Willy Loman Biff Character Analysis

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

Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman follows protagonist Willy Loman in his search to better his and his family’s lives. Throughout Willy Loman’s career, his mind starts to wear down, causing predicaments between his wife, two sons and close friends. Willy’s descent into insanity is slowly but surely is taking its toll on him, his job and his family. They cannot understand why the man they have trusted for support all these years is suddenly losing his mind. Along with his slope into insanity, Willy’s actions become more aggressive and odd as the play goes on. Despite Willy and Biff’s “family feud”, his two sons Happy and Biff truly worry about their father’s transformation, Happy saying: “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I

As Biff crashes constantly in life Willy is built up of animosity and is in denial of the fact that their failure was all his doing. “Willy has used sports to instill in his sons the twisted dreams of his diseased psyche. He filled Biff “soo full of hot air” (131) because of his minor athletic achievement and poisoned his life until Biff recognizes the falseness of the dream and escaped to start over” (Ardolino). Willy has been selling recognition and being will get them success, but never instilling hard work and consistency and success will follow; principles of success. “That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises.

His preoccupation with success has made him “ ...[lie] to both himself and to others out of a desire to believe that he is a success” (Brockett, 98). Willy dreams of being successful and leaving behind the legacy of a great businessman, but this unhealthy obsession actually causes the demise of his mental state and lack of success in fulfilling his dream. Right before he dies, Biff, Willy’s son, talks about “...what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been” (Miller, 81). Willy finally realizes that Biff has been trying to achieve actual happiness with his own life. Willy has always believed financial success is tied to happiness, but Biff finally breaks through to him that he could have been happy this whole time if he would have focused on his family life instead of his work. Willy becomes aware that he has been the only thing stopping his success because he has developed this illusion about his life, instead of accepting the reality of his failure in his business and his family.

The reader can note in many flashbacks that Willy always seemed to favor Biff more than his other son. When he was younger Willy goes on about how popular Biff is and how he 'll make a great salesman. Willy tells Biff "The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." Willy is telling Biff that a man with great social connections and social status gets more ahead than a man who isn 't "well liked." Even at a young age Biff is having it imprinted in his head that being popular will get you ahead of everyone, versus putting in hard work. Later on in the story it is revealed that this is in fact not this care for Biff. His childhood friend, Bernard, ends up being very successful and becoming a lawyer. Biff used to copy off of Bernard in school, and even made remarks but him not being well liked, yet Bernard has gotten further ahead than Biff has. Biff comes to the

In essence, Willy is constantly trying to find himself in his success, and since he has none, he degrades into his troubled psychological state. Eventually he deludes himself into thinking that by committing suicide, Willy can provide his son with life insurance money so Biff can become successful instead of him. Willy is like his father in the sense that in the end, they both fail their sons

Willy refutes this as he believes Biff possesses the qualities to achieve the wealth that he has not achieved. Biff and Happy chat about their future plans. Biff knows that his father “thought the world of him” (185). Willy desires the best for his sons and attempts to inflict his ideas of his version of success upon them. The author uses idioms to create a deeper understanding of Willy’s character.

One version of his dream is the one his father ingrained into his head the world of business, sales, and capitalism. But the dream that Biff could be the most successful at involves nature, the great outdoors, and working with his hands. By the end of the play, Biff realizes that his father had the “wrong” dream. Biff realizes that his father was great with his hands. Willy built their garage and put up a new ceiling. Biff believes that his father should have been a carpenter, or should have lived in another, more rustic part of the country. But instead, Willy pursued an empty life, where his pursued the idea that being well liked would give him success which in turn would lead him to happiness.During the funeral of his father, Biff decides that he will not allow that to happen to himself. He turns away from Willy’s dream and, returns to the countryside, where he believes he will achieve

Willy Loman is a traveling salesman and Biff is the son of a salesman. Most all people have been somewhere where we have encountered a salesmen, and what salesmen do is pump up the products they are selling with a lot of flashy talk and a lot of hype. “The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell” (Miller Act I), with Willy being the father of a young Biff who’s future was looking nothing but bright it was easy to sell that image to everybody around him including himself. Even during Biff’s high school career Willy wasn’t doing too well as a salesman, this fact made him tired and depressed, but at least there was Biff. Biff was someone who Willy could admire when everything else was disappointment; Willy used his son to vicariously

As his income wanes, Willy becomes less happy and content with life. The reality of his dream never coming true becomes more evident to him, the dream that keeps him going. He not only dreams of success for himself, but also for Biff. When Biff is in high school, Willy believes Biff can become a successful athlete and earn plenty of money for himself.

In the drama, The Death of a Salesman, the play write, Arthur Miller tells the story of an old salesman who is dealing with his haunting past. The main character, Willy, is in failing mental health, hallucinating, talking to his deceased brother, and attempting to commit suicide. His grown sons, Biff and Happy, were home visiting, and saw with their own eyes that their father was not okay. Linda, Willy’s wife, talked to the boys telling them about their father’s behaviors, and blaming them on Biff and his failure to be successful. They create a plan to fix their problems, but their plan fails. After Biff and Willy’s meetings, Biff doesn’t get the loan to start his new business, and Willy’s boss refused to transfer him. Through that process,

Willy's death, along with the money, allows the constant bickering to end and allows him to support Biff and his dreams. Instead of continuously putting Biff down Willy is able to help Biff rise up and be who he has always wanted to be. Just thinking about the money, Willy imagines his son finally getting ahead and no longer struggling to find himself. Willy sees this as a way to make up for causing Biff to leave school and ruining his chances to make it big, like Bernard.

All Willy really wants is to be a part of his son’s lives and, Miller shows this by the example of when in the play Biff comes home to recollect himself, Willy seems to think this as a failure because he would rather see his eldest son be likely more successful rather than his youngest, Happy. Hereafter, Willy tries to take matter into his own hands, ‘I’ll get him a job selling, he could be big in no time’, he says to Linda (1215). Partially due to Willy’s consistency in Biff’s life conflicts start to erupt more partially to do with the fact being that they had different ideas of what the ‘American Dream” really is. With Biff believing that the most inspiring job to a man is working outdoors, his father disregarded by saying that working on the road selling was the greatest job a man could possibly have (1276).

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

Willy conflict with Happy. Throughout the play, Willy mentions how wonderful Biff is. ". . You got greatness in you, Biff. . . You got all kinds of greatness". However, Happy is barely spoken to. That sort of behavior toward a child can be cruel and can have an overwhelming effect on some kids. To be recognized by his father Willy, Happy considers he must be like his father Willy and become successful by obtaining wealth and being well-liked by others. Happy persuaded himself to be content with his life. In the end though, he comprehends that he is not content. " . . . It’s what I always wanted. My apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I’m lonely". Happy wanted to be noticed by his father, Happy entire life . Nevertheless, he turns out to be more depressed than if he had departed and gone his way. Once a dad chooses to discriminate against one son over another, conflict arises in the father-son bond as well as