Finish the play and carefully read the definition of CATHARSIS from this link (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/99492/catharsis). Why is this concept so important to the author's purpose writing a tragedy? From the climactic scene in the kitchen, quote one of Biff's lines and explain how it is part of a catharsis (for Biff, maybe the audience, or both).
EXTRA CREDIT OPP (+10 overall): Copy and paste into your comment a link to a song whose speaker you think could empathize with Biff's experience. I'd like to devote one day this week in pairs just responding to other people's song choices. Bring headphones every day.
The purpose of catharsis is to purge all building emotional tension. This tends to happen at the climax of the play, when emotional tensions are at the breaking point. This is an especially important and helpful tactic in a tragic play, because the release of the character’s emotions plays with our own emotions to have us feeling pity and sympathy for the tragic hero. Sympathy for the tragic hero causes us to look at our own lives and calls us to make a change so that we don’t experience the same fate. In the kitchen scene, I feel the epitome of catharsis for Biff and the audience comes when he yells at Willy and tells him, “Pop, I’m nothing! I’m nothing. Pop. Can’t you understand that? There’s no spite in it anymore. I’m just what I am, that’s all” (106). At this point in the play, Biff fury has been building and building, and then he explodes at Willy. He yells and yells, and points out all of the hypocrisy about Willy in the play, which the audience already knows but the characters don’t. I feel this is definitely part of the catharsis for Biff in this scene because he lets it all out with no regrets. After being repressed by Linda and Happy the entire play to deal with Willy and to be respectful, he says everything on this mind in an infuriated way and has no regard for what anyone else is thinking; in this emotional scene, he accepts that he is himself and no one else. After he says this, there is no turning back. This purgation takes the life out of him and he is reduced to a crying mess and clinging on to Willy. For the audience, this catharsis makes it hard not to feel any sympathy for the family; all they were looking for was love within the family and healing broken bonds; a family that loves each other unconditionally is a desire we can all relate to. I couldn’t help but compare this to Linda mending the stockings. She mends the stockings tirelessly, just like she is trying to keep the family together. With this emotional purgation from Biff, it’s as if the stockings have unraveled beyond repair. The Loman family is broken. Biff has turned on Willy, Linda turned on her two sons to defend what little was left of Willy’s dignity, and Happy is stuck in the middle. As the play concludes, the stockings unravel completely. Biff says Willy had the wrong dreams; Happy is enraged and vows to finish what Willy started. Linda is left broken and grieving; all the work she tried to do to mend her family ended with her family in ruins.
ReplyDelete"This purgation takes the life out of him. . . ." An interesting focus in a paper would be what "life" is being taken out of him. What in his childhood, in that house, in that city, is being purged from him at that moment? Is it all that bad? You said he had no regrets and "that he accepts that he is himself and no one else." Any theories about what's ahead for him?
DeleteI'd be also interested in how you use the dementia symbol to represent a dying morale in this scene (as it affects Biff). What's kept Biff's morale down, how is he addressing the dying morale in this scene? Is he looking back or looking forward?
DeleteLeslie: I like the quote that you called attention to. Before the peak of Biff's explosion of emotion, he says, "All I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say who I am!" And then not too long after he says that quote you mentioned: "I'm just what I am, that's all." I agree that there is a strong sense of finality in this. He has established that the moment he embraces who he is and discards what his father wants him be is the moment he will be free, and that is what he does. He wants to let go of his father's dreams, insisting that he will leave the house, and asks Willy to let go as well. Willy's dreams have done nothing but hurt their relationship and the rest of the family.
DeleteAlso, you noted how "Happy is enraged and vows to finish what Willy started." What do you think about this? Happy has always acted mostly carefree and left Biff to bear the pressure of their father. But suddenly at Willy's death, he wants to take on what Biff had been suffering through and try to fulfill Willy's dreams. Happy does not seem to understand the need to be one's own person the way Biff has. It's interesting that now that their father is gone, Happy suddenly is the most passionate about doing what Willy wanted.
Amara: It's weird to me how passionate Happy was about trying to fulfill Willy's dream. He was the brother that defended his father, maybe a little too much at times. I think he might be trying to pick up the pieces and rebuild the family now that Willy's dead. It seems like he is trying to salvage what little dignity Willy had. It makes me wonder if he would have a successful career or follow in the tragic footsteps of his father.
DeleteLeslie: I agree that the purpose of the catharsis is to lay on the line all that has been implied that a character is feeling. The catharsis in a play does go to show the audience the moral the playwright intends and to have them look at their own lives to realize if they are guilty as well. I think Happy understands that he must be his own person however, because I feel that Biff bore the brunt of the expectations of their father; Happy was mostly immune. I think Happy is his own person and does not understand the struggle Biff is going through because he never felt the pressure to be someone he was not.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLeslie: I also question why Happy has sided so strongly with his father instead of his brother, because he has looked up to both in the play. However, I think he is finally taking it as his time to shine. This whole play is about how Biff hasn't succeeded in the eyes of Willy, and Willy always directs his first attention to his first son, whether it is good or bad. Even back in the memories, Happy strives to fight for his own dads attention, but was always overshadowed by Biff. Now he is the one who has a stable job, and he is still not getting the attention he feels he deserves. Siding with his father during the argument might finally shine some light on him, and make his father proud.
