Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
In Death of a Salesman, a play written by Arthur Miller, Miller reflects the theme that every man needs to be honest with him self and act in accordance with his nature by displaying success and failure in different lights. Miller embodies the theme through characters in the play by explaining how their success and failures in being true to themselves help shapes their fates. Strongest evidence of Miller’s theme is reflected in the characteristics of Biff Loman, Benard, and Willy Loman. Through out the play, these three characters never give way to other’s influence and what other’s view of being successful is.
Biff Loman, son of Willy Loman, is a man who begins the play blinded about the nature of him self. Taught to be well liked and stand out by his father, Biff’s whole life goal is to live up to Willy’s expectations and make Willy proud of him. After a visit to Boston to see his father, a trip to confess his failure in math soon turns into Biff’s self-realization about his true nature once catching Willy with a mistress. In a argument with Willy, Biff states, “And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is (1855).” Biff is confronting Willy about certain actions he has taken in his life after high school. Why he never graduated from high school, why he never became a successful businessman like Willy always wanted him to be, why he ran off out west and became a nobody in Willy’s mind. “I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you. You were never anything but a hard-working drummer who landed in the ash can like all the rest of them! I’m one dollar and hour, Willy! I tried seven states and couldn’t raise it. A buck an hour! Do you gather my meaning? I’m not bringing home any prizes any more, and you’re going to stop waiting for me to bring them home,” Biff states (1856). Here Biff is finally laying on Willy that he is not a businessman, a super star, or a leader. Biff is attempting to clarify to Willy that Biff knows what he really is, what he really likes, and why he did the things he did after high school. Willy could not force Biff to be something he is