Essay about Death of a Salesman

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

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

While Biff was in Boston, his discoveries manipulated the course of his life. Willy’s affair damaged the trust Biff had for him. Boys look up to their father. Once Biff saw The Woman, he no longer knew how to act. He had the intention of getting help to pass math. Willy’s affair shattered it all. Bernard explains to Willy that once Biff returned from Boston, things weren’t the same. “…I knew he’d given up his life. What happened in Boston, Willy?”

Denial — Willy denies reality which turns his life into a big delusion that he later suffers from

        Willy is like an impetuous youngster with high ideals and high hopes.  Children always have high hopes for their

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

Biff and his brother, Happy, overhear Willy talking to himself. Biff learns that Willy is usually talking to him (Biff) during these private reveries. Biff and Happy discuss women and the future. Both are dissatisfied with their jobs: Biff is discontent working for someone else, and Happy cannot be promoted until the merchandise manager dies. They contemplate buying a ranch and working together.

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!

Willy felt he was an exceptional salesman, but in reality, he was mediocre. This matters because he fails to see why he is not promoted and more financial stress is endured (Koprince, 2012). His personal life was in turmoil because of the affair he had on his wife. This negatively affected his relationship with his oldest son, Biff, who had knowledge of his father’s indiscretions.

In other words, Biff does not know why he is trying to become someone he does not want to be. He does not care much about

He becomes resentful of his father when he finds him with his mistress on the day of his high school graduation. Biff also resents Willy due to his deception of his family, this is seen when Biff says “He’s a fake and he doesn’t like anybody around who knows.” (Miller 53) Through this scene we see that Biff is fully aware of Willy’s lies. Biff handles his disappointment of Willy by aiming to achieve higher than he could.

Later in a flashback, Willy and Biff are on their way to Ebbets Field for a football game when Charley appears and beings a conversation with Willy. Merely joking around, Charley makes a few comments which Willy takes great offense too and beings insulting Charley and telling him to put his hands up as if to fight. Willy's arrogance shows it's face once again when Willy is talking to Biff about his meeting with Oliver. Completly ignoring what Biff is saying, Willy goes on about how good of a kid Biff is and how impressive he is. Though not directly insulting, Willy ignores what his son has to say and goes off on his own tangents, losing the respect of the reader. Willy then ends up in another flashback in the bathroom of the restauraunt where he met Happy and Biff for dinner. The most disgusting part of Willy is revealed here. Biff walks in on Willy and his woman friend whom hes had a secret relationship with. Willy attempts to cover it up and when that doesnt work he orders Biff around and shows how bad of a person he can be.

These show that he can differentiate between current time and past. It shows that his behavior is being affected by unconscious choice since he could not tell what is going on. Another example of Willy’s unstable mind is that he has attempted suicide repeatedly and continues when he isn’t successful. Willy’s wife, Linda, talks about “That all these accidents in the last year- weren't- weren't- accidents. "(58)

Biff’s failure comes from the fact that once high school is over, nothing happens. Biff does not go on to be a great businessman or anything like that. Instead he goes from job to job, not making his fortune like Willy thought he would. This poked a hole in the world that Willy had presented to Biff and Happy.

(p.110), even though he himself had been extremely cruel to Willy by abandoning him at a