DeleteMadison: I agree that the reason for happy siding with his father was because he was over shadowed by his brother the entire play. It was always about biff and willy, and happy would just be in the background, know happy sees his opportunity to take center stage.
DeleteCatharsis is the releasing of emotion usually at the climax of a story. It is an intense moment in which a character finally breaks down, evoking emotions in the reader or audience, powerful enough to lead us to come to certain realizations or to reflect on our own lives. The moment of catharsis in Death of a Salesman is in the kitchen when Biff breaks into sobs after the peak of his fury, holding onto Willy and saying, “Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” This line is a part of catharsis because all through the play Biff tries his hardest to be what his father wants him to be, but at this moment he asks his father to let him go. During their fight, Biff says,” All I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say who I am!” He wants to be his own person and live his life as he pleases. The only way he can enjoy his life is if he is free of the pressure of his father. Willy has been pushing and pushing him to be a person that Biff is not: the phony dream. Biff realizes how destructive this is, telling him to burn that dream because it will only lead to bad things. That phony dream has been tearing their family apart. It is what has been draining Willy and Biff’s relationship of love and putting immense strain on the family as a whole. Through Biff’s powerfully presented realization that he must be who he is and not who his father wants him to be, the audience may possibly reflect upon themselves as well and acknowledge the need for change in their own lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely about the phony dream. It was tearing their family apart, and Biff was the only one to see sight in that. Willy was the sole reason of to why the family was so strained, stressed, and deprived of the love that once held them together, especially to Linda. Biff was the only one to bring it out in the open that Willy let this dream drive their family to the edge, and wouldn’t take it anymore and let it ruin his life, just because Linda let it ruin hers. She took everything Willy threw at her, so I feel no sympathy for her. Biff wanted to be happy and the only reason that was stopping him was his father. Willy let the dream control him and take over his mind and life. He blamed everyone around him for his phony dream never coming true. He waited for Biff to make it happen, but in the end Biff wanted nothing more than the opposite.
Delete(EXTRA CREDIT)
DeleteOh and here's the song I picked whose speaker I think could definitely empathize with Biff's experience...
Linkin Park - Numb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2REZSj4XnE
Amara:
DeleteExplain this line:
"And I know
I may end up failing, too.
But I know
You were just like me with someone disappointed in you."
Mr. Strait:
DeleteI feel that the line "And I know I may end up failing, too" relates to how Biff is aware that he may not be successful in life, especially from his father's perspective. However, the line "You were just like me with someone disappointed in you" perhaps relates to how Willy has no place being disappointed in Biff because he himself has many people who are disappointed in him due to his choice to live a life trying to be someone that he's not as well all of the stress he's put on himself and his relationships with others because of it.
:) When I hear this song, I hear two voices: both Biff's, responding to each other, one rebelling, trying so hard to detach itself from the other. Two years ago, this song made me think of Biff in a whole new light.
DeleteHmm I see..! It didn't even cross my mind to think of it that way, actually. That's a really interesting take on it.
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ReplyDeleteThis whole story was a tragedy, and during the climactic scene in the kitchen, catharsis was bound to happen, either with Biff or Willy. It was seen more in Biff. With all the hypocrisy, lies, and dreams throughout everyone in the play to keep the family together, it all was too much for Biff to handle and his true emotions needed to be shown and said. He was finally the reality check that I feel us readers longed for in this whole play. But instead of feeling much pity, as the definition of catharsis implied in its definition, I did not feel it. I was angry just as much as Biff was when he was trying to get it through Willy's head who he really as and that nothing big and spectacular was ever going to happen to their family or lives, especially through him. Biff says, “Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?”, implying the fact that he knows if Willy’s dreams don’t come true, he will be devastated more than ever. He already was there, and was already thinking about life not among the living. Which leads me to another thought; I can relate to Biff's line, "You saw (the hose). The mice didn't bring it to the cellar!...This supposed to make me feel sorry for you?" I was just to frustrated and disliked Willy throughout the whole play because of how oblivious he was to success and Biff and his family and the truth, it was too much that built up for Biff, and even for me. Linda loved Willy too much to do anything but encourage his behavior, and Happy tried lying to Willy to make their problems go away so he didn’t have to deal with them. In the end, Willy died still clinging to his unattainable dreams. Willy was too far gone.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I was so angry that the fact that Willy cheated on Linda and thus would explain the discord between Biff and Willy. In a way though, I think this does work as catharsis for the readers/ audience because or frustration finally has an outlet to explode from. Throughout the book the characters and our frustration with Willy and his actions build up. With this kitchen everything, or almost everything, is released and therefore purified from the characters and the readers, thereby working as catharsis.
