in his visions that he was not the greatest salesman, he does not realize why Biff is not successful with his "expert advice."

While the play primarily focuses on Willy’s dream, Death of a Salesman also observes Biff and his American Dream, which may be construed as the “right” one. Compared to his father’s, Biff’s dream is a simple one: own a ranch and labor in the countryside close to nature, happy and content. And yet as his father increasingly pressures him to pursue a dream more aligned to his own, Biff experiences an identity crisis of sorts, desperately seeking to please Willy by taking a job in business but always failing in his efforts. Eventually, he realizes that he cannot be his father, and, at Willy’s funeral, contrasts his earlier statement regarding Willy’s state of mind with one regarding his own person: “I know who I am, kid” (Miller 111). Though at the start of the play it was Willy who thought Biff lost, it is now the reverse. Willy, with his aspirations for renown and major success, found himself perpetually adrift in the world, struggling to make ends meet and maintain his family ties. And yet while Willy suffered at the hands of his American Dream, Biff prospered (although not monetarily) in his “proper” American Dream, experiencing true contentment in his craft. While Willy faced constant confusion and an almost bipolar personality disorder owing to his erroneous endeavors, Biff’s main insecurities and difficulties were those brought on by his father’s notion of success. In other words, Willy’s American Dream caused nothing but suffering for him and those he loved, while Biff’s American Dream would have allowed him peace of mind had it not been for his

Biff Loman is portrayed as the root of Willy’s mental illness and instability. He is also the only member of his family who acknowledges his own failures in life. On the whole, Biff Loman stands out as the most intriguing and strong character in “Death of a Salesman. He is not a successful man and never will be, he is however able to admit this, even in a harsh society as the one of the 1960s America. Biff knows he is a “nothing” and tries to make his father see that he is “no good. I am a dime a dozen, Pop, and so are you.” He begs for Willy to communicate with him and accept him for who he is. Although Willy is forced by Biff to see some of his own failures, he never

The relationship between Willy and Biff is complicated. Actually, Biff is everything for Willy. He doesn’t do well as a salesman anymore, so this situation makes him depressed but at least there is Biff. So Willy believes that Biff will reach the success and his dreams will become true. That makes him want Biff to take some responsibility, in other words this is a big pressure on Biff. “How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life? A farmhand? In the beginning, when he was young, I thought, well, a young man, it’s good for him to tramp around, take a lot of different jobs. But it’s more than ten years now and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!” says Willy and then Linda says “He is finding himself Willy.” Then Willy answers again “Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!” This shows how Willy mad at him because he thinks they couldn’t reach their dreams because of Biff. Willy says “Sure. Certain men just don’t get started till later in life. Like Thomas Edison, I think. Or B.F. Goodrich. One of them was deaf. I’ll put my money

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

In Arthur Miller's, Death Of a Salesman, the growth and development of Biff are achieved as a result of the change in his relationship with Willy.Growing up Biff had received most of the attention from his father, mother and everyone around him thus building a sense of entitlement from a young age. As time passed Willy had always been there to encourage and mold Biff into what Willy thought of as an ideal American man. When this vision of Biff was unachieved Biff and Willy's relationship began to strain; causing them to fight and disagree on things such as career and the future.

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

Willy’s clear-cut expectations of his son can be evidently seen even in the early stages Biff’s life, which end up creating a lot of tension between Willy and Biff when Biff doesn’t meet his father’s expectations. Even when Biff is an adult and still hasn’t become successful in his father’s eyes, Willy’s expectations persist, as in a heated argument between the two Willy tells grown-up Biff that “the door of [Biff’s] life is wide open!” (132). Even though Biff will clearly never become successful in his father’s eyes, Willy still forces his unreasonable expectations on Biff, creating hostility between the two. Although Biff initially attempts to fulfill his father’s definition of success by working as a shipping clerk, Biff realizes that he will never fulfill his father’s unrealistic expectations: “Pop, I’m nothing!

