What Is Biff Loman's Pursuit Of The American Dream
Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, follows the story of Willy Loman’s pursuit of the American Dream. Throughout the play, the audience witnesses the degradation of Willy’s career, and the impact that has on both himself as well as on his family and friends. One member in particular that will be focused on is his son, Biff. Biff Loman adored his father. He hung on Willy’s every word growing up, bought into his father’s philosophy for success, and wanted nothing more than to make his father proud. Willy was indeed a proud father, but made very poor decisions when it came to being a parent to his sons. It is through these decisions that Biff Loman will fail to find his own success in life.
Through Willy’s flashbacks, the audience …show more content…
is able to see who Biff was when he was still in high school. More importantly, it is revealed how his father addresses several situations in which discipline would have been warranted. In this first instance, Biff shows off a brand new football he acquired.
WILLY (examining the ball): Where’d you get a new ball?
BIFF: The coach told me to practice my passing.
WILLY: That so? And he gave you the ball, heh?
BIFF: Well, I borrowed it from the locker room. (He laughs confidentially.)
WILLY (laughing with him at the theft): I want you to return that. (Miller 18)
In a perfect opportunity to offer something constructive to his son regarding the consequences of theft, Willy instead offers a laugh with his son and a half-hearted desire to return the stolen properly. While failing to decisively condemn an act of theft is one thing, condoning it puts the action into something that’s borderline acceptable. Which is where Willy ends up in another instance in which he openly advocates for Biff and Happy to take building materials that do not belong to them in any fashion for their own home and without permission.
WILLY: Oh, sure, there’s snakes and rabbits and — that’s why I moved out here. Why Biff can fell any one of these trees in no time! Boys! Go right over to where they’re building the apartment house and get some sand. We’re gonna rebuild the entire front stoop right now! Watch this, Ben!
CHARLEY: Listen, if they steal any more from that building the watchman’ll put the cops on them!
WILLY: You shoulda seen the lumber they brought home last week. At least a dozen six-by-tens worth all kinds a money. (Miller 34-35)
It should come to no surprise to the audience in later scenes when Biff reveals that he steals an expensive fountain pen from Bill Oliver’s office, or when he admits to spending three months in a Kansas City jail for stealing a suit. Willy failed to make stealing out as morally reprehensible, if not illegal, behavior to Biff at a younger age. The enabling of immoral behavior is only one piece of the whole picture that is Biff Loman’s upbringing. In Willy’s flashbacks, we see Willy justifying Biff’s behavior through Willy’s view of the world. Biff ends up being set up with the unrealistic expectation that hard work and personal accountability are irrelevant to success. The only thing a person needs to be successful is to simply be admired by others. Willy’s response as to why it was okay for Biff to steal the football is evidence of this. “BIFF: Oh, he keeps congratulating my initiative all the time, Pop. WILLY: That’s because he likes you. If somebody else took that ball there’d be an uproar. So what’s the report, boys, what’s the report?” (Miller 19). It is this behavior that lets Biff believe that maintaining a positive image will allow him to behave in whatever manner he deems appropriate. A similar line of thinking occurs a little later when it is revealed that a major math examination is coming up that will determine whether Biff graduates high school or not. Biff’s friend Bernard pleas with Loman’s for Biff to study with him, or else Biff will risk failing this exam and failing high school. “BERNARD: Biff! (He gets away from Happy.) Listen, Biff, I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you don’t start studyin’ math he’s gonna flunk you, and you won’t graduate. I heard him! WILLY: You better study with him, Biff. Go ahead now.” (Miller 20-21). We see Willy initially making an effort and instructing Biff to study for this important exam. As the dialogue unfolds, the audience sees Biff show off a new pair of sneakers printed with the University of Virginia on them. While Willy is impressed, Bernard attempts to return to reasoning. “BERNARD (wiping his glasses): Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him. Uncle Willy! WILLY (angrily): What’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him?” (Miller 21).
