One of the first things that caught my
attention while reading Death of a salesman was the name of
Willy Loman's sons: Happy and Biff. Yes, I forgot to tell you that I would
write about Arthur Miller's play -bad Deadpool-, but now that I have explained
so, we can move on -good Deadpool-.
In the past, Biff was daddy’s pride and
joy, he was in whom Willy Loman invested all his hope; he was a prominent and
talented football player, his talent led him to be socially recognized, and
socially recognized in the exact way that Willy Loman liked ; in other words,
he was “well-liked”. When did Biff get biff? If you haven’t read the
play yet, please, do not read the following lines: When Biff noticed that his
father was cheating on her mom, the virtuous Linda, the bubble in which the
Lomans were living burst, leaving behind the image that Willy Loman sold to
them up to this exact moment:
"BIFF:
Don’t touch me, you — liar!
WILLY:
Apologize for that!
BIFF: You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!
(Overcome, he turns quickly
and weeping fully goes out with his
suitcase. Willy is left on the floor on his knees.)
WILLY: I gave you an order! Biff, come back here or
I’ll beat you! Come back
here! I’ll whip you!" (Miller, 1949)
The truth is that Willy had already
beaten Biff, he had been already whipped; without wanting so, Willy showed to
Biff what reality was like.
This episode guided Willy and Biff to a
future that was full of discussions, and the beautiful relationship that they
had once was just a distant memory. But they had another chance; Biff would do
things the way that Willy wanted, and encouraged by this, Willy would ask
Howard to work in New York. After this, they would have dinner together like in
the good old times. As you know, nothing happened the way that it was supposed
to; Willy got euphemistically fired and Biff did not even get the chance to ask
for a loan to start the business he had in mind. Now, it's time to face the truth, and
again, things went out of hands:
BIFF: His answer was — (He breaks off, suddenly
angry.) Dad, you’re not
letting
me tell you what I want to tell you!
WILLY (accusing, angered):
You didn’t see him, did you?
BIFF: I did see him!
WILLY: What’d you insult
him or something? You insulted him, didn’t you?
BIFF: Listen, will you let me out of it, will
you just let me out of it!
HAPPY: What the hell!
WILLY: Tell me what
happened!
BIFF (to Happy): I can’t
talk to him! (Miller, 1949)
Frankly, while I was reading the
previous dialogue of the play, the first thing that came to my mind was the song "Stuck in the middle with you". It always caught my attention how happy this song sounds, even when it
describes a difficult situation:
“Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.” (
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.” (
For
me, these verses describe almost exactly the situation that Biff faced in the
restaurant; He’s stuck, and this time, Happy is alienating Willy from reality.
The outlook can be reduced to an extreme despair, a despair that is almost
ridiculous.
Sadly, Biff is not the only one that is stucked; Willy Loman
has been stucked in the middle his entire life. In his case would be something
like “Glory of the past to the left of me, brilliant future to the right, here
I am, stuck in the middle with you”. Someone should have said “Carpe diem” to
Willy Loman- and I’m afraid that at this point I’m sounding as empty as upsocl.
Willy Loman would have
loved to say this, I’m sure.
“Well you started out with nothing,
And you're proud that you're a self made man,”
And you're proud that you're a self made man,”
Don’t forget that he refused to work for Charley, and also he was
obsessed with adversity:
“WILLY:
...was rich! That’s just the spirit I want to imbue them with! To
walk into
a jungle! I was right! I was right! I was right!”
I hate to
say you were wrong, Willy Loman.
Finally,
it was imposible for me to avoid thinking on Willy Loman while reading Gary
Snyder’s “For the children”.
“In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it” (Snyder, 1974)
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it” (Snyder, 1974)
Willy Loman owned those
valleys, he was able to make it. What’s the problem then? He noticed it when it
was too late, when there was no chance to feel, touch and breathe the apogee
again. No empire lasts for ever, Willy Loman. He and time ran side-by-side for
a while, but later, time won the race and Loman refused to accept that fact. Please, leave your comments below.
__________________________________________________________
References:
Miller, A. (1949). Death of a Salesman.
Retrieved from: http://www.pelister.org/
literature/ArthurMiller/Miller_Salesman.pdf
Snyder, G. (1974). For the Children.
Turtle Island. Retrieved from: http://www.dro
pbox.com/home/Watchers_16/texts/Unit%202?preview=Beat+Generation+Texts.doc
Stealers Wheel. (1972). Stuck in the
Middle with You. In Stealers Wheel [CD].
London: Apple Studio.
I really enjoyed reading your comments on Death of a Salesman, I also read the play and I think Biff is a very interesting character on the play. At first we see him as failure but then we realized why he was such a failure and finally we see that he is a man of principles, he showed respect and love for his family. Willy Loman on the other hand, as you mentioned realised way too late that life gave him the chance of being a successful man but he missed the chance and "boxed" himself in this empty life he kept living, he became a bitter person, whose vision in life was narrow and selfish.
ResponderEliminarIn terms of the song I would have loved if you had gone a little further with the explanation, I get the point of it and I can relate it to Biff but in relation to William I would not say he's in the middle of anything, I'd say he's just obsolete and not wanting to adapt himself to his new reality, he's stuck but there's no future ahead, his stuck in his hopes and dreams but there's nothing to do about it. That's why he kills himself, in my humble opinion.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this play, it was very interesting to think about the dialogues you quoted again, and it's always enriching to know other people's point of view.