The Psychological view analyze the fictional characters using the language they speak and methods of psychology. I am going to analyze Biff, the typical all American male. He is a jock, bad at math and is a people person. Also Biff surprisingly to everyone including Willy, stating “oh Biff! *staring wildly* He cried! Cried to me. *He is choking with his love, and now cries out this promise* That boy — that boy is going to be magnificent! (126). This scene showed that all american jock breaking down and crying to his dad. This shows how his behavior was so very drastically effected by how his dad was acting and the pain he felt inside. That pain build up of never being good enough, of not having a real father, of being misunderstood, of having a liar of a parent, and an immature child as a father. That pain would be unbearable. What kind of father tells their kid, “may you rot in hell if you leave this house” (122). Willy must have caused Biff some mental trauma as a kid if he is saying this to him now that he is older. Willy probably was the parent who acted like the best friend, then controlled every single decision that Biff tried to make. Decisions from what to do with his life, all the way to the specific detail on how he has to live his life. That kind of immature control that one would see in middle school, that passive aggressive you have to do it type control. Willy always turns his faults into someone else’s, as he “you’re trying to put a knife in me — don't think I don't know what you're doing” (123). Willy turns Biff into the one who is hurting him, when in reality Willy is the only thing hurting himself and his son. Willy does very selfish things because he feels lonely, which makes him lash out like a child who does not receive enough attention. Biff has to have a child try to parent him, the all American jock gets to have an immature child father. That explains why he left, went far from home and wants nothing to do with the world his dad lives in.
I think your analysis of Biff is spot on, he was greatly affected by the immature actions of his father. Willy acted as a poor role model to his son, he cheated on his mother and wasn't the strong foundation that Biff needed. Willy truly did act like a child in his father-son relationship with Biff and I think that stunted Biff development as well. The one suggestion for this analysis would be to dig deeper into how both son's relationships with women were affected by their father's treatment of their mother.
ReplyDeleteGreat focus on the role reversal of the father acting like a child--(and Biff, the child, is asked by Linda to take care of the father!). I like Julia's suggestion, too--how does the mother factor into the father/son relationship? Would an Oedipus Complex application be useful? Grade on PP.
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