In turn, Willy makes sure that Linda has the money to pay said bills with the sales he does on his job, which become increasingly more and more difficult. The sales become more difficult because no one takes Willy seriously, instead they mock and laugh at him, and it also doesn’t help that his mind wanders off at the worst of time, like when he is driving. That almost caused him to drive into a kid, causing Willy to fill bad. Then there is Biff, the eldest son. Unlike his younger brother Happy, Biff wants nothing to do with his father after learning about Willy’s affair in their trip to Boston.
This “Low Man” literally took reality and the truth said it was otherwise. In order to save his pride, Willy lost himself in lies in order to cope with his shortcomings, which lead to his downfall and the obsession of fulfilling this impalpable dream. This trait is just one of many used to describe a tragic
Willy wants Biff to conform to ideas of the American dream, and for that, you need financial success in order to be proud and confident in who you are. This is one of Willy’s major flaws. He lives his life trying to control his sons, desperately trying to mould them into his idea of a what a successful man is. His main ‘target’ would be his
He overlooks his sons stealing as wrong. He thinks their good looks and athletic abilities will lead them to being successful. Basically he is saying, as long as you look good and are well liked you can get away with it. He misses the mark on seeing wrong and right. Biff steals a ball and Willy
We learn that Willy is a salesman, who is has only had minor success. Willy blames this on the fact that he is not well liked. In the beginning of the play Willy has had a car accident and his wife Linda wants him to ask his boss if he can work only in New York instead of having to travel. When we see Willy in a flashback he appears to be happy and affectionate with his sons, who seem to return the affection. We also learn that Willy is not that successful at being a salesman due to what he
Willy gives Biff these unrealistic idea that can never really be achieved. As an example on page 64 when Biff is going to ask for a loan from his old Boss, Willy keeps running the price to something that could never be gotten. “I see great thing for you kids, I think your troubles are over. But remember, start big and you'll end big. Ask for
Since Willy didn’t punish Biff for stealing, Biff continued to steal as if he was entitled to everything regardless of whether he deserved it or not. As Biff got older, he continued to struggle to find or keep a steady job due to the fact that Biff had a tendency to steal. Since Biff is the apple of Willy’s eyes, Biff never got punished for his wrong doing. Biff is struggling in life because Willy loved him too much that he could not correct his wrong
This cancelled his plans to be a collegiate football player. Ever since then, things have kept going on a downhill path for Biff. Willy and Linda both notice this and it devastates them. But, instead of helping his son, Willy becomes agitated for the rest of his life. He expected his son to be better but, Biff did not want to be better.
Willy often has hallucinations and get lost in his negative and depressing thoughts. Willy has many misperceptions, he believes that in order to succeed you need to be popular. The way Willy approaches life is one that sets him up to fail, and as a result he is unable to face reality. He constantly slips into illusions about his past because it is a way for him to escape reality. Right before Willy commit suicide he hallucinates about talking to Ben, “Ben: Time, William, time!
The failures of Biff directly mirror the beliefs Willy had instilled in him, such as Biff forcing himself to ignore his enjoyment of farm work in favor of Willy’s standards for success. The difference is that Biff seems to come to accept where his talents lie, at least after Willy’s death. This suggests that Biff may reach success in the future, as he will finally be chasing the right dream for him. Happy, on the other hand, is too much like his father in all the wrong ways. He takes Willy’s death as a challenge to prove to the world that Willy was doing the right things.