One of the greatest impacts on an individual's life is their parents. The values of one’s parents are the first ideas that a person embraces, regardless of their moral soundness. One form of self-preservation is to live one’s life by lying to oneself and others in order to feel better about oneself. There is great difficulty in rejecting a lifestyle that a person has grown up in, in favor of a more morally correct way of living. Ultimately, there is great freedom, and great pain, in finally breaking free of one’s past. Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, proves that the lifestyle that a person grows up in is incredibly difficult to break free from. Often, people are afraid to change their life based on the animal instinct that change can bring about harsh - if not fatal - outcomes.
In the play, Willy Loman, the main character, brought up his sons with the mindset that if one says a lie enough times and to enough people, it will eventually become the truth. Obviously, this is not true, but for the Lomans, this became their way of life. They were so focused on being "well-liked" that they made up stories to appeal to different people. For instance, Happy Loman told the lady he met at the restaurant that his brother was a famous quarterback. Similarly, Willy convinced himself that he chose the name for Howard, his boss. Likewise, Biff spent fifteen years of his life believing he was a salesman at Bill Oliver's store, rather than a shipping clerk. All of the Loman men have lied to themselves about who they are to be "well-liked." Biff, specifically, was influenced by this upbringing, and he has lied to himself about his values, thus falling into the habit of stealing. Not only does he not know who he is, but he is also perhaps trying to scavenge bits of other people's identity by stealing physical things from them. In a way, all of the Loman men are thieves, stealing events, ideas, job titles, and credit from others to increase their self-worth.
Unfortunately, there can also be growing pains involved. By the end of the play, Biff Loman decides that he is through with his family's phoniness and lies. In his enlightenment, Biff openly renounces his father's way of life and his own upbringing, saying "We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house." Regrettably, Biff's self-awareness does not arrive without great pain. To completely renounce his own father's way of life would have been a heavy blow to their already weak relationship. In severing ties with his father, Biff has planted the final seed for Willy, who now feels no use to his son alive and thus attempts to provide for Biff one last time through his death. Biff's epiphany, though crucial for him to start living a fulfilling life, was also the catalyst for his father's death. Despite the growing pains, Biff is now free to seek out who he really is and what he really wants. No longer will he feel obligated to follow in his father's footsteps because he now knows that he is his own man. He has overcome the animal instinct that change is bad and that sticking to the path set out for him is the only way.
Willy, Linda, Biff and Happy are all characters that use self- deception as a way to mentally escape the terrible reality of their lives. As the play progresses, and ends Biff is truly the one and only character that becomes self- aware. At the end of the play Biff accepts the lies his family and him have been living in for years. Biff makes huge changes mentally at the end of the play, which cannot be said for the rest of the Loman family.
Discuss the idea(s) developed by Arthur Miller, in the text Death of a Salesman about the role that self-preservation plays when individuals respond to competing demands.
“BIFF [crying, broken]: Will you let me go for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” By saying this Biff tries to address his family on the giant rift between Willy’s dreams for him and reality. He tries to explain that all he wants is for Willy to let go of those dreams and high standards he has set for him so he can create his own reality rather than fulfill his father's dream. Willy's dreams for Biff were very unrealistic for the reality of his situation,which caused him to fill unsuccessful and push himself away from his father. The reason Willy wanted his children to do so well and had such big dreams for them was because he wasn't able to achieve the dream and had a fear he had failed and so he wanted to force his dream to be fulfilled by his children. Therefore, due to Willy’s wildly unrealistic amount of pride, causing him to make poor decisions, betray his family by having a mistress and finally his unrealistic dreams for his sons, he paved his way towards his failure and his deep fear of isolation and
Willy Loman’s false pride leads him to believe that he has been successful as a father. He remembers how he was once looked up by his children, especially by his son Biff. However, Willy fails to realize that the relationship he once had with his son Biff has been broken, due to the fact that Biff caught Willy in an affair he was having with another girl; Biff was heartbroken to fin...
Willy Loman is not the only victim of his tragic flaw. The rest of the Loman family is also affected by Willy's problem. Willy's wife, Linda, is the only one who supports and understands Willy's tragic flaw completely. Linda supports every far-fetched claim her husband makes. She is even described as having “infinite patience” whenever she is conversing with Willy (Miller 99). Willy's two sons, Biff and Happy, are also affected by his flaw. Happy, when in the company of two ladies, claims that Willy is not even his father, and “just a guy” (Miller 91). Later in the play, Biff decides that he does not want to be in his father's life anymore. Biff's problems are simply too much for Willy to handle with his current state of being, even though Willy needs Biff in his life. After both internal and external conflict, Biff reveals to Willy that Willy had been lied to for a number of years, and that the life he lives is essentially a lie (Miller 104).
