Biff’s Identity and Essence in Death of a Salesman
What would it be like to have no personal identity? Human nature is fundamentally oriented toward self-acceptatance and self-understanding. Without these, one feels inadequate and lost. This is certainly the case for poor Biff Loman in “Death of a Salesman,” because Biff’s father Willy simply cannot accept him. Biff is forced to be someone he is not for so long that he loses his true self altogether. As a result, he falls into a despair he cannot understand the genesis of. Additionally, Willy ruins Biff’s future and character. Beyond all the other characters of the play, Willy hurts Biff the most because Willy attacks Biff’s fundamental identity.
Willy in effect steals Biff’s identity by forcing Biff to be the person he himself wants to be. Willy lives vicariously through Biff’s accomplishments, wishing they were his own. Eventually, Willy so appropriates Biff that Biff’s accomplishments are, in a way, his own. Willy speaks about a memory of Biff saying:
“Like a young god. Hercules-- something like that. And the sun, the sun all around him. Remember how he waved to me? Right up from the field with the representatives of three colleges standing by? And the buyers I brought, and the cheers when he came out-- Loman, Loman, Loman! God Almighty, he’ll be great yet. A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away” (51).
Willy evidently thought the world of Biff when Biff was an accomplished highschooler, and Biff even reciprocated these feelings at that age. However, when Biff grows up, Willy no longer sees him as living up to his potential. Biff likewise no longer admires his father. Unfortunately, Biff spends his whole life doing what his father wants him to do, and after letting go of Willy, he has no identity, no great goal, no dream, and seemingly no future. Both Willy and Biff have expended their entire lives and imaginations upon this false “magnificent” Biff, who doesn’t really exist. The two had been one, and when they let
Willy in effect steals Biff’s identity by forcing Biff to be the person he himself wants to be. Willy lives vicariously through Biff’s accomplishments, wishing they were his own. Eventually, Willy so appropriates Biff that Biff’s accomplishments are, in a way, his own. Willy speaks about a memory of Biff saying:
“Like a young god. Hercules-- something like that. And the sun, the sun all around him. Remember how he waved to me? Right up from the field with the representatives of three colleges standing by? And the buyers I brought, and the cheers when he came out-- Loman, Loman, Loman! God Almighty, he’ll be great yet. A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away” (51).
Willy evidently thought the world of Biff when Biff was an accomplished highschooler, and Biff even reciprocated these feelings at that age. However, when Biff grows up, Willy no longer sees him as living up to his potential. Biff likewise no longer admires his father. Unfortunately, Biff spends his whole life doing what his father wants him to do, and after letting go of Willy, he has no identity, no great goal, no dream, and seemingly no future. Both Willy and Biff have expended their entire lives and imaginations upon this false “magnificent” Biff, who doesn’t really exist. The two had been one, and when they let