sustained himself with illusions about that future and has ignored the realities of who he really is. This rootedness in a false identity and false possibilities extends not merely to himself, but to his children--Biff in particular. Angered that Willy's love for his children does not release them to seek their own form of happiness, Biff tries one more time to break through his father's wall of illusion. "I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you," he exclaims, insisting that workers like him are "a dime a dozen."
In rebuttal, his father insists, "You are not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman!" (Miller, Death 132) as if by asserting their names he can claim an identity that will prove Biff wrong. Yet Willy's true epitaph in the play is, "He never knew who he was" (Miller, Death 138). Thwarted in his attempt to break through, Biff finally says, "Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?" (Miller, Death 133). Instead, Willy goes to his death so that Biff can collect the life insurance and make a new start.
But it is not new financing Biff seeks from his father, it is the freedom to live a life based on ideals of his own--to follow his own dreams and succeed or fail on his own terms without losing his father's love. Hearing only that Biff loves him, Willy ignores the rest and continues to carry out his own intentions by sacrificing himself rather than his ideals. Like Biff, we can blame Willy for having all the wrong dreams, but it may be more accurate to say, as Neil Carson suggests, "that we are to blame him for holding on to those dreams long after they cea
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