Through a series of events, Biff gradually comes to a realization of what is necessary for success. First, we are shown a part of his childhood where Biff is told that "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." This idea appears in direct contrast to Bernard, one of Biff's childhood friends, who works and studies hard. Biff decides that Bernard will not succeed because he is "only liked, not well-liked," and being well-liked is the cornerstone of success. Nonetheless, later in the play we see that Bernard has become very successful, underscoring one of the messages in the play, that success is not just a result of popularity. Second, we are shown a scene in Boston soon after Biff has just failed math for the year. He discovers his "heroic" father having an affair. Biff comes to the painful realization that his father's values, his views, and everything that Biff had made the foundation of his life, are all completely "fake" and "phony." Unfortunately, he has nothing with which to replace it. Lastly, Biff decides to leave to try and find himself, but an argument develops between Biff and Willy. Biff begins to see himself as like his father, "nothing," just an average man trying to make a living, and quite possibly failing. Biff's earlier image of his father's greatness has crumbled entirely, leaving a lost young man trying to find his way. Biff realized that he now needs to find his own values in life. He has finally tasted reality and now must dive head first into the pot, without any real preparation.
Have you ever worked long and hard on a project, only to realize that it was effort wasted and the project was totally meaningless in the end? That is just what occurred in the play The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Willy Loman, the protagonist, spent decades in mind numbing work, only to discover that he had “built his life on shifting sand” (Nicholas). Through the course of his journey, Willy kept on the straight and narrow highway, which he thought would bring success and happiness. He often contemplated when he would draw his last breath and if he should. Willy begins to realize the futility of his journey when his son Biff Loman returned from college after he had flunked out. Willy had a prevailing hope that his son would amount to something, that he would be successful and become someone great. The cold and brutal reality was that both Biff and Willy were still living in the past. It takes until the final scenes in the play, for Biff to finally comprehend what his dad wanted for him; which was for him to go get a job in business instead of chasing his senseless dreams of being a rancher in Texas. It is in those final moments that Biff steps
Willy Loman is a 60 year old senile salesman who desperately wants to be a successful salesman; however, his ideas about the ways in which one goes about achieving this are very much misguided, just as his morals are. He believes that popularity and good looks are the key to achieving the American dream, rather than hard work and dedication. He not only lives his entire life by this code, but instills his delusional beliefs in his two sons Biff and Happy. As a result, his sons experience similar failures in their adult lives. Willy led a life of illusion, lies and regret which not only ruined his life, but gad a negative impact on the lives of family as well.
Biff Loman grew up in a family of a salesman. He had a reasonably happy childhood, and a great school career. He was good at American Football and won a football scholarship. His father, Willy Loman, was always very proud of his son and always praised him and put him above others. Unfortunately, Willy's life philosophy was ruined by the corrupted version of the American Dream. He believed that the key to happiness is money and success and the a person does not necessarily has to work hard to attain it. Biff grew up with those ideas and they influenced him a lot. But when he caught his father with another woman, the realization of the lie and corruption turned his life around. He no longer believes in his father or the dream, and lives a...
Most critics can agree that Biff idolizes his father and enjoys working alongside him. However, Biff finally comes to terms that he has been living a lie his entire life. Even though some critics may or may not believe that Biff Loman is the reason that Willy ends his life, one can assume that Biff plays a significant role in the life of Willy Loman.
Biff discovers who he is and is determined to become true to himself. Happy, unfortunately is destined for living in the same delusion that Willy lived in.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a tragic play about an aging and struggling salesman, Willy Loman, and his family’s misguided perception of success. In Willy’s mind, being well-liked is more important than anything else, and is the means to achieving success. He teaches this flawed idea to his sons, Biff and Happy, and is faithfully supported by his wife Linda. Linda sympathizes with Willy’s situation, knowing that his time as an important salesman has passed. Biff and Happy hold their father to impossibly high standards, and he tries his best to live up to them. This causes Willy to deny the painful reality that he has not achieved anything of real value. Willy’s obsession with a false dream results in his losing touch with reality and with himself.
Lying is a string that ties together a great part of the plot in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The Lomans are all greatly self-deceptive, and in their particular fancies and delusions to reality, they fuel and nourish off of each other. Willy convinces himself that he is effective, overall loved, and that his children are bound for significance. Unable to adapt to reality, he totally forsakes it through his vivid dreams and eventually through suicide. Linda and Happy also accept that the Lomans are going to become showbiz royalty. Not at all like alternate parts of his family, has Biff developed to distinguish that he and his relatives reliably bamboozle themselves, and he battles to escape the cycle of lying.
It is stated by Standage that, “Sandage believes Willy Loman was a success. But the message of the play, he says, is that “if you level off, you have to give up. You might as well not live”” (Baird 25). This is quite ironic because all Willy does is push to be successful and he when he can’t he puts expects his son’s to follow through so he gives up. He constantly reminds them, “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (Miller 67). This is also ironic because Willy is the man who creates personal interest in the business world, but when everyone passes away he is left with nothing but the past to remember. This false reality that Willy creates for Biff brings on the conflicts between the father and son duo due to the fact that Biff fails as a result of the way he was raised. So by the time Biff goes to interview for his first job he thinks that his success will come with no effort
The play centers on Willy Loman, an aging salesman who is beginning to lose his grip on reality. Willy places great emphasis on his supposed native charm and ability to make friends; stating that once he was known throughout New England, driving long hours but making unparalleled sales (something true only because of his philandering with secretaries), his sons Biff and Happy were the pride and joy of the neighborhood, and his wife Linda went smiling throughout the day. Unfortunately, time has passed, and now his life seems to be slipping out of control.