Biff Loman

Don’t let Biff’s tough guy name deceive you; this is the only character in the book that shows some personal growth. However, Biff is also flawed, just like everyone else. He can’t hold down a job, he steals from all of his employers, and he even went to jail. Despite these shortcomings, you can’t help but like Biff – he shows real initiative on the personal development front.

The deal with Biff is that he’s Willy’s oldest son and the one that Willy seems to be really crazy about. Biff was a hotshot in high school as the star football player. However, he never put much energy into his schoolwork and failed math as a senior. Without the math credit, he couldn’t graduate and therefore couldn’t take his football scholarship to college. Totally devastated to discover that his dad was cheating on his mom, Biff bailed on summer school and the math credit. From here, the poor guy spiraled downward. He started working on ranches in the West, but couldn’t hold a job because he kept stealing from his bosses. When we meet him in the play, he’s 34-years-old and has finally made some realizations about his life and his relationship with his father.

While Biff is in some ways desperate to impress and please his dad, he also realizes that Willy has flawed, materialistic dreams that Biff is neither able nor desires to achieve. Unlike his father and brother, Biff is self-aware and values the truth. In one shouting match with Willy, he says that he can’t hold a job because his dad made him so arrogant as a boy that he can’t handle taking orders from a boss. Finally, a moment of truth. Yet, despite his insight and honesty, Biff is unable to communicate openly with his father. Willy is simply unable to accept the truth.

Biff reminds us that the "American Dream" is not every man’s dream. Rather than seeking money and success, he wants a more basic life. He wants to be seen and loved for who he is. He wants his dad to stop being such a deluded twerp. Sadly, Miller seems to say, Americans (Biff, in this case) are made the victims of the country’s own success. Just as Biff is unable to understand or even love his son, America as a whole is unable to understand those who value simple pleasures over the rat race. At least, that’s what Death of a Salesman seems to argue.