Arthur Miller's "The Death of a Salesman" is a play filled with interesting and complex characters. Characters, who change our feelings and opinions about throughout the course of the play. One such character, who has generated quite a discussion, is Biff.
To put it plain and simple: Biff is not lazy. If Biff were lazy, he would not be working at all. As it is, he has worked many jobs, and the only reason he does not maintain a job is the fact that he is restless; that he still feels the need to live up to his father's expectations rather than his own, rather than being lazy. Growing up, Biff was driven by his father. He idolized his father and never questioned him. This is why he got into the habits of cheating or stealing when necessary. This does not make these actions right, but at the same time, he was never really taught right from wrong in these aspects. It is this heightened view of his father that led Biff not to go to summer school in order to graduate. His father essentially died to him when he went to Boston. Biff was now utterly lost, and so, in a sense, Linda turns out to be right about him in the end, Biff's struggle, in its basic form was really to find himself.
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5 comments:
Hi Nicole,
Great blog! I agree that Biff was not lazy and that he, in fact, was trying to find himself amidst his father's strong influence throughout his childhood. Likewise, Biff seemingly has his father's drive to keep trying, in his case, to find something, such as a job, that he is destined to do.
Hey Nicole, I liked your blog a lot. It is short but too the point and precise. Very articulate. I agree with you that Biff is not lazy. I like when you say"As it is, he has worked many jobs, and the only reason he does not maintain a job is the fact that he is restless; that he still feels the need to live up to his father's expectations rather than his own, rather than being lazy." Although I agree that it is understandable for Biff to be angry at his father I do think that Biff should have forgiveness and should of helped his father out in his old age.
Hi Nicole!
While I agree with your central point that Biff is not lazy, he does have character flaws that are not directly related to his father. For example, he is a misogynist and a kleptomaniac, the latter of which caused his dismissal from his jobs. While Biff has gone through a lot of hardship since high school, it is not entirely fair to blame all of his problems on his father.
I like your blog! <3 YAY! I think you make some great points. I agree with you that Biff is not lazy. It is tragic, however, that he and Willy could not come to some kind of resolve sooner though. But the Lomans are a very dysfunctional family to say the least!
Nicole! Good point, Biff is not lazy, he is simply unmotivated and there is not much an individual can do about that. He need to do what he wants and not what someone says he should want.
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