Death of a Salesman

Summative Essay

Death of a Salesman

One of the major conflicts in this play is created by Willy Loman and his son Biff. They have different dreams: Willy wants his son to be the best and have success, but Biff wants to be himself.

This is presented clearly when the boys and Willy are in the yard throwing the ball and Willy is telling Biff what he is going to do with school and makes decisions for him. What Biff really wants is to work outside with his hands and not be stuck on a subway in the summer when it’s hot and sunny. Mixing Cement (61)

The next conflict in the play is between Willy and Happy and how he always tried to please his dad, but he was not ever interested. A perfect example of this happening is when Happy tells his dad that he is losing weight and that he is going to get married, Willy hears him but the only thing that he is worried or even cares about is Biff. The ironic part of it all is that Biff could not live up to...