Death of a Salesman Biff
Death of a Salesman - BiffIn the play Death of a Salesman, Biff Loman is the oldest son of Willy Loman, the namesake salesman. When he was younger, Biff had a good relationship with his father. Though Willy was not the ideal father, Biff idolized him, and Willy basked in Biff’s admiration. Later on in life, though, Biff and his father have an unhealthy relationship. They do not communicate except to often argue. Willy thinks that Biff is a lazy good for nothing, while Biff objects to the way that his father treats his mother and can’t stand it when Willy gets lost in the past and talks to himself. Though we find out later in the book some of the reasons for this change in their relationship, Biff reveals a lot about the relationship with the one line, “I’ve always made a point of not wasting my life, and everytime I come back here I know that all I’ve done is to waste my life.”
The point of this line is not that Biff actually wasted his life; indeed, in the precluding paragraph he talks about how much he enjoys the work that he does on the farms out west. Though he doesn’t make much, it is fulfilling to him, and work he enjoys. However, he is...
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