What do you think makes this conversation between Biff and Linda so moving and sad at this moment in the play?
In the play “Death of a salesman”, Arthur Miller have made this conversation between Biff and Linda so moving and sad in the manner of which by displaying Linda’s unwavering devotion to her husband Willy, in stark contrast to the nature of the conflicting relationship between Biff and Willy. These points are skillfully heightened by Miller’s use of language and techniques such as characterization, dialogue and stage direction.
Miller have made this conversation between Biff and Linda so moving through the context of Linda’s unwavering devotion to her husband, Willy. Whenever Biff goes against Willy, Linda seems to always be the person to stand up for her husband against her own son. This is shown through the quote “Biff, a man is not bird, to come and go with the springtime.” We can see that Linda in a sense, an infinite moral voice in the play- a woman with a good will at heart. However, here the readers can clearly see through her comparison of Biff to a bird, she is strongly against her son’s freedom not only within her own thoughts, but in the context of Willy’s false values. Linda conforms to the standard of her husband lifestyle and thoughts, and therefore preventing Biff from what he truly wants to become, to have a freedom in life. This therefore make Biff [evasively] says: “I’m not hateful, mom.” Biff is pressurized by the weight of hopes and expectations his father gave him since he was young, thus this even make the reader feels even more moving and sad due to Biff’s parents weighing him down while he himself desperately says “I’m trying Mom,” revealing the misery of the Loman family under the influence of the American Dream.
