This makes willy feel guilty as he was caught by biff in boston having an affair, which resulted in biff not attending summer school and flunking school altogether. Willy gets so upset as Bernard because he feels Bernard is putting the blame on him for his families disfunctionality.Why does willy refuse charleys job?Willy rejects the job from charley out of pride. Willy is too proud to accept that he needs a
* Willy’s contrasting statements on Biff ’s work ethic show how his hopes for Biff have been dashed, but also his capacity for self-delusion. He can’t accept that Biff has turned out to be something other than a great man of the world because he can’t let go of his American Dream of huge success for himself and his sons. * Willy’s car accidents, at this stage of the play, seem to point to his increasing age and physical fragility. As the play progresses, they will come to mean more. * The original American Dream involved proving and making a life for yourself by heading out into the wilds of nature, as Willy’s father and older brother Ben did, and as Willy himself sometimes wishes he did.
They both know that Willy has a job as a traveling salesman, but that he is no longer making enough to support his family. Out of pride Willy rejects Charley’s offer, but Charley insists on offering him the job again later. Furthermore, Willy creates disputes during the card game and at Charley’s office. Immediately following his immature tantrum, Willy expresses his frustration and disappointment about his inability to support his family as well as the downfall of Biff’s potential. Despite Willy’s immature and stubborn behavior, Charley does his best to console Willy and offer assistance as needed- he provides Willy with the money he needs to support
In "Death of a salesman" by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman plays a character with characteristics that haunt people of modern America. His delusions fused with his superficial views of life is a concoction for the downfall of himself, and his sons Biff, and Happy. Willy Loman is delusional about how to be successful, and how to live a successful life. Willy displays his delusions in many ways, for example: personal attractiveness and charisma outweigh hard work and dedication. Bernard reveals to Willy that Biff is going to fail his class if he doesn't "Buckle down" and begin to study, to Bernard's astonishment and dismay, Willy responds by saying to Linda: "There’s nothing the matter with him!
If I did not mention earlier Brice Gilchrist my father is a farmer who barely makes enough to put food on the table. Even though we can barely afford to live my father can save enough money for himself to gamble and go bear baiting. Which makes me mad. Anyhow I put on my clothes and had to skip breakfast because I was running so late. It’s not like I was missing much anyways.
The reason Biff comes home is because he wants to find out what he can do with his life. Willy just ends up getting in the way and slows Biff down. Even though Willy sometimes shows that he might not like Biff , “ No one ever questioned his loyalty to his family and his firm”(Brown 160). Willy argues with Biff because he wants him to succeed and to make a man of himself. Biff is not too different from Willy, but they have different ideas of success.
Flashbacks.WL tortures himself with shame over own inadequacies leading to suicide. | Downfall: blinded, exiledOed constantly tries to uncover his past. Asks others.Oed tries to live up to honourable position but past unravels causing downfall. | when virtue does not triumph(efforts to do good do not bear fruit) | Bad judgement callsWL: pins false sense of hope on Biff ("A million! ")WL: pride (relives own and Biff's past glory)WL: avoids the truth/reality, vents frustration with own failure on other charactersWL: ego - makes bad choices (Charley offers job, he chooses not to accept) | Bad judgement callsOed: seeks false sense of hope from Jocata (constantly seeks solace/reassurance)Oed: pride (hubris), forces the ugly truth to be revealed.Oed: actively seeks the truth/reality, wrongly judges other charactersOed: ego - belittles Tiresias, boasts about beating fate | still felt that man is nobler than(tragic hero) | Actions to improve selfWL: effort to rectify failure (vicariously through Biff), achieve success (struggle to provide affluence for family: seeds)WL: suicide (in his mind, it is a noble act - provide a "diamond" for Biff), in reality it was needlessWL: redeeming qualities(good with hands
He is not of noble birth; He is just the average guy. He does however make an error in judgment that leads to his son’s failure and ultimately to his own decline. Willy is having an affair and when Biff finds out, it crushes him. The love between Father and son is destroyed. Biff then decides that he is not going to finish school and therefore does not become successful, which was his Father’s big dream.
Character Flaws Oedipus the King and Death of a Salesman two plays depicting the inability of the main characters to accept the reality of their situation, often times using excuses or delusions to protect themselves from danger. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus finds himself blind to the truth of his life, and his family origin. Arthur Miller’s play, The Death of a Salesman, narrates the story of a tragic character so captivated in his false belief that reality and illusion merge, resulting in an internal struggle that leads to his downfall. Each play represents the internal battle of a man struggling to come to terms with his own, bitter reality and departing from his fantasy world. In selecting the frailty of illusion over the constancy of reality, the protagonists meet their inevitable disaster.
At the exact moment he witnesses his father's betrayal, Biff's once optimistic personality is shattered. He finally realizes that his father may not be so perfect after all when he exclaims, “You fake! You phony little fake!”(Act 2) The once ideal and outgoing son does not exist now as Biff is compelled to seek the truth about himself. From this point on he becomes his own independent person and abandons the image of Dads little boy as he loses hope in himself to achieve the American dream. The families life is never the same.