![]() “Sure, we’d be known all over the counties!” exclaims Biff as he discusses his plan of building a ranch with his brother.īiff soon decides to visit Bill Oliver, his former employer, to try to get a job for himself to support his parents. He is thus conflicted between choosing an occupation of his interest and choosing one that receives the approval of his father and also earns him an income.Īlthough Biff seems to understand himself and his family better than others, often he too falls victim to Willy’s habit of altering reality, and gets carried away with Happy’s magnificent, unrealistic ideas, and also contributes to them. Biff exhibits a strong inclination towards jobs that require manual labor and shows disinterest towards desk jobs. His relations with his father are strained, partly due to his knowledge about Willy’s extra-marital affair, and partly due to Willy’s discontent and disapproval with his son’s life choices. “Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace.” He is unemployed and is mocked by his father for him. He is unsuccessful in his life, and thus dissatisfied with it. However, this incident snaps him out of the illusionary world in which the whole Loman family is living, and thus Biff eventually comes to be the only one who understands, as well as makes an effort towards bringing his father and the others out of their façade.Ī man of thirty-four, Biff now “bears a worn air and seems less self-assured”. His trust in his father suffers a great blow, and along with this, his confidence in himself is also destroyed. He realizes that his father is nothing but a “phony little fake”. However, when Biff, in an unfortunate series of events, discovers that Willy has been having an affair with a strange woman, his world comes crashing down. Biff initially believes in his father’s lies and thus takes part in his delusionary world, simultaneously developing the same habit of over glorifying his reality and counting his chickens before they hatch. This justification of Biff’s actions later develops in Biff a compulsive tendency to steal, due to which he also later ends up spending three months in jail. When Willy learns that Biff has stolen a basketball from the school locker room, he laughs at his theft and further encourages it saying ,”Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative.” It is seen that Willy encourages Biff and takes his side even when he is wrong. His attractive, masculine features make him popular in the school, adding to his self-confidence and pride. He is always praised and congratulated by his father, due to which he develops an exalted sense of self. Willy adores him and has great hopes and aspirations for him, and Biff too idolizes his father and sees him as a perfect role model. Biff is destined to no greatness, but he no longer has to struggle to understand what he wants to do with his life.As a teenager, Biff seems to be the apple of Willy’s eye. Willy shouts, "I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman!"Īt the end of the play, Biff realizes the illusions that Willy lived on. This conflict is the main material of the play.Įventually, Biff finally sees the truth and realizes that he is a "dime a dozen" and "no great leader of men." He tells this to Willy who is outraged. Through the illusions that Willy believes, he cannot see that Biff is a nobody and not bound to be successful as defined by Willy. Biff wants to be outside on a cattle ranch, and Willy wants him behind a corporate desk. Willy wants dearly for Biff to become a business success, although Biff has an internal struggle between pleasing his father and doing what he feels is right. But now, he has come home and the problems begin. He was even jail for stealing a suit once. Biff then became a drifter and was lost for fifteen years. ![]() This shock changed Biff's view of his father and everything that Biff believed in. He was going to make the credit up during the summer but caught Willy being unfaithful to Linda. He flunked math his senior year and was not allowed to graduate. Biff was a star football player in high school, with scholarships to two major universities. ![]() ![]() Biff Loman is Willy's son and it is the conflict between the two that the story of the play revolves around.
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