Biff Flashcards
“Biff, his life is…
in your hands!” - Linda Act1, pg.47
AO2: Metaphor
Willy: “Why? Why? Bernard, that question has been trailing me like…
a ghost for the last fifteen years. He flunked the subject, and laid down and died like a hammer hit him!”
Act 2, pg. 73
AO2: Simile and metaphor. It haunts Willy because he knows that he is the reason. The ‘hammer’ that hits Biff is metaphorically Willy’s affair.
“I realized what a ridiculous lie my…
whole life has been. We’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years.” - Biff to Happy act 2, pg. 82
AO2: Metaphor emphasises how unrealistic they’ve been about life. Dream alludes to the American dream.
AO3: The American dream can be distorted. It created false hope. The American Dream is a social issue because it over-emphasizes the role of the individual in their pursuit towards success without acknowledging social constraints; such as socioeconomic, racial or gender inequality, which can inhibit certain groups of people from achieving that same dream. Biff is realizing this.
AO4: Biff’s anagnorisis - also what Miller wants to audience to realize.
Biff’s moment of anagnorisis
Act 2, p.g.105
Biff: “I ran down eleven flights with a pen in my hand today. And suddenly I stopped, you hear me? “ (Miller getting the audience to listen)
“I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw - the sky”
AO2: The fountain pen that Biff steals from Oliver is symbolic for business/capitalism and signing contrast. In contrast, the Sky is symbolising freedom, and in this moment Biff realises business and the American Dream isn’t what he wants, he wants to be free. And so he breaks free.
“What am I doing in an office, making a…
contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is right out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!” Act 2, p.g. 105
AO2: Rhetorical questions
AO4: Biff’s anagnorisis
AO3: A reflection of how the system has made him feel (a fool)
biff: Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you! Act2, p.g.105
Biff: “I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you”
AO2: Idiom: Something that is common and easily obtainable. The phrase “a dime a dozen” refers to a thing that has little value and is cheap.
AO4: Links to status, Biff’s anagnorisis and Willy’s myopia.
Biff: “And I never got anywhere because you…
blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody!”
Biff: “He had all the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong.” Requiem
Juxtaposes Happy’s outcome. Biff has broken free from the cycle, providing a sense of hope.
Willy: “Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace!” Act 1 p.g. 11
Ironic as Willy is loosing himself
Willy: “A star like that…
,magnificent, can never really fade away!”
ACT1 p.g.54
AO2: Metaphor, Willy reminiscing Biff’s greatness.
Raymond Reno
The action of the play lies in Willy’s efforts to regain the worship Biff once gave him
What was Biff’s highest moment, before his peripeteia>
The Ebbets Field game (episode in act 2, section 4)
Willy: “This is the greatest day of his life.” pg.70 (during his episode)
Willy: “His life ended after that Ebbets Field game.” pg 72 (to Bernard in present time)
What was significant about Biff’s sneakers?
ACt 2, section 4, pg74
Bernard talking to Willy about the change in Biff when he returned from visiting Willy in Boston
Bernard: “remember those sneakers with ‘University if Virginia’ printed on them? He was so proud of those, wore them every day. And then he took them down in the cellar, and burned them up in the furnace.”
Biff metaphorically burning his dream
“but in these days bears a worn air and seems less self-assured… his dreams are stronger and less acceptably than Happy’s”
pg14
Willy’s fixation with Biff
“I’ll get him a job selling. He could be big in no time.” pg11
“Remember how they used to follow him around in high school? When he smiled at one of them their faces lit up. When he walked down the street…. (He loses himself in reminiscences). pg11
“I’ll put my money on Biff” pg13
“…it’s a measly manner of existence… to devote your whole life to keeping stock, or making phone calls, or selling or buying… when all you really desire is to be outdoors, with your shirt off.”
pg16
Element of anagnorosis
metaphorically wants to escape/desires freedom
“I’m like a boy. I’m not married, I’m not in business, I’m just - I’m like a boy.” pg17
Biff’s repeated phrase reveals his sense of aimlessness and failure to embrace adulthood and the expectations placed upon him by his father and society and rejection of the traditional path to success.
The American Dream: Biff’s words reflect the broader themes of the play, which explore the disillusionment with the American Dream and the struggle to find meaning and success in a capitalist society.
Contrast with Happy: Biff’s statement contrasts with his brother Happy, who, despite having a job, also feels unfulfilled and trapped in a rat race, seeking validation through superficial means.
Stealing
“I wonder if Oliver still thinks I stole that carton of basketballs.” pg20
pg39
Willy: “Go right over to where they’re building the apartment house and get some sand. We’re gonna rebuild the entire front stoop…
Charlery: “Listen, if they steal any more from that building the watchman’ll put the cops on them”
Willy: “I gave them hell, understand. But I got a couple of fearless characters there.”
Charley: “Willy, the jails are full of fearless characters.”
- foreshadowing Biff’s arrest
“Biff, a man is not a bird, to come and go with the springtime.”
pg43
Linda is trying to encourage Biff to find a stable job and a sense of purpose, rather than living a life of constant flux and uncertainty.
The “bird” metaphor highlights the idea of a transient, carefree existence, which Linda believes is unsuitable for a man who needs to build a life and provide for himself.
This quote touches on several themes in the play: the importance of work and stability, the failure of the American Dream, and the struggles of finding one’s place in the world.
Biff’s megalopsychia
Willy reminicing on Biff when the team came out at the Ebbets Field game: “Like a young god. Hercules… and the sun, the sun all around him.” “A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away.”
The Ebbets Feild game
“This is the greatest day of his life.” pg70
“His life ended after that Ebetts Field game” pg72
Biff’s highest moment - his turning point/peripetia
(crying, broken) “Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?”
Pg106: Reveals his frustration with his father, Willy, and his obsession with the American Dream, which Biff sees as a false and destructive ideal
Biff labels Willy’s vision of success as a “phony dream,” suggesting that it is artificial, unrealistic, and ultimately unattainable.
Biff’s plea, “burn it before something happens,” implies that Willy’s fixation on the dream could lead to a catastrophic outcome, potentially harming both himself and his family.
