Father's & sons struggling with the American Dream Flashcards
(34 cards)
-first introduced to the son’s love life - it is unsatisfactory, always an issue in their relationships - MOTIF of relationship struggles echoes how something is wrong in their relationship with their parents
LINDA: ‘Happy took Biff on a date last night
-conflict between Willy and Biff, Biff is characterised as lazy and doesn’t work, he is in the pursuit of the FRONTIER AMERICAN DREAM, and idealises going out west and living on a farm - stark contrast of Willy’s pursuit of the CONSUMERIST AMERICAN DREAM, the city and the life out west act as a binary
‘men built like we are should be working out in the open’
-Willy views Biff as lazy and useless - yet he has something that Willy doesn’t after all of his years of work, a sense of self understanding and acceptance, he knows his strengths and weaknesses, and that he isn’t built for the corporate world so doesn’t waste his time to climb an impossible ladder
‘Biff is a lazy bum!’
‘lost in the greatest country in the world a young man with such - personal attractiveness gets lost. And such a hard worker’
-introduced to the idea that Willy is fixated on OUTWARD APPEARANCES, and how he thinks that somebody’s charm and attractiveness will carry you far, despite this never having worked for him, he doesn’t have the qualities of a salesman, and is unable to present a smiling front to the people
‘a young man with such - personal attractiveness’
-ANALEPSIS Willy slipping into his memory of how things used to be, cherishing when Biff and Happy were young, because there such a sense of potential - Willy pushed Biff to pursue football, when in reality he had the slimmest chance of becoming a big sports star
‘When he smiled at one of them their faces lit up’ [He loses himself in reminiscences]
-the REPETITION of “farm” and “farmhand” reduces Biff’s aspirations to insignificance in Willy’s eyes, showing his inability to appreciate individuality and personal happiness outside the traditional confines of the CONSUMERIST AMERICAN DREAM
‘How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life? A farmhand?’
→Willy’s ramblings about clipping the branches and polishing the hubcaps shows the happy and close relationship they share and they both value the aesthetic and material appearance of things APPEARANCE VS REALITY
→Willy thinks Biff is too young to be talking to girls seriously which foreshadows his later behaviour
‘i’ve been wondering why you polish the car so careful’’
-IRONY in Biff’s tone reflecting his disappointment and judgement of Willy’s dreams and plans as futile, bringing his lofty aspirations into harsh reality
-sceptical of the ideals perpetuated by his father, questioning his mentality whilst grappling with his position of ‘failure’ in Willy’s eyes
‘yeah a whole lotta dreams and plans’
-Biff is yearning for the FRONTIER AMERICAN DREAM, rejecting consumerism the monotonous and futile nature of working tirelessly for minimal reward
-Biff favours authentic traditional values in a world of CAPITALIST CULTURE where status and profit are prioritised
-desire for the outdoors SYMBOLISES the simplicity and yet entire fulfilment that nature can provide despite being at complete odds with the material success that Willy longs for
‘to suffer for fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week vacation when all you really desire is to be outdoors with your shirt off’
-emphasises Biff’s ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, failure to reach the societal milestone of adulthood, he views it as a contractual marker of success than for genuine purposes
-STASIS in a perpetual state of adolescence
‘I’m like a boy, I’m not married, I’m not in business’
-reflects Happy’s FRUSTRATION AND STAGNATION with CONSUMER CULTURE infiltrating the working environment → CORPORATE WORLD is becoming increasingly more ruthless lacking humanity, people are seen as commodities
-INHERITED Willy’s tendencies to attribute lack of progress and their misfortune to others instead of by their own merit
‘All I can do is wait for the next merchandise manager to die’
-SHARED BLAME for Biff and Happy → the boys indirectly blame their father Willy, his unrealistic expectations and constant promotion of materialism and appearance for social value has been instilled in them for such a young age that it has become ingrained in their perception of what it means to be successful and hard working
-Willy never teaching his sons how to be independent has left them with the same fate of struggling with unachieved dreams and a refusal to accept mediocrity
‘Hap the trouble is we weren’t brought up to grub for money. I don’t know how to do it’
-Happy is more like Biff than his initial portrayal - he too is dissatisfied with CAPITALIST AMERICAN CULTURE
-conveys a sense of his everyday being FUTILE, their is an apparent DISCONNECT between labour and fulfilment
-epitomises the role and power of CAPITALIST IDEOLOGIES in perpetuating the TRAGEDY OF THE COMMON MAN
‘I don’t know what the hell I’m working for’
-suggests an INCOMPATIBILITY between human nature and societal expectations
-reinforces Biff’s longing for the FRONTIER AMERICAN DREAM, reflects his belief that his innate desires for the outdoors and manual labour are at odds with the structured corporate world
‘men built like we are should be working out in the open’
-reflects Happy’s cravings for validation and success within SOCIETAL NORMS even though it leaves him unfulfilled
-reveals that Happy is deeply invested in SUPERFICIAL SYMBOLS of success and his reluctance to abandon them for a simpler life and still tirelessly pursues the CONSUMERIST AMERICAN DREAM
-highlights his inability to break free from the CAPITALIST MINDSET that Willy has lent him, possibly complicit in perpetuating his father’s flawed ideals
‘my own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still goddammit, I’m lonely’
-Biff is characterised to be MORALLY and INTERNALLY CONFLICTED with his self indulgence he has become trapped in a cycle of guilt regarding his HEDONISTIC nature → he seeks external gratification to compensate for internal dissatisfaction
-Happy’s view of women is TRANSACTIONAL much like his relationship of money - he admits to pursuing women he has no intention of forming a relationship with and admits to taking bribes - both are acts of FLEETING GRATIFICATION
-HEDONISTIC qualities and inability to make romantic or professional connection underscores his deep seated unhappiness and being unfulfilled
‘I don’t want the girl, and still I take it, and I love it!’
-METAPHOR is indicative of how all the Loman have been living a life not rooted in reality - this is is the real reason for them failing to achieve anything
‘we’ve been talking in a dream for fifteen years’
-Biff wants to acknowledge the truth, more realistic viewpoint than Happy who is constantly trying to uphold this dream - doesn’t want to live an ILLUSIONARY WORLD - Biff and Happy have DIFFERING DEPICTIONS OF HOPE
‘But it’ll go on forever’
‘I’m not the kind of man somebody lends that kind of money to’
-Biff acknowledges the reality of his lower status → something that both Biff and Happy fail to do
-Willy is always yearning for the prospects of the future and possibility that he will be successful in future, lack of productivity → illustrated by the FLASHBACKS
‘Dad is never so happy as when he’s looking forward to something’
-NATURAL IMAGERY illustrates Willy’s sheer desperation to achieve the AMERICAN DREAM
‘because the woods are burning boys, you understand? theres a big blaze going on all around’
-SIMILE expresses the disconnect in their relationship, no clear line of communication much like a ghost, the reason remains unanswered
‘thats the question thats been trailing me like ghost for the last fifteen years’
-Willy is painfully unaware that he is the reason Biff has given up his dreams - his anger at Biff is guilty repressed and misdirected as distain
‘If a boy lays down is that my fault?’
-SYMBOL of betrayal - Linda mending them due to their financial struggle and then Willy gives these to his mistress
‘You-you gave her mama’s stockings!’
