![]() ![]() ![]() After tomorrow, just pretend that Oliver is thinking it over for a few weeks, and then just let it fade away. Hap tells Biff to just lie and pretend that he's got a lunch meeting with Oliver tomorrow. It's not intentional - he just can't help being a flop. Biff wants to explain that he's not a failure, just to spite Willy. He asks Hap to help him tell Willy what happened. 81 Biff was so mad at Oliver's dismissal and so upset about his realization that, without meaning to, he stole Oliver's gold fountain pen and ran away. He tells Hap, "We've been talking in a dream for fifteen years." Act 2, Part 5, pg. Meeting with Oliver made him realize that his whole life has been a lie he, Willy, and Hap had made themselves seem more important than they ever really were. Biff realized while he waited for him that he'd never been a salesman for Oliver - he'd been a shipping clerk. While she's gone, Biff explains that he waited six hours to see Oliver and then the man didn't even remember him. Once he has her attention, he tells her to cancel her plans and find a friend so the four of them can go out together, and she goes to make some phone calls. ![]() To get the girl interested in Biff, Hap tells her that Biff's the quarterback for the Giants and lies that he (Hap) went to West Point. While Hap waits for Biff and Willy to arrive, a pretty woman walks in and Hap hits on her until Biff gets there. Hap tells the waiter that his brother, a big cattleman from out West, is in town, so bring out lobster and champagne. At least, that's what Death of a Salesman seems to argue.Happy and a waiter set up a table in the private part of Frank's Chop House, where he, Biff, and Willy are planning to meet for dinner. Just as Willy is unable to understand or even love his son, America as a whole is unable to understand those who value simple pleasures over the rat race. Sadly, Miller seems to say, Americans (Biff, in this case) are made the victims of the country's success. He wants his dad to stop being such a deluded twerp. He wants to be seen and loved for who he is. Rather than seeking money and success, Biff wants a more basic life. Willy is simply unable to accept the truth.īiff reminds us that the American Dream is not every man's dream. Yet, despite his insight and honesty, Biff is unable to communicate openly with his father. In one shouting match with Willy, he says that he can't hold a job because his dad made him so arrogant as a boy that he can't handle taking orders from a boss. Unlike his father and brother, Biff is self-aware and values the truth. While Biff is in some ways desperate to impress and please his dad, he also realizes that Willy has flawed, materialistic dreams that Biff is neither able nor desires to achieve. When we meet him in the play, he's 34 years old and has finally realized just how bad Willy messed him up. He started working on ranches in the West, but couldn't hold a job because he kept stealing from his bosses. Biff bailed on summer school and the math credit. Once again, Willy had a bad effect on his son's life. However, right about that time Biff caught his dad cheating on his mom, and it made him go kind of crazy. He could've taken a summer course and made everything all right. Things might have worked out for Biff even though he flunked math. Without the math credit, Biff couldn't graduate and therefore couldn't take his football scholarship to college. A lot of this was due to the fact that Willy let him get away with anything and never encouraged him to do well in school. However, he never put much energy into his schoolwork and failed math as a senior. Biff was a hotshot in high school as the star football player. The deal with Biff is that he's Willy's oldest son and the one whom Willy seems to be really crazy about. Why? Because he shows real initiative on the personal development front. Despite these shortcomings, however, we can't help but like Biff. He can't hold down a job, he steals from all of his employers, and he even went to jail. Sure, Biff is also flawed, just like everyone else. In fact, he's the only character in the book who shows any real personal growth. He's not just the big, dumb lump that his name might make you imagine. (Click the character infographic to download.)ĭon't let Biff's tough-guy name deceive you. ![]()
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