Biff Flashcards
How does Miller use Biff?
As a mouthpiece, as shown in his criticism of the daily grind:
“Measly manner of existence”
What is the presentation of Biff in mobile concurrency and in the present?
He has a critical impact on Willy’s well-being as he is the favoured son
What is the difference between Biff in the past and Biff in the present?
He was the boy with a golden future and captain of the football team and now he sees himself as a failure
Give a quotation to show that older Biff now sees himself as a failure.
“What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, for twenty-eight dollars a week! I’m thirty-four years old, I oughta be making’ my future”
Or
“Im not bringing home prizes anymore”
Why does Biff want to succeed?
He absorbs his father’s view of being “well-liked” and wants to succeed to please his father
how is Biff poorly influenced?
By his father’s uncritical appreciation:
- He passes of the theft of a football as initiative
- He passes off Linda’s complaints that Biff is “too rough with the girls”
Biff is a victim of Willy’s parenting style, how is Willy also a victim?
His father left him when he was young in search for gold
When did Miller suggest that Biff’s future disappeared?
When he discovered Willy’s affair with the Woman, referring to his father as a “phony little fake”
How did Biff’s dreams change as he got older?
Younger Biff was excited for a career as a salesman and following his father in “selling and buying”
Older Biff, if he is to follow the American Dream, will be living off the land or “working with his hands”, which is what Willy should have done
When does Biff have his epiphany and what is the result?
He has his epiphany after stealing Bill Oliver’s fountain pen. He begins to see more clearly and attempts to get his family to realise their delusion:
“I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you”
How can Biff be seen as a tragic hero?
His epiphany can be considered as an anagnorisis, also with some commentators suggesting that Miller is more interested in Biff’s characterisation than Willy’s
What is Biff’s view in the requiem?
Willy was “good with his hands” and so had “all the wrong dreams, all, all wrong”
