Biff understands that chasing the dream of business leads to frustration. After Biff stole the pen, he realizes he doesn’t want the same unhappy and dissatisfying life his father has had for all of these years, but instead he wants to be a normal man. This shows that Biff has no control over himself at certain times. Biff explains to his dad that “I just – wanted to take something I don’t know”. It is also a symbol of his job and failure because he failed at being a traveling salesman. These traits are associated with greed and materialism in the business world. The fountain pen itself, symbolizes corruption and shallowness. Also, Biff may steal as it distracts from his own self-loathing and it gives him a sense of power and getting pay back. He doesn’t realise that to be successful and to be happy with his life he will have to be committed and work hard. Rather, he behaves in a dishonest manner. Biff expects to be treated a certain way and tries to avoid working towards things and putting in the effort to achieve the things he desperately wants to. The football symbolizes deceit and lies and throughout the play, football is used to attract attention, though Biff has only ever desired to run the opposite direction.īy Biff stealing, especially the pen, could mean that Biff uses these actions as a source of control and to get back at the people who he feels have mistreated him. Since he was never disciplined properly in this moment, this kind of kleptomaniacal attitude followed him into his adult years where he finds himself in a similar situation. Willy was proud of Biff when he stole the football instead of getting angry due to the fact that he states that ‘Sure, he’s gotta practice with a regulation ball, doesn’t he? Coach’ll probably congratulate you on the initiative’. Biff’s life follows this pattern as it is apart from Willy’s view of the direction his son should be heading. However, in regards to stealing a ball in terms of the game, this would suggest an interception in which the game is now shifting 180 degrees in the opposite direction. The ball itself is touched often by the quarterback. The football, that Biff stole, resembles youth, strength and leadership. Biff stealing the suit symbolizes Biff’s lack of stability in his life in combination with the need to keep up appearances. Some might think that Willy put a lot of pressure on Biff, but Happy had the exact same pressures growing up and he managed to avoid legal trouble, unlike Biff. As a matter of fact, Biff is most responsible for his failure to live a good and rich life, unlike Bernard. Biff broke the law, which isn’t a good way for dealing with personal issues or stress. In this instance Biff’s excuse here is that he had to steal because it was a completely reasonable way to cope with his father’s high expectations. I stole myself out of every good job since high school! And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! I had to be boss big shot in two weeks, and I’m through with it”. Amazingly, his family did not know about this incident, but Biff comes clean to his parents when he explains, “You know why I had no address for three months? …I was in jail. While many would say that he wasn’t old enough to know better when he stole as a teenager, not even Biff can come up with an excuse for stealing a suit in Kansas City as a grown man. Throughout the book Biff steals a suit, football, and a pen because it is his passive-aggressive way of getting back at people he feels have unfairly done better in life than he has, but also because stealing gives him an excuse to quit whatever bad job he happens to be in that moment. As a result, now Biff’s tendency to steal, constantly stands in the way of his path to a job. Everytime something goes wrong, Biff now thinks that stealing is a way out of it. The items that Biff stole represent how Willy Loman had never thought his son Biff that stealing was not okay and that being well liked is not an excuse for such thing as stealing. Even though Biff stole while he was a teenager and was not old enough to know better, he can’t come up with an excuse for stealing a suit in Kansas City as a grown man. Biff also feels as though the world owes him something, so when the people around him do not give him what he’s owed, he steals from them to punish them in a passive aggressive manner. He was taught that it was okay to steal as long as success comes from the stealing. Biff steals because from a young age, Biff was not taught the difference between right and wrong or illusion versus reality. Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller portrays Biff as a main character in the play who tried to work at many different jobs, and failed at each one due to the fact that he stole.
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