Father And Sons Flashcards
How is the father and sons theme presented?
• the general conflict between the play is through willy and his elder son biff, who showed great promise as a young athlete and ladies man. But in adulthood has become a thief and a drifter with no clear direction. Willys other son, happy, is on a more secure path, is superficial and seems to have no loyalty to anyone. Both of Willys sons have developed traits of Willys that make them a reflection of how Willy has failed.
How is the father and sons theme important?
• by delving into Willys memories the play is able to trace how the values Willy instilled in his sons - luck over hard work, likability over expertise - led them to dissapoint both him and themselves as adults. Biff realises, at the climax of the play, that only shattering his father’s dreams that Willy has instilled in him will father and son be free to persue fulfilling lives. Happy never realises this, and promises that he continues to follow in his father’s footsteps. Persuing the American dream that will leave him empty and alone.
“Work a ________ to pay off a house. And there’s nobody to _____ in it”
Lifetime
Live
• this direct foreshadowing of the ending perfectly portrays the realistic viewpoint of the American dream. Willy, working all his life, has missed out on most of his children’s lives which makes them so distant. After this moment, Willy tells Linda “some people accomplish things” suggesting the time he has lost with his children has resulted to nothing. He hasn’t accomplished anything, quite possibly because he is searching in the wrong places. Miller uses the two sons as an architect to construct the distant disillusionment willy is living in while trying to persue an impossible lifestyle of the ‘American dream’.
“I even believed _______ that I’d be a __________ for him! And he gave me one look and - I realised what a __________ lie my whole life has been!”
Myself
Salesman
Ridiculous
• biff, in this passage, returns from trying to meet with his old boss bill oliver. He waited all day in his office and waited for bill, but when bill came out he didn’t even recognise biff. He looked at him and walked away. This causes biff to have a moment of self reflection on how he even ought he could become a salesman. This puts biff in the same self destructive cycle as his father. Parallel to Willys moment with Howard, biff has been abandoned by someone he had an idealised view of. But, similar to his father, biffs dreams have warped his expectations of reality. Bill does not care about him, and biff will never be what he truly wants to be.
“But it’ll go on _______!… dad is never so _______ as when he’s looking forward to something!”
Forever
Happy
• after telling happy the encounter he had with bill oliver, biff reveals that he stole the fountain pen. Biff then tells happy that he wants to confess to their father so that Willy can see that biff is very different from what he appears to be. Happy suggests that instead of telling Willy the truth, they convince him that bill has opted to think about their offer. Happy knows that his father’s joy and hinged self worth hinges on his dreams, so he encourages his brother to lie in order to keep their father happy. Biff feels he needs to prove something to their father whom he always felt never understood him.
“You - you gave her ______ ________!”
Mamas stocking
• in this passage willy sinks into another memory where biff finds out about his fathers infidelity. He understands that the woman whom Willy had an affair with asks for his mother’s stockings. Biff is heartbroken. Once again, the stockings are used as a symbol of betrayal. They are an image of what biff and willy will carry with them, an emblem of that night. After that moment biff tells Willy that he won’t be retaking math. Throughout the play Willy blames biffs failure of math on why he hasn’t been successful. When in fact, it was this shattering moment of disillusionment. The man that biff looked up to is now a frauds. This forever warps biffs idea of the American dream the idea of his father. He now sees that is all a sham and is left directionless in life.
“I’ve got to get some ______ right away. Nothings ________. I don’t have a thing in the ground”.
Seeds
Planted
• Willys fantasy about the affair dissolves and he finds himself in the bathroom of the restaurant where he was in with sons. Once he returns to the table, his sons have left and have paid the bill, leaving him alone. In urgency he asks the waiter where he can acquire seeds. Seeds in the play become a symbol of city versus nature power dynamic but also a symbol of Willys desire to leave something, no matter how small. Within this passage we see the respect his sons have for their father has came to a complete despair, echoing how their relationship with their father has deteriorated the further Willy has gone in an attempt accomplish his idealised version of the AD. The simple planting and reaping of seeds represents the idea of finding truth and connection within the very root of your own life. Just how seeds root and come through the surface. Willy is desperate for these roots and for growth, seeing death and the planting of seeds to repair his son’s relationship.
“Will you let me go for christs sakes? Will you take that ______ ______ and burn it before something happens?”
Phony dream
• biff and happy return home in this passage and Linda is furious with them both for leaving their father. She tells them they must leave and move out in a last ditch attempt to save their father. Willy cannot look at his sons and be content as he sees a reflection of himself within themselves and he despises this. After all, happy holds Willys very worst traits. Biff approaches Willy, who is stuck in a fantasy world. Biff then continues to grab the rubber hose which Willy attempted to kill himself with earlier in the play. Iterating that his father killing himself wont make him a hero, and that he has been living in a fantasy. Biff then begs his father to let go of his dreams to save his own life. In this moment, biff attempts to shatter his fathers dreams from a place of love. Biff understands that Willys delusions of what life should be like are killing him.
“You know something Charley, there’s ______ of him in that stoop than in all the ______ he’s ever made.”
More
Sales
• after Willys funeral biff brings up the fact that Willy had a knack for carpentry as one of his better qualities. So much of their home is Willys making, and this moment suggests that Willy had skills outside of his failed sales career. Although, at the exposition audiences are introduced to the “seemingly fragile home” which reflects Willys own state and how he built it. However, Willy was too caught up in his own pursuit of wealth, and his idea of success, to see it. This moment is biffs way of attempting to remember the good in his father, both to celebrate him and in many ways, protect himself from the harsh truth that his father was in fact a fraud committed of infidelity. He is his father’s son, and he sees so much of his own failure as a result of that.