Three different universities thinking highly enough of Biff Loman to extend to him a full ride.
Certainly Mr. Birnbaum isn’t going to stand against that level of importance. At least, that’s what Willy Loman would have his son to believe. Willy also shows where he believed strong academics would only play second fiddle to being liked or admired. Bernard does very well in school, but Biff and Happy both confess that he hasn’t very well liked.
WILLY: That’s just what I mean. Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. »Willy Loman is here!« That’s all they have to know, and I go right through. (Miller 21).
Willy will encounter Bernard years later only to find out he’s a successful lawyer who happened to be on his way to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Biff on the other hand, would find himself back at home, again, after failing to find success in the model presented to him by his …show more content…
father. It is through Willy’s actions that Biff ends up growing up sheltered and unprepared to be successful in the real world. In Willy’s failure to discipline negative behavior, and setting incredibly simple yet unrealistic expectations for Biff to be successful, Willy also created an environment in which Biff was dependent on his father. We learn through a conversation with a now adult Bernard and Willy that Biff did fail high school because he failed his math exam.
BERNARD: No, it wasn’t right then.
Biff just got very angry, I remember, and he was ready to enroll in summer school.
WILLY (surprised): He was?
BERNARD: He wasn’t beaten by it at all. But then, Willy, he disappeared from the block for almost a month. And I got the idea that he’d gone up to New England to see you. Did he have a talk with you then? (Willy stares in silence.) (Miller 67)
If Biff would’ve made the choice himself to enroll in summer school, it becomes very likely that he passes math and graduates. Even more than that he still could have had his pick of a free ride through college. Instead, we learn that Biff makes a special trip to Boston to see his father to seek his help in dealing with his failing grade in math.
BIFF: Birnbaum refused absolutely. I begged him, Pop, but he won’t give me those points. You gotta talk to him before they close the school. Because if he saw the kind of man you are, and you just talked to him in your way, I’m sure he’d come through for me. The class came right before practice, see, and I didn’t go enough. Would you talk to him? He’d like you, Pop. You know the way you could
talk.
WILLY: You’re on. We’ll drive right back.
BIFF: Oh, Dad, good work! I’m sure he’ll change it for you (Miller 87)
Instead of teaching Biff an integral life lesson by humbling Biff and making summer school the only option, Willy instead takes it upon himself to smooth the situation over. While Biff’s high school education is never fully resolved, it is revealed that Biff did attempt other paths to success. Armed only with the behaviors reinforced by his father, the outcome for these endeavors should be of no surprise.
WILLY (confidentially, desperately): You were his friend, his boyhood friend. There’s something I don’t understand about it. His life ended after that Ebbets Field game. From the age of seventeen nothing good ever happened to him. BERNARD: He never trained himself for anything.
WILLY: But he did, he did. After high school he took so many correspondence courses. Radio mechanics; television; God knows what, and never made the slightest mark. (Miller 66)
Biff never made the mark in any of his endeavors because he was never forced to put the work into a single endeavor to be great at it. Under the tutelage of his father, becoming successful wasn’t supposed to involve many obstacles that Biff would have to overcome on his own. Any time the going got tough on Biff Loman, he would always end up back at his parent’s door to start over. It doesn’t appear that Biff ever held down a steady job to pay for these endeavors either. WILLY: Whatever happened to that diamond watch fob? Remember? When Ben came from Africa that time? Didn’t he give me a watch fob with a diamond in it? LINDA: You pawned it, dear. Twelve, thirteen years ago. For Biffs radio correspondence course. (Miller 36-37)
Even after the events in Boston, when Biff discovered who his father really was and came to resent him, Biff was still dependent on his father’s assistance to start over on a new path that would likewise prove futile. Biff Loman was an impressionable youth that hung on validation from his father. In the end, Willy Loman squanders a golden opportunity to equip Biff with every tool to be even more successful than he was. However, Willy believes he did everything correctly to set Biff up for success in the same manner that Willy believed himself to be successful. He was caught up in the exaggerated view of his own success and the means that got him to where he was. Willy failed to exercise care and caution when confronted with the most important task in being a parent in equipping his son to be ready for the challenges of the world, and that oversight would have a lasting effect on Biff Loman for years to come.
