Unlike Willy and Happy, Biff feels compelled to seek the truth about himself. While his father and brother are unable to accept the miserable…
While Biff (Willy’s eldest son) was growing up, he did everything he could to be like his father - he idolised and respected him always. However, as much as his son Biff tried to be like his father, he is, in actuality quite the different to him. Biff’s overall nature is an opposition of what a normal model for the American dream is; he has understood that it is just a myth and a pointless dream- and has acknowledged that reality. Biff’s character is stronger than that of his father, just because of that realisation. The acceptance of that reality can be seen on page 18 when he…
One of the many reasons that I feel a connection with Biff and his relationship with his father, Willy, is in the play there are many moments when Willy contradicts himself. At the beginning of Act I, Willy is back home to find out that his sons are back living at home and he is really upset about this at first. Then he mentions, “‘...work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there's nobody to live in it’” (15). Later, he starts a fight with his wife Linda, saying that Biff is a lazy bum. Linda is fighting against Willy, saying that Biff is just trying to find himself and that Willy should not criticize him so much and Willy ends up changing his mind very easily and agreeing with Linda that Biff is not lazy, but even hardworking (16). Willy says many times in the play that…
As a young boy, Biff, Willy’s oldest son showed athletic promise and charming personality that made him proud. Willy instilled in Biff and Happy; that in order to be successful in life all you needed was personality and great looks. He put little emphasis on hard work and repeatedly throughout the play applauds his boys for their popularity. For example, when a neighbor boy, Bernard attempts to get a young Biff to study for his Math regents, Willy…
Biff Loman exemplifies the struggle of trying to uphold the honor and expectations of a young man’s father, all while attempting to find self-gratitude. A young boy’s father provides the example that the boy is to follow throughout his lifetime, but at times the boy strays from the fathers guidelines and this can lead to turmoil. Biff was his fathers, Willy, pride and joy during his adolescent years, but when Biff became an adult Willy was not proud of the life he was living. Despite all of the reticule that Biff received from his father he still cared for him dearly.…
Another idea of success that Happy and Biff embodied from Willy was materialism, the urge to claim as many material things as they can. During Happy and Biffs childhood they observed how Willy got in dues and stole many material things just so he could feel successful. It came to the point in which he had his sons steal for him just so he can feel more empowered over things, and since Happy and Biff were growing around that idea they started to embody it. For instance, as happy got older he was just like his dad, had all the material things he wanted, even the women, but still felt empty. And its not until Biff asks Happy why he's not content with his life since he has all the material things he wanted, and Happy responds to Biff by saying " it’s what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, plenty of women, and still, goddamnit, I’m lonely. (Act 1)". In other words, this shows how even though he had all the material things he ever wanted, he still didn’t feel happy and successful, because he wanted more.…
To start he leaves his mother and brother to deal with his father who is literally going crazy. Similarly, he never tells his mother or brother about his father’s affair nor does he confront him. Even though Biff loves his family, he and Happy treat women poorly and manage to abandon their father at a restaurant for two attractive women. Certainly, having a father who greatly influenced his life choices, left Biff with a great disadvantage to becoming successful. Finally near the end, Biff recognizes how bad the web of lies has become when his father becomes disillusioned and has difficultly telling reality from memory or fantasy.…
The fact that Willy is so set on achieving the “American Dream” regardless of what it may cost is due to his lack of security in himself. He constantly feels useless in his family which is perhaps why he constantly tries to commit suicide. On the other hand, Biff is well aware of who he is and what he wants in life. He can admit that his dads expectations of him have made him an unhappy person. He struggles to decide whether to please himself or his father’s wishes. It is important to note that, Biff reminds us that the American Dream is not every man's dream. Rather than seeking money and success, Biff wants a more basic life. He wants to be seen and loved for who he is, not for who he appears to be. In the end, Willy manages to commit suicide and leaves his children and wife due to his selfish…
One major flaw of Willy is his reliance on false hope. This can stem from his son, Biff. As seen in imaginings, adolescent Biff looks up to Willy as a great man, causing him to seek for his approval. In high school, Biff has many athletic achievements and is well liked. His awards cause for Willy to have high hopes in what he can conquer later in life. This developed vastly and became an influence in Willy’s mood. When he has a sense of hope to hold onto, he is liberated of his daily pressures. When Biff and Happy are at the restaurant with…
Biff started to try to bring his father to his senses, with no luck. Willy needed professional help and saw Biffs trying, as his being spiteful. Biff made it very clear when he had enough and was telling his father exactly what he had done to them both when he stated “There’ll be…
Biff, though not perfect, can very much be considered noble. As a young man, he was full of potential. He was a star football captain whom everyone loved. An example of that is when happy says, “There’s a crowd of girls behind him everytime the classes change” (Miller 20). Biff was meant for greatness, and no one knew this more than his father Willy. When told that a teacher might flunk Biff, he couldn’t believe it. He angrily asks Bernard, “what’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him” (Miller 21). It was also very easy to see how much Biff adored his father when he was younger. When his father asked him if he was nervous about the upcoming game he replied, “Not if you’re gonna be there” (Miller 20). Biff had a bright future ahead of him. It wasn’t until after that very football game did his life start to change for the worse. After flunking math and finding out his father was unfaithful to his mother, he was never the same.…
Willy and Biff’s relationship is far from great however you know that they both love each other. They both share a strong drive of determination and motivations for the things they enjoy or to provide for their family. Willy understands the fundamentals of sales and what sacrifice it takes to do so. However in the sense I just watched I would also say he is highly tempered and even though he loves his family I fear that he also could at any time an abuse them. My conclusion to this is because every time his wife went to speak he would raise or even yell at her. Willy seems to live much though his sons lives and when Biff decides to go into business to support his parents Willy becomes extremely happy and overbarring. Biff has lived his life…
After this event occurs, Biff throws away everything he ever worked for in order to “punish” his father. He allows himself to fail math, to not go to college, and to abandon his family. Biff then goes to the South, where he works as a farmhand and eventually winds up in jail. He does all of this after realizing that all of the values his father had instilled in him were not even being lived out by his father. Everything Biff thought he knew appears to be a lie to him. In Willy’s mind, these values were true and he was simply showing his sons that they were both more than capable of being successful. By squandering his entire future, Biff shows that he is not capable and does not care enough to be a success.…
These words deeply affected Biff, and he was never able to put in a legitimate effort in anything he pursued later in life, for he believed he was already at the top, and everything he needed to do was…
During the play the main focus point is Willy’s volcanic relationship with his eldest son Biff, in which he is on the same path as his father. “WILLY: 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. [He starts for the bedroom doorway.] I’ll put my money on Biff. (Act 1)” Willy sticks to his gut and hopes that Biff will be the greatest major business entrepreneur. He’s desperate for Biff to follow in his foot steps even though his advice is not the reality of the new world they live…