In Arthur Miller’s play, “Death of a Salesman”, Biff Loman demonstrates a change in character through his relationship with his father, Willy Loman.It is with the fall of Willy that Biff rises as a character despite not being sure of his identity. Biff realizes that the pointless direction his life is taking, is caused by his father.For example, Biff left Texas because after being influenced by his father so much, he, like Willy, believed he was wasting his life.It wasn’t until later on in the play that Biff became aware of his actions and decided to change his ambitions and way of thinking. It was because he left Texas to return back home that Willy believes that Biff is letting his potential go to waste and that he has no idea on what to

Family relationships always have a way of playing a key role for the duration of most literary pieces. According to Arthur Miller’s novel, Death of a Salesman, the interaction of Willy and his sons, Happy and Biff, shows that family ties usually are connected either physically or emotionally in some way or another. Willy Loman is just like every father in a father/son bond, yet all he wants is to be a part of his son’s life. Even though Biff and Happy admire and have so much love for their father when they are younger, later down the road when they are older suddenly they realize he had failed to prepare them for the real society in life.

There is no concrete reason as readers one would be able to pull from the novel to understand why Willy killed himself. However we can conclude that Biff can not control a self-inflicted death. Aware that Willy was heading to suicide Biff tried to stop his attempt QUOTE yet it proved unhelpful. Biff did what his mother asked and put his father’s mind at ease, giving him hop yet showing Willy the truth. Before his father drove straight into his afterlife Willy had an open and glazed but peaceful aura. Biff trying in vain with one last attempt to aid his father could not have done anything else.

Willy’s relationship with Biff and Happy also becomes strained throughout their lives. Since Biff was the older son and football star he made his father proud, and Happy was left without the praise that he needed and deserved, as he was always second best. Biff also was the one who caught his father having an affair with a woman in Boston, causing friction between himself and Willy. More importantly, Biff is extremely disturbed by his father's later behavior, including participating in imaginary conversations and reacting to his memories as though they were happening in the present. Willy's job also falls apart from the beginning of the play towards the end. Willy had been making enough money to support his family, but his unwillingness to learn new sales techniques or utilize modern technology resulted in lackluster sales and the loss of his job. Willy’s house had a mortgage until his death, implying that the family was not even secure in their own home. Finally, the family car, a symbol of pride within the Loman household, was destroyed when Willy committed suicide. This was the last example of Willy's destruction of all that was once important to him. Willy Loman, in this regard, follows Aristotle's suggestion that the tragic hero has "...a change of fortune... from prosperity to misfortune...." (Aristotle,1303)

The concept of being well liked is one of the reasons for Willy’s death. He thinks that Biff would be able to use Willy’s life insurance money for starting him out on the right foot at last. "Thus Willy lived by his dreams

After that, Biff "laid down and died like a hammer hit him "(1392). Biff had never dreamed for himself, being concerned only with fulfilling his father's wishes. When Biff realized that Willy was not the great man that he thought he was, his dreams became nothing to him, as had his father. And so, Biff became a drifter, living only on a day to day basis. Lastly, Biff is the only character who achieves any real growth in the play. Throughout the play Linda has remained static, always steadfastly supporting Willy, and believing he is incapable of flaw. At Willy's funeral, Happy says, "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have-to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him"(1415). His father died deluding himself, and apparently Happy is going to do the same. It is only Biff who realizes "[Willy] had all the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong…The man never knew who he was"(1415). Biff has accepted the fact that he was not meant to be a salesman and must seek another path in life. Having made these observations, it quickly becomes clear that Biff's character is as vital to the play as is Willy's. Without Biff there would be no play. Therefore, Biff's role in "Death of a Salesman" is important because he is the focus of Willy's attention and distress, his own conflict is

In the play “Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy, is an unsuccessful salesman who wants his son, Biff, to succeed in business but Biff fails his expectations. In the play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, the play begins with the recent death of the King Hamlet. After the king’s death, his brother, Claudius, was crowned as the King of Denmark. When the ghost of the king appears, he makes Hamlet understand that it was Claudius who murdered him and tells him that he wants him to take revenge. Hamlet wanted to be like his father and has become a lot like him by the end of the play. Hamlet knew that his father, King of the Denmark, was a good leader, as Hamlet mentioned: "so excellent king” (149). Hamlet does everything according to what his father’s ghost said because he is an important figure for him and in the play “Death of a Salesman”, Biff also sees his father as an idol. For both of them, their fathers represent power and moral authority but only for Biff by the end of the play father has lost his power.