Willy Loman Conflict

Words: 806
Pages: 4

Conflict and dramatic action are essential in the writing process of a play because without them a play’s existence would not be possible. These two concepts are the bones of a play and without them there would not be any structure, or flow in the play. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, conflict and dramatic action were expressed through the characters. Conflict was unveiled by the Willy Loman who struggled with mental health, success as a salesman, and failed as a father figure and a husband. Dramatic action could have been expressed through any character in the play, but in Biff Norman’s case, he wanted to make his father proud. He attempted to do that, but failed because his father’s expectations were unrealistic and an impediment …show more content…
Willy Loman’s struggles were key in the creation of conflict in Death of a Salesman. Being a salesman was everything to Willy, but throughout his life he struggled with being successful because he did not have a likeable personality. Being a salesman was a wrong choice of profession for Willy as he did not have the qualities to be one, but for him it was about fulfilling the American Dream of being wealthy and successful. The ambition for wealth and success blinded him of his reality, and eventually destroyed his life. Once Biff and Happy were in the picture, it became Willy’s goal to make sure his sons gained the success he was not able to achieve. Throughout Biff’s early life, he was everything his father wanted him to be, but things changed after Biff found out of his father’s affair. The affair greatly affected Biff and the idea of fulling his father’s expectations …show more content…
His objectives were constantly affected by his father’s views, and he had to find a way to get past his father’s expectations in order to make himself happy with his life. Biff truly wanted to be successful and make his father proud, and for the most part of his teenage life, he fulfilled his father’s dream. After finding out about his father’s affair, he no longer felt the need to make his father proud as he felt betrayed and disgusted by the hypocrisy of Willy. Once Willy became sick, and they had numerous conflicts about Biff’s career choices, Biff attempted for one last time to accept his father’s advice and start a business project with his brother. To achieve the objective to make his father proud, Biff went to Oliver’s office to ask for a loan, and after a long time of waiting and thinking he came to the conclusion that he will never be the business man his father wanted him to be. Unlike his father ever did, Biff accepted the truth about himself and after that his objective changed. Once he let go of his father’s expectations, he wanted to finally move to the west and start a life of his own. The most important part of Biff’s life was realizing the truth about himself and sticking to his own choices instead of doing what everyone else around him wanted and expected him to