Conquering Morals In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

Tyler Mandelbaum March 7, 2016
Ms. Litwack Personal Comparison-Contrast Essay

Conquering Morals

In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Biff grows up to become one of the most misunderstood and mistreated characters in the play. Biff’s parents, Linda and Willy, adored him all of his childhood, and saw him as the well-liked kid that others also idolized. Later in life, Biff makes one mistake in his father’s eyes -- wanting to work on a farm in an open environment instead of becoming a salesman -- and his parents hold it over him for the rest of his life. They characterize him as a “lazy bum” and say they should get him a “job selling” in order for him to be successful. Due to Biff’s desire to stray from what his parents
view as a good job, Linda and Willy forget all of the good things he has done and focus on the one action with which they do not agree.
In contrast to Willy, Biff desires to find the truth about himself and his life, even if it means going against what he is constantly being told. While Willy is unable to accept the actuality that his life is not what he hoped it would be, Biff admits his failure. Biff does not try to delude himself into thinking that he is a successful example of the American dream, and he laments, “I got so mad I could’ve torn the walls down! How the hell did I ever get the idea I was a salesman there? I even believed myself that I’d been a salesman for him! And then he gave me one look and—I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been. We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years. I was a shipping clerk.” (p.104).
Like Biff, I always strive to find the truth and to be honest -- with others as well as with myself. When I was nine, I visited my Uncle Josh’s house in California. House is probably the wrong word -- it was practically the Taj Mahal of Sacramento. Josh and his wife Natalie had four kids around my age, with whom I was extremely close. We stayed at their house for a week, and had family dinners together nightly. Since we were young and could not sit still, my cousins and I played in the family den between each course. The house, which was made primarily of glass, was extremely elegant. Natalie had just adorned the den with an oil painting from France (which I later found out cost $4,900). While Natalie and Josh wanted all of the kids to play board games between courses, we ingeniously decided that we would prefer to play indoor soccer in the den. I distinctly remember the moment that my cousin Max, who was six years old, kicked the soccer ball into a glass support beam, and a large fragment of the glass then fell and ripped the painting almost perfectly in half. Immediately, all of my cousins began to tell themselves and each other that it was not our fault, and that the beam was bound to be broken sooner or later. They blamed their parents for building a glass den, and they concluded that it was in fact a miracle that after all their years in that house they had not broken anything. They decided that they were not going to tell their parents, and that when their parents eventually noticed, the kids would act perplexed (their performance deserving an Academy Award). Just as Biff had the perfect excuse since everyone around him was so deluded, I also had the opportunity just to go along with what everyone else planned to do. However, I quickly decided that I did not want to see myself as a liar. I went to Josh and Natalie and explained to them exactly what had happened, and while they were clearly upset, they thanked me for my honesty.
While my experience at my cousins’ house is on a much smaller scale than Biff’s journey for truth, dealing with the situation in the way that I did is reminiscent of Biff’s actions. Yet, unlike Biff, my ability to find truth stems from the fact that I have a large support system and am always encouraged by my family to live an authentic life. Biff is forced to seek honesty by himself since his family lives a network of lies. If I had grown up in an environment like Biff’s, I suspect that I would not have been able to overcome my familial obstacles and seek truth.
Relatedly, while Biff and I both seek truth and honesty, Biff feels the need to rebel against and to leave his family in order to get what he wants. Biff believes his father is too far gone to be changed, and he thinks that he has to end their relationship in order to ultimately be successful. Biff says, “Will you let me go for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” (p.133). I would never abandon my family to achieve a goal of mine. The most recent example of this was in January when my dad had spinal cord surgery. His doctor told him that he would need to stay in bed for at least three weeks, and because of this, my family and I would have to tend to him regularly. Right before he had his surgery, I received an email saying that I was accepted to intern at a law office in New York. While I was initially thrilled, I later realized that this meant that for two days each week, I would not be able to help out with my dad, and this would put a lot