by
Sherry
The Sower. 1880
by Vincent Van Gogh
Biff Loman, a victim under
Willy (his father) 's self-complacence imagination. He's the only one,
who was surrounded for 34 years under lies that Willy has tormented him
with, that has the gut to face the truth of his own life. Everyone lives
among the kingdom of lies; but Biff dares to break down the castle and
start a new one. He's a practical man who cannot be fed up with unrealistic
fancies of life.
However no one backs him.
Down there inside their conscience they're too used to this kind of life
that some of them are not aware of how wrong they're doing. And even if
they're aware, they've made themselves numb, paralyzed so that they have
the excuses not to confront to it.
This may leads us to think,
as we grow older, this society becomes much more hypocrite than we think.
If any voice of justice comes out, it is considered "abnormal", because
it's against everything else! But it is whom they considered themselves
normal are the ones who are blinded. This is quite an appropriate illustration
of Biff being the one who is self-aware of whom he is and the rest are
either blinded or simply admits no fault.
Biff Loman is not only a
victim under Willy's imagination; he's also a victim being Willy's son.
As a child he steals, and this repeated act was but encouraged by his father!
He could have been a good son to Willy, but Willy ruined him. He set up
sort of standards to Biff, he sees Biff with his idealized vision, and
not taking what Biff is actually. Therefore when Biff feels tormented toward
him and tried to find his own way (which obviously strikes against Willy's
dream); Willy disapproves him the more.
Then what is admirable to
us is Biff's courage. He challenges Willy, He challenges everyone else,
and he speaks the truth, for him and for Willy. He has been lost; he refused
to grow up (Why? He knew of Willy's affair which led him to self-giving-up);
but he' changed. Let's quote from what Ben said, "He'll walk out of the
jungle." Everyone else is lost in what they see a mystical and magnificent
jungle in search for that tiny little gold. Biff was one of them' but he
was tired, tired of this blindedly, aimless search of something he didn't
even really cared, and he did this only because everybody stuck his head
with ideas that doing this would be good! No, he finally awakes, and he
struggles to walk out of this favorite jungle of everybody else, because
he knew that it was never his favorite one.
Biff is a man whom we can
consider a great man, because we have presence a man who was willing to
face himself in a world full of cowards.
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