The play 'Death of a Salesman' shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty-year-old
salesman in the America of the 1940's, who has deluded himself all his life about being a big
success in the business world. It also portrays his wife Linda, who 'plays along' nicely with
his lies and tells him what he wants to hear, out of compassion. The book describes the last
day of his life, but there are frequent 'flashbacks' in which Willy relives key events of the
past, often confusing them with what is happening in the present.
His two sons, Biff and Happy, who are in their 30's, have become failures like himself. Both
of them have gone from idolizing their father in their youth to despising him in the present.
On the last few pages of the play, Willy finally decides to take his own life ([1] and [2]).
Biff Fowler and Linda Glover Marry December 26, 19...
Biff (Dragonheart Real Charmer)
Biff HendersonNot
only out of desperation because he just lost his job, with which he was hardly earning enough
to pay ordinary expenses at the end. He does it primarily because he thinks that the life
insurance payout [3] will allow Biff to come to something [4], so that at least one of the
Lomans will fulfill his unrealistic dream of great wealth and success.
But even here in one of his last moments, while having a conversation with a ghost from the
past, he continues to lie to himself by saying that his funeral will be a big event [2], and that
there will be guests from all over his former working territory in attendance. Yet as was to be
expected, this is not what happens, none of the people he sold to come. Although perhaps
this wrong foretelling could be attributed to senility, rather than his typical self-deception [5].