of pressure on my siblings and my mom. If I wanted to help my dad with his recovery, I knew that there was no chance I would be able to do the internship twice a week. I asked the law office if it was possible for me to intern at a different time, and they said the only other time they had space would be for two weeks in the summer. I already had all of my summer programs planned for a few months, so the possibility of needing to move things around concerned me. Ultimately, I decided that it was more important to be with my dad in his time of need, since I recognized that he has always been there for me in my life. I cancelled one of my other programs in the summer so I could do my internship then and be there when my dad needed me. Whereas Biff would probably want to be left alone to continue to search for his dream, I look to my family and friends to help support me in my ventures to achieve my goals, and I always plan on being present for them in their times of need. Unlike Biff, I do not need to leave my family to preserve my sense of self; in fact, my family helps me in that regard -- so abandoning them is the last thing I would contemplate.
Throughout his life, Biff never questioned Willy or his actions, even when it was clear that Willy was transgressing.
Biff, therefore, grew up with the idea that he did not have to follow rules or meet certain expectations, because Willy did not follow them, and Willy did not expect Biff to follow them either. Thus, Biff's proclivity for stealing continued during his entire life. Indeed, Willy seems to encourage Biff to steal, and does not reprimand Biff when he does something wrong. For example, when Biff steals a football from the locker room, Willy does not scold Biff or say Biff acted badly -- Willy praises Biff’s resourcefulness! Despite his journey for truth, Biff allows himself to disregard his values for certain close ties/friendships. I try never to break my values, even when it involves losing
friendships/connections.
I was 13 the first time I went on winter vacation to Puerto Rico with my family. I loved going to the beach, and each day I would drag my whole family with me for the whole day. One day, I saw a girl and a boy making a sand castle together. As the winner of both sand castle building competitions that day, I felt as though it was my duty to teach the boy and girl how to build them correctly. I instantly hit it off with them -- José and Lucy -- and the three of us ended up going to the beach together each day to build the most elaborate and intricate sand castles. At the end of my trip, I exchanged phone numbers with them, and we frequently texted and updated each other on our lives. From the time I was 13 until this past year, we returned to Puerto Rico every year during winter break, and I always made time to meet with José and Lucy. During this past winter vacation, I was not able to meet with Lucy and José until my last day before flying back to New York. We went to a local Puerto Rican restaurant called “Platos”, and enjoyed a relaxed dinner. After dinner, we walked around the beautiful Puerto Rican streets and continued to talk. After a while, Lucy took out 3 bottles of beer and gave one to each of José and me. She had stolen the beer from a store near her house, and explained to me that it was something she and her friends did all of the time. “Don’t worry” she said to me in a tranquil voice, “No one ever got hurt from drinking a little”. To my complete shock, José opened his beer and started to drink it. While I was trying really hard to not be judgmental, I could not stand there and watch two of my “best friends” try to force me to make a decision that I would later regret. I returned the beer to Lucy and went back to my hotel room. I have not talked to either of them since. Despite not wanting to lose friendships, I was not willing to abandon my morals even when I was tempted to do so.
Biff demonstrates that not everyone aspires to achieve the American Dream.
He strives to attain a more basic life rather than a life filled with money and commercial success. Biff wants his father to not be so deluded and to realize that the American Dream does not have to be everyone’s goal. However, Willy is not able to love or to comprehend his son’s wishes, and he does not understand that there is value in the simple pleasures of life. While Biff is ultimately able to free himself from his father’s wishes, he starts off by putting pressure on himself to please his family. Biff admits that even though he does not want to be so competitive to achieve goals that are not even his, he does it for Willy,
saying:
Well, I spent six or seven years after high school trying to work myself up. Shipping clerk, salesman, business of one kind or another. And it’s a measly manner of existence. To get on that subway on the hot mornings in summer. To devote your whole life to keeping stock, or making phone calls, or selling or buying. To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two week vacation, when all you really desire is to be outdoors with your shirt off. And always to have to get ahead of the next fella. And still—that’s how you build a future. (p.22).