Biff Loman is the eldest son of Willy Loman in the play
Death of a Salesman. Biff is a man in his thirties, and who has no
direction in life. He is still somewhat of a co-dependent child in that, at the time
that the play begins, he is staying at his parents' home with his slightly younger
brother, and they are still sharing a bedroom like they used to do when they were
children.
When Biff was in high school, he hoped to be "the
pride and joy" of his father, Willy. However, Willy's own ideals of pride and joy rested
unanimously on merely being well-liked, popular, and slick. While Biff continuously
followed his father's canon of life, he was unaware that Willy was not living up his own
standards: First, Biff found out that his father was cheating on his mother. Second,
every one of Willy's and Biff's combined dreams of fame and popularity came crashing
down when they both realized that Biff's bad grade in Math would not be changed just by
"being well-liked." Hence, Biff suffered the consequences of not being admitted to
college, and not playing football anymore.
Willy prolonged
the fantasy that Biff was meant to be something quite great. He and Biff were both
disappointed. Biff realized that he had acted out his Dad's fantasies and that they were
just that: fantasies.
One must wonder if, after Willy's
death, Biff changed in any way internally. He must have gone through quite a shock when
he realized that his life was a fantasy created by his father. One also wonders whether
he will ever be prepared to carry on a life made of self-sacrifice to accept reality.
After all, this is the story of a young man who is lost, and had been led by someone who
was even more lost than he was.
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