Miller\'s \"Death of a Salesman\"

¶ … Miller's "Death of a Salesman" and the birth of Biff Loman

Although the title of Arthur Miller's play "A Death of a Salesman" refers to the character of the play's father, Willy Loman, the play could also be subtitled, "The Birth of Biff Loman." At the end of the play, Willy Loman commits a kind of passive form of suicide. Willy has changed little over the course of the play, still believing that monetary rewards, like his brother Ben's diamonds or the successes of the most notable salesmen of the firm he worked for, are the most important things in life -- almost as important as being "well liked." But the final scene of the play, where his wife Linda mourns that the Loman family is "free and clear" of debt, as a result of Willy's life insurance policy, although they have no happiness as a family, illustrates the fact that Willy's beliefs about death and life are false and bring little true satisfaction to the persons who care about him in a meaningful way. (Miller, p.125-126)

In contrast to his father, Biff truly confronts who he is as a person. Biff admits to Happy, his brother, in their first extended dialogue over the course of the play that he has been living like an adolescent, breaking horses out West. In his final, harsh confrontation with his father he calls both Willy and himself failures at life. But this sense of failure is also liberating for Biff, as Biff finally frees himself of his father's expectations as to how he should live. Thus Biff is the play's true protagonist and hero, as he undergoes the most major shift in terms of his character development.

Biff's main dilemma as a character is how should he live, given that the models offered by his father's example, his cousin Bernard, and his Uncle Ben are either false, impossible for him to follow, or illusions of his father's over-active imagination. Biff begins the play, as seen through his father's memories, a shallow and careless football hero. Biff has, with Willy's approval, few ethics about his schooling, and Willy does not care how his son graduates from high school, so long as Biff becomes a well-liked sports star in college. But after Biff fails math, his self-image is shaken. When Biff discovers that his seemingly perfect father, whose word he used to trust completely, has been cheating on his mother Linda, all of Biff's dreams and aspirations are called into question. Biff deliberately gives up all chances of graduating from high school, and leaves his college dreams behind.

For a long time, Biff feels some anxiety about his chosen lifestyle out West. He enjoys the freedom of his rootless life, but feels somewhat guilty that he has given up so much, after so much was expected of the early promise he showed. His cousin Bernard, less athletic but more studious, has distinguished himself as a lawyer. His Uncle Ben, Willy's idol, found diamonds while wandering in the wilderness, while Biff has only, in his view, wasted his time doing very little, and making very little money.

When he comes back to see his parents, Biff contemplates going into business with his unethical brother Happy, who is very much like a younger version of Willy. But after a certain point, Biff realizes that this would simply be, in his words, "trying to become what I don't want to be." (Miller, p.125) Unlike Willy, forever trying to please others and make a show of his status, Biff refuses to lie. "Pop," he says to his father, who has falsely indulged him, idolized him, and despised him all of his life, "I'm nothing. I'm nothing, Pop. Can't you understand that? There's no spite in it any more I'm just what I am that's all." (Miller, p.125) Biff sees that, although he originally took to the open road to spite his adulterous father, he is not wasting his life -- rather he has found himself. He is not an academic type of person, striving to please the world like Bernard, nor does he care if he is rich or well liked. Biff simply wishes to be himself.