Through Willy’s flashbacks, the audience …show more content…
is able to see who Biff was when he was still in high school. More importantly, it is revealed how his father addresses several situations in which discipline would have been warranted. In this first instance, Biff shows off a brand new football he acquired.
WILLY (examining the ball): Where’d you get a new ball?
BIFF: The coach told me to practice my passing.
WILLY: That so? And he gave you the ball, heh?
BIFF: Well, I borrowed it from the locker room. (He laughs confidentially.)
WILLY (laughing with him at the theft): I want you to return that. (Miller 18)
In a perfect opportunity to offer something constructive to his son regarding the consequences of theft, Willy instead offers a laugh with his son and a half-hearted desire to return the stolen properly. While failing to decisively condemn an act of theft is one thing, condoning it puts the action into something that’s borderline acceptable. Which is where Willy ends up in another instance in which he openly advocates for Biff and Happy to take building materials that do not belong to them in any fashion for their own home and without permission.
WILLY: Oh, sure, there’s snakes and rabbits and — that’s why I moved out here. Why Biff can fell any one of these trees in no time! Boys! Go right over to where they’re building the apartment house and get some sand. We’re gonna rebuild the entire front stoop right now! Watch this, Ben!
CHARLEY: Listen, if they steal any more from that building the watchman’ll put the cops on them!
WILLY: You shoulda seen the lumber they brought home last week. At least a dozen six-by-tens worth all kinds a money. (Miller 34-35)
It should come to no surprise to the audience in later scenes when Biff reveals that he steals an expensive fountain pen from Bill Oliver’s office, or when he admits to spending three months in a Kansas City jail for stealing a suit. Willy failed to make stealing out as morally reprehensible, if not illegal, behavior to Biff at a younger age. The enabling of immoral behavior is only one piece of the whole picture that is Biff Loman’s upbringing. In Willy’s flashbacks, we see Willy justifying Biff’s behavior through Willy’s view of the world. Biff ends up being set up with the unrealistic expectation that hard work and personal accountability are irrelevant to success. The only thing a person needs to be successful is to simply be admired by others. Willy’s response as to why it was okay for Biff to steal the football is evidence of this. “BIFF: Oh, he keeps congratulating my initiative all the time, Pop. WILLY: That’s because he likes you. If somebody else took that ball there’d be an uproar. So what’s the report, boys, what’s the report?” (Miller 19). It is this behavior that lets Biff believe that maintaining a positive image will allow him to behave in whatever manner he deems appropriate. A similar line of thinking occurs a little later when it is revealed that a major math examination is coming up that will determine whether Biff graduates high school or not. Biff’s friend Bernard pleas with Loman’s for Biff to study with him, or else Biff will risk failing this exam and failing high school. “BERNARD: Biff! (He gets away from Happy.) Listen, Biff, I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you don’t start studyin’ math he’s gonna flunk you, and you won’t graduate. I heard him! WILLY: You better study with him, Biff. Go ahead now.” (Miller 20-21). We see Willy initially making an effort and instructing Biff to study for this important exam. As the dialogue unfolds, the audience sees Biff show off a new pair of sneakers printed with the University of Virginia on them. While Willy is impressed, Bernard attempts to return to reasoning. “BERNARD (wiping his glasses): Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him. Uncle Willy! WILLY (angrily): What’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him?” (Miller 21).
Three different universities thinking highly enough of Biff Loman to extend to him a full ride.
Certainly Mr. Birnbaum isn’t going to stand against that level of importance. At least, that’s what Willy Loman would have his son to believe. Willy also shows where he believed strong academics would only play second fiddle to being liked or admired. Bernard does very well in school, but Biff and Happy both confess that he hasn’t very well liked.
