This is a great summary! I would also add that Willy is disappointed that Biff never 'made it' and attributes this to Biff failing math in high school, but the reason that Biff never retook his math class is because he went to Willy to have him talk to the schoolboard about Biff's math class, and that is when Biff saw that his father was having an affair. This crushes Biff and he doesn't bother to aspire to be successful after this encounter.
so that explains the scene in the movie near the end when Willy was remembering what happened to him then Biff came to tell him about failing math class then suddenly saw the woman...i was confused for a second then realized that's the reason why Biff's life went upside down and Willy was the reason behind that all along!
I remember reading this senior year of high school. I just remember feeling sad. I don’t know why, but this story stuck with me. The fact that someone decided that his family was bette off with $20,000 than to be with him broke my heart. I was glad that I then watched Its A Wonderful Life, which obviously is different but finds both main characters facing the same decision that committing suicide would make their family better off due to their life insurance. Just wish that Willie had a guardian Angel too
I really hated that book at the beginning because it was so hard to read for non native speakers even at my class' level but thanks to this video I've now realized how well-written it truly is. Thank you!
If you need someone else to explain to you why something is poorly written when you came away from it with that kind of attitude towards it, it’s not well written. A well written play speaks for its damn self.
Excellent analysis. I would also add though that Biff was also a tragic figure since the idealisation of his father was dissmissed when he saw him with the other woman. That was the moment when his beliefs and expectations were ruined. The moment of realisation between real and unreal.
my end of my year IB English 1 exam is tomorrow on all the books we read this year, this just so happens to be one of the only 2 books I didn't finish, I hope I do well :)
i’m not here for school or anything, i’m just here because i’m curious and want to learn so what i learned from this is basically they are better off without willy because they only got money when he died and that i myself need to stop being delusional just like the whole family is, holding onto the belief of the american dream, i know i need to seek reality i always tell myself that it’s a self quote but sometimes i just don’t want to
I wouldn’t necessarily say they were better off, happy is left to fulfill willys position of having the broken ideal of an American dream, Biff will just have to forever manage with how Willy caused his lack of motivation- without any closure really and Linda is just a woman with no form of economic agency so in reality no matter what everyone suffers- that’s why its a tragedy unfortunately, but I see where you’re coming from
Speaking of a play, its characters and their figures are all kind of metaphors~ Come to think of why such a sad movie had been made my idea is that the author would like certain issues to be shown and therefore situations can be changed. Biff lost his confidence when he found out he was not as impressive as he thought he was and he jumped to the conclusion that he was not at business which showed his characters. In comparison to his father who tried so hard I can say how easily he gave himself up.
@@jiminiechiminie184 Ben had a faulty sense of geography. Instead of reaching Alaska, Ben lands in Africa and owns a diamond mine there and becomes successful. Ben wanted to go to Alaska but reaches Africa himself.
i think the main problem of not being able to follow his desires of living in the countryside lies in getting married. If willy never had any children then he wouldn't have had any responsibilities and would have lived the life he desires........
@@bethany1900 linda had already payed off the debts on her own, it might have helped them anyways - but they would have been financially stable even if billy hadn't killed himself. that's partly what makes the play so tragic. but i haven't finished the play yet so don't take my word for it.
@@clara-df5km I’m pretty sure she pays it off with the 100,000 insurance money at least that’s how I have taken it, I’ve finished it now and there’s no indication that Linda earns any money though the play so not sure how she would pay it off but I could have misread it
Who is Linda? Without giving any former details about who she is, you, as if you talked about her, jump straight into her comment about the protagonist. It creates a confusion. It's a great summary but please be careful about that the next time.
This is pretty low level analysis. Really basic, poor stuff. It's: 6:27 mins in, and you still haven't mentioned the central themes of death, or the American dream. Dreadful stuff.
I have to say that was the worse review of this play. Willy represents a America typical human nature feeling, jealousy and bullshit. That jealousy of Charlie and Bernard along with being a complete bullshiter were the two take aways from this play. And the one totally unrealistic part was a successful Charlie living in the same rundown neighborhood, this would never happen. A successful person always moves up, if you made it in the Bronx, you moved to the Pelhams or Bronxville for the betterment of your family, but more so to get away from the unsuccessful people in a persons former neighborhood. Hence watching their jealousy each day. As living among other successful people allows more stability.
