Linda and the sons truly love Willy as he is, which he, tragically, doesn’t recognize. He doesn’t learn from his mistakes and can’t realize that he is the one who keeps ruining the life of their family. From those visions, we learn that Willy puts too many expectations on his sons and keeps getting disappointed when they fail. The memories from his past become so realistic he can’t seem to understand they are just illusions. This philosophy eventually leads Willy to a mental breakdown. He sees the secret of success in being likable, not hard-working. Loman lies to his family about his work achievements, while in reality, he barely makes it. However, Willy’s perception of it slightly shifted, and this mistake costs him that happy life he always dreams of. Even though the reader never finds out what he sells, he seems to represent the American dream. Willy Loman, the main character in Death of a Salesman, has two grown-up sons with his wife, Linda. At least, that's what Death of a Salesman seems to argue.Below you’ll find a character map of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Just as Willy is unable to understand or even love his son, America as a whole is unable to understand those who value simple pleasures over the rat race. Sadly, Miller seems to say, Americans (Biff, in this case) are made the victims of the country's success. He wants his dad to stop being such a deluded twerp. He wants to be seen and loved for who he is. Rather than seeking money and success, Biff wants a more basic life. Willy is simply unable to accept the truth.īiff reminds us that the American Dream is not every man's dream. Yet, despite his insight and honesty, Biff is unable to communicate openly with his father. In one shouting match with Willy, he says that he can't hold a job because his dad made him so arrogant as a boy that he can't handle taking orders from a boss. Unlike his father and brother, Biff is self-aware and values the truth. While Biff is in some ways desperate to impress and please his dad, he also realizes that Willy has flawed, materialistic dreams that Biff is neither able nor desires to achieve. When we meet him in the play, he's 34 years old and has finally realized just how bad Willy messed him up. He started working on ranches in the West, but couldn't hold a job because he kept stealing from his bosses.
Biff bailed on summer school and the math credit. Once again, Willy had a bad effect on his son's life. However, right about that time Biff caught his dad cheating on his mom, and it made him go kind of crazy.
He could've taken a summer course and made everything all right. Things might have worked out for Biff even though he flunked math. Without the math credit, Biff couldn't graduate and therefore couldn't take his football scholarship to college. A lot of this was due to the fact that Willy let him get away with anything and never encouraged him to do well in school. However, he never put much energy into his schoolwork and failed math as a senior. Biff was a hotshot in high school as the star football player. The deal with Biff is that he's Willy's oldest son and the one whom Willy seems to be really crazy about. Why? Because he shows real initiative on the personal development front. Despite these shortcomings, however, we can't help but like Biff. He can't hold down a job, he steals from all of his employers, and he even went to jail. Sure, Biff is also flawed, just like everyone else. In fact, he's the only character in the book who shows any real personal growth. He's not just the big, dumb lump that his name might make you imagine. (Click the character infographic to download.)ĭon't let Biff's tough-guy name deceive you.
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