Arthur Miller's Biff in Death of a Salesman.
Biff is an intricately structured individual who is not the slightest bit easy to figure out. Willy and the rest of the Loman family reveal the idealistic and fallaciously structured depiction of Biff. However, Biff's behavior is indicative of someone exceedingly contrary to the other character's views. This contradiction provides a glimmer of hope for the desperately deceived and instills a longing to break free. Although Biff initially sacrifices his individuality to fulfill the predetermined destiny put into place by his father, he later realizes that he doesn't quite fit into the mold and thus begins his transformation into his own person. In order to elucidate the puzzling character of Biff Loman one must consider that he is a man who has spent the majority of his life living vicariously through his father's hopes and dreams and upon realizing this, commits himself to finding his own. His character is made clear by three incidents in the play, all of which are revelations of the sort, that help clue Biff in to his true self.
The first revelation occurs when Biff is in high school and is about to flunk math and therefore not graduate. When Biff makes a trip out to Boston to ask his father to bail him out (as he always did), he catches him with another woman. This.
Hennessy 2.
discovery abruptly delivers Biff out of the cozy womb of lies that has sustained him for so long and therefore leaves him disrupted and unable to think for himself. Richard J. Foster states,.
"Biff, who in the play as an amplification or reflection of Willy's problems, has been nurtured on Willy's dreams, too. But he has been forced to see the truth. And it is the truth-his father's cheap philandering-in its impact on a nature already weakened by a diet of illusion that in turn paralyzes him" .
This unfortunate circumstance turns out to be a sort of blessing in that Biff is violently ripped from his delusions and forced to face reality.
