Saturday, December 31, 2011

Biff Loman -- "Death Of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller




            Biff  is the brother of Happy and the older son of Willy and Linda Loman. Biff and Happy had always looked up Willy and Biff had been especially close to his father.    Biff is so devoted to following his father’s dreams he never bothers to think for himself and find out what he wants to do with his life.  In fact, as the play reveals flashbacks of Biff’s youth, it is hard to figure out where Willy ends and where Biff begins.  They seem to be two halves of the whole.  Later in Biff’s life, something goes terribly wrong in his relationship with his father.  The play through a series of flashbacks traces the decline of this relationship. 
                        At the beginning of the play, when Biff is 34 years old, he and his mother would have quarrels about his father with Biff getting annoyed with his father and yelling at him and his mother defending his father saying that Willy would think about nothing but the happiness and interests of both him and Happy.  There is a certain tension between the older man and Biff. Willy is unhappy that Biff has not settled down even at 34. Biff admits to being mixed up. He tells his brother, “I tell ya, Hap, I don’t know what the future is.  I don’t know-- what I’m supposed to want”.  (Act I)  He confesses that he liked working on a farm and in the great open spaces, but then he thinks to himself “And whenever spring comes to where I am, I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I’m not getting anywhere!  What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a week!...everytime I come back here I know that all I’ve done is to waste my time.” (Act I) 
            Initially, it seems as though Biff does not care for an aging man who seems to be unappreciated at work and is suffering emotional and physical trauma.  The climax of the play occurs in the scene when Biff finds out about his father’s infidelity.  Willy had affairs in his travels unbeknownst to his wife because he was lonely and he thought nobody appreciated the “work” that he did for his company.  At that point, Biff cannot rely on his father’s judgment or perception of life.  Even though Biff and Happy looked up to their father, Willy never was able to instill the right kind of morals and decencies that children should be able to understand and told them that the ends justify the means Despite the fights with Biff and his father, Biff never tells his mother the affairs his father has at work. Biff, like Willy, has been known to resort to theft such as stealing footballs from coaches or steal lumber from the construction yard at the instigation of his father.  But when he realizes that Willy betrayed his wife, he loses his confidence.  He becomes a thief and he does jail time.  “I stole myself out of every good job since high school”, he informs his father (Act II).  At the end of the play, Biff comes to terms with himself.  “I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!” (Act II) he tells his father.  There are no great dreams to chase, and he realizes he doesn’t even have to be liked.  “Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” he pleads with his father.  In a way, he does get through to Willy and perhaps Willy unburdens himself of the guilt of betrayal by crashing his car so Biff could have the insurance money. 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Thoughts on William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"


                Jack Merridew represents anarchy, which leads to regression in society.  Jack doesn’t believe in the fire, the conch or providing shelter for the rest of the tribe.  Life on the island with Jack is more chaotic than peaceful because Jack doesn’t put the greater good before himself.  For example, he turns the majority of his tribe into savage hunting lunatics. He also represents narrow mindedness and ignorance based on how he regresses to a frenzied state, causing the rest of the tribe to mistake Simon for the beast.  He also represents egoism; he is worried about himself and what will bring him happiness, and gets angry when people, that is Piggy, Simon, Ralph and the littluns try to get in Jack’s way. He also represents a cold cruel type of person, for  he fuels people’s insecurities, thus bringing out the evil in most of the tribe members.             
                   Ralph represents both utilitarianism and democracy. He works to promote the common good in society. This is how he seems to come up with good ideas, one of them being the conch.  The blowing of the conch heralds a public meeting.  Once the meeting is called, only the person holding the conch has a right to speak.  The conch is passed on to others so that everyone gets a chance to speak.  Another one of his ideas was to start a fire which was to alert a ship or a plane to come rescue Ralph and his tribe. Ralph, unlike Jack, listens to other people’s advice like Piggy’s, as to how to handle the members of his tribe.  Ralph also represents true leadership and he takes an active role in the protection of the tribe. The rescue of Ralph signifies hope for society.  His weeping for innocence at the end of the novel is a reminder to us that evil exists in all men and that man needs to admit his faults and try to improve himself.