WILLY: That’s just what I mean. Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. »Willy Loman is here!« That’s all they have to know, and I go right through. (Miller 21).
Willy will encounter Bernard years later only to find out he’s a successful lawyer who happened to be on his way to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court. Biff on the other hand, would find himself back at home, again, after failing to find success in the model presented to him by his …show more content…
father. It is through Willy’s actions that Biff ends up growing up sheltered and unprepared to be successful in the real world. In Willy’s failure to discipline negative behavior, and setting incredibly simple yet unrealistic expectations for Biff to be successful, Willy also created an environment in which Biff was dependent on his father. We learn through a conversation with a now adult Bernard and Willy that Biff did fail high school because he failed his math exam.
BERNARD: No, it wasn’t right then.
Biff just got very angry, I remember, and he was ready to enroll in summer school.
WILLY (surprised): He was?
BERNARD: He wasn’t beaten by it at all. But then, Willy, he disappeared from the block for almost a month. And I got the idea that he’d gone up to New England to see you. Did he have a talk with you then? (Willy stares in silence.) (Miller 67)
If Biff would’ve made the choice himself to enroll in summer school, it becomes very likely that he passes math and graduates. Even more than that he still could have had his pick of a free ride through college. Instead, we learn that Biff makes a special trip to Boston to see his father to seek his help in dealing with his failing grade in math.
BIFF: Birnbaum refused absolutely. I begged him, Pop, but he won’t give me those points. You gotta talk to him before they close the school. Because if he saw the kind of man you are, and you just talked to him in your way, I’m sure he’d come through for me. The class came right before practice, see, and I didn’t go enough. Would you talk to him? He’d like you, Pop. You know the way you could
talk.
WILLY: You’re on. We’ll drive right back.
BIFF: Oh, Dad, good work! I’m sure he’ll change it for you (Miller 87)
Instead of teaching Biff an integral life lesson by humbling Biff and making summer school the only option, Willy instead takes it upon himself to smooth the situation over. While Biff’s high school education is never fully resolved, it is revealed that Biff did attempt other paths to success. Armed only with the behaviors reinforced by his father, the outcome for these endeavors should be of no surprise.
WILLY (confidentially, desperately): You were his friend, his boyhood friend. There’s something I don’t understand about it. His life ended after that Ebbets Field game. From the age of seventeen nothing good ever happened to him. BERNARD: He never trained himself for anything.
WILLY: But he did, he did. After high school he took so many correspondence courses. Radio mechanics; television; God knows what, and never made the slightest mark. (Miller 66)
Biff never made the mark in any of his endeavors because he was never forced to put the work into a single endeavor to be great at it. Under the tutelage of his father, becoming successful wasn’t supposed to involve many obstacles that Biff would have to overcome on his own. Any time the going got tough on Biff Loman, he would always end up back at his parent’s door to start over. It doesn’t appear that Biff ever held down a steady job to pay for these endeavors either. WILLY: Whatever happened to that diamond watch fob? Remember? When Ben came from Africa that time? Didn’t he give me a watch fob with a diamond in it? LINDA: You pawned it, dear. Twelve, thirteen years ago. For Biffs radio correspondence course. (Miller 36-37)
Even after the events in Boston, when Biff discovered who his father really was and came to resent him, Biff was still dependent on his father’s assistance to start over on a new path that would likewise prove futile. Biff Loman was an impressionable youth that hung on validation from his father. In the end, Willy Loman squanders a golden opportunity to equip Biff with every tool to be even more successful than he was. However, Willy believes he did everything correctly to set Biff up for success in the same manner that Willy believed himself to be successful. He was caught up in the exaggerated view of his own success and the means that got him to where he was. Willy failed to exercise care and caution when confronted with the most important task in being a parent in equipping his son to be ready for the challenges of the world, and that oversight would have a lasting effect on Biff Loman for years to come.