Adam B. Ferguson
Willy becomes so enthralled in the American Dream that he is willing to sacrifice most everything to get what he wants. This sacrifice includes his son Biff. Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to want the same dream as him. Like father like son? However, when Biff walks out on Willy’s ambitions for him, Willy takes this rejection very personally and sees it as vengful and spiteful. Since Willy is a salesman, he is distraught when he cannot even sell his son the idea of the societal American Dream. Biff’s rejection is like a rejection of society to Willy. The American dream is like a disease that cannot be cured in Willy. Instead of being cured, however, Willy is further contaminated by society and its definition of success in a materialistic sense.