![]() For example, Biff strongly believes that he is not a shipping clerk, rather a salesman for Oliver. Unlike his brother, Happy, Biff is not a womanizer just he has inherited his father’s tendency to exaggerate and manipulate things in his favor. Likewise, he can not change the fact that his father loved him. His tragedy lies in the very fact that even though he does his best to dissociate from Willy, but he can not deny the fact that Willy is his father. Rather, he hates anything of his father and anything that he represents. He, now, neither believes in his philosophy nor goes with Willy’s great fantasies for success. Once he comes to know about his affair, he considered his father as “fake” (Miller 39) and rejected his philosophy of life. For example, when Biff steals the football, instead of disciplining his son, Willy encourages his initiative.īiff’s perception of Willy as his ideal father destroys after his Boston trip. Hence it is not surprising that Biff’s weakness for stealing continued throughout his adult life simply because Willy encouraged his little theft when he was growing up. As a consequence of this, Biff grew up believing that he is not bounded by any social norms as Willy is not, neither does Willy expect Biff to be. Biff never questioned Willy even when he is completely aware that Willy is going against the norm. He believed all of Willy’s stories and accepted his philosophy of life that a person can be successful only if he is “well-liked” (Miller 32). Prior to his Boston trip, Biff adorned his father. This is the conflict that lies at the soul of the play. Through his illusions, Willy can not see that what he is planning for Biff is impossible, and Biff can not be successful that way. He wants to be outside on a cattle ranch while his father wants him to see behind the corporate desks. Biff always has this internal struggle between pleasing his father and doing what he feels is right. Willy wants his son to become successful in business. Whenever Willy is unable to bear the present, he recoils in the past, and Biff usually remains present there. Taken in that sense, Biff can be considered as a catalyst of the play. Willy’s thoughts and actions and his memories, in particular, are driven by Biff. This, in fact, has been the driving force of the plot of the play. The entire play revolves around Biff’s conflict with his father, Willy. He is markedly different from his brother, Happy, who continually urges to prove his parents are right and hence never been able to break through his father’s fantasy world. In his senior years, he flunked in mathematics and so could not complete his graduation. He was a star football player in high school and had scholarships from two universities. ![]() ![]() The play shows Biff in his early mid-thirties and is an embodiment of a clear-minded person who comes to terms with the somber facts of life at the end of the play.
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