11/29/2023 0 Comments Biff loman ageNext Section Act I.1 Summary and Analysis Previous Section Themes Buy Study Guide How To Cite in MLA Format Ross, Jeremy. All of Willy's feelings of self-worth and identity come from doing better than the next guy, and to realize that he is no different than anyone else would be to realize that his life was false. Willy refuses to believe this, cannot believe this. I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman! Willy, Act IIīiff has just cried that he is a dime a dozen, and so is his father. Willy did die in vain, and Happy cannot change that. Perhaps he will succeed - but more likely, he too will fail. But now Happy has the urge to try, to become something. This shows that Happy has become the idealist, while Biff is leaving town to start over as a man who accepts his mediocrity. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him. It's the only dream you can have - to come out number-one man. I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. This leads to his obsession with seeds late in the play - it is too late to grow anything for his sons, but at least he can plant some vegetables, something that will outlast him and provide some use. He worked for 40 years and has nothing to show for it. Willy realizes that his whole career has built up to nothing. Willy's illusions about success impacted every part of his sons' lives. Biff has spent his life trying to live up to - or react against - an impossible falsehood and a vision of himself that never existed. This is Biff coming to terms with the fact that his father's illusions of success for him were truly just illusions and nothing more. I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been. It is this realization - along with the realization that he has a life insurance policy with a large premium - that drives him to suicide. He never earned enough to save anything, and he didn't build, and he didn't grow, and now that his job is done he has nothing left. Willy is bemoaning the worthlessness of all his years of work. Willy gave his youth to the company, and now the company must take care of him.Īfter all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive. He is arguing directly to his employer that there must be responsibility taken for employees. But Willy's appeal is not for some abstraction of attention or dignity. This is Willy's articulation of Linda's "attention must be paid" speech. You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit. No man should die without feeling he mattered. The thesis of Linda's speech - and of Salesman as a whole - is that all men deserve respect and attention. This is the play's direct cry to human dignity. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person. He's not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. He's not the finest character that ever lived. He does not speak normal words, but is the personification of a symbol - Willy has attached all his ideas of success and worth to the abstract concept of his brother Ben, whether Ben merited it or not. Although Willy is the first one to use this line, Ben repeats it many times throughout the play, making it clear that Ben is only a figment of Willy's imagination. The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he's rich! Willy, regarding Ben. In this quote, we see that Willy's belief in personal connections has been transferred to his sons as well, as they dismiss their friend Bernard for only garden-variety likability. But only great men, according to Willy, are truly well-liked - and that is what brings them success. Most people are liked by their friends and acquaintances. ![]() Willy's recipe for success is based entirely around a cult of personality. When he discovers that he isn't vital anywhere, his worldview crumbles. He believes himself to be vital to the company, but in reality it's the company that's vital to him and his feelings of self worth. He isn't the man who does sales for New England - he's the New England man. Willy's self-definition is centered around his career.
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