Thesis: In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman causes his son Biff to undergo an initiation & learn a man’s value is based not on materialism but on spiritualism. I.In the first stage of Biff’s situation, Willy causes Biff to misapprehend, or have false hopes. By instilling the wrong values, materialism, in his sons. 1.“Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but you are going to be five times ahead of him” (1776). 2.When Biff steals a football from the school, Willy does very little to correct him, in fact congratulates Biff “Coach’ll probable congratulate you on your initiative” (1775). 3.Willy brags about Biff, “there is nothing the matter with him! He’s got spirit” (1780).“There is one thing about Biff—he’s not lazy” (1767). Thus in the first stage of Biff’s Innocence, Willy has instilled false hopes in his sons and taught them that the world will give them what they want.