DeleteIn response to your point about Willy still dying with his wish and therefore not completely purified (thus the catharsis wouldn’t really be one), maybe that is what Arthur Miller wanted. He wanted the familial stress to end, the lying to admitted, the truth to come out, but the dream to never die. It is somewhat a message to the reader to never let one’s dreams die, especially the American Dream and hopes.
I like how you said Biff was the "reality check". That's such a great way to put it. Throughout the play he was the only one to not sugar coat things. Willy was constantly spinning tales while Happy and Linda did anything they could to avoid confrontation. They were always just trying to keep the peace, but their strategies never led to any kind of resolve. The second line you used talking about the pipe is a great representation of the kind of man Willy is. Even when he's directly confronted he is still trying to cover himself and lie. It's a wonder that it took so long for Boff's catharsis to make an appearance. I don't know how he kept everything repressed for so long.
DeleteSam, I completely agree with you about how Willy, throughout the entire play, was getting me angry because he was so oblivious to what success actually is, he didn't understand Biff, and the fact that he doesn't even realize that his family was there to help him. He always would think back to the good times, which I guess kind of foreshadows his death at the end of the play. He's the biggest liar of them all, and he can't accept the fact that he let his family down by lying to them about everything. That's why Biff's catharsis started to kick in at the end of the play: he was just sick and tired of his dad lying and cheating and not owning up to anything in his past.
DeleteLove this thread, from beginning to end. The anger is so real. You are going to make pretty good parents some day. I'm calling it.
DeleteAs described by Britannica, a tragedy is a dramatic reenactment of “sorrowful or terrible events” then tends to question the role of man in the universe. By arousing this bevy of emotions, sorrow, grief, anguish, terror, pity, catharsis is used to diffuse said emotional turmoil. There are different methods as to how to purify people of these emotions. Calm discussion and analysis? An explosive release much like one giant metaphorical emotional bomb? Arthur Miller seems to have decided to go the metaphorical grenade with his climax and catharsis being the kitchen scene. And with the catharsis finished, the calming of the emotional disarray, everyone can move on. And with this growth, Willy is finished. Much like purgatory, where one must wait until one is completely purified of sin to move on, Willy had to wait until he was purified of distress about Biff to move on and thus properly die.
ReplyDelete“The man don’t know who we are! … We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house! ... You’re practically full of it! We all are! and I’m through with it.” In telling the truth, Biff is releasing all the tension and guilt he felt about lying. With this confession he is absolved of the remorse and anguish; he is purified of these sins and is that not what catharsis is?
I agree that catharsis involves ultimately growing -- by letting all of the distress go from the circumstances that created the stress in the first place, can you eventually move on. When you try to deny what has been causing you stress, and avoid letting yourself work through the stress, you can’t actually move on in any way. Biff has let go of the stress of trying to live up to his family’s fantasy, and now can work on what he truly wants in his life. I don’t think Willy really let go of anything though -- his suicide was out of his continuing obsession to get Biff the version of success he thought he had to. Willy doesn’t actually listen to what Biff is saying, and doesn’t allow himself to emphasize with Biff’s pain to understand how he affected him. Instead of growing, he’s killed by the idealistic thoughts that simply fulfilling the American Dream, he’s fixed all the problems in his and his family’s life.
DeleteAriel: I like your idea that Willy was unable to die until this moment. The author has teased with death so much throughout the play with the car accidents that seemed intentional, the rubber pipe, and Linda’s lines to her sons, but Willy never died. He needed this final purge first. He needed to know that Biff did not hate him after he discovered his secrets and lies. In my own comment I mentioned that this event was a transition and that it led to Willy’s death but I like your idea that Willy needed this purification and then he finally had the ability to die. It really emphasizes that the whole play was leading up to this huge moment.
DeleteAriel: I liked your connection to the idea of purgatory. Willy has lived a life with so much regret and sin and when he was never confronted about it. Once Biff confronts him, it is almost like he is finally free. And the fact that despite the years of hate between Biff and him, this confrontation proved that there was no hate between them anymore made Willy at peace.
DeleteEthan. Bam. I'm always looking for the upside, and that is one heck of a theory.
DeleteAriel--if I may, how might this purgatory that Willy has moved from representative of, as you put it in your prop analysis, a sign of how the current family dynamics were being rendered obsolete in the 1940s? Roles were, as you put it, changing. Ideas about the nature of what success meant might have changed along with these changing roles. You've certainly pointed out how this scene enables Biff, Willy, the family to "move on" but, in the context of history and the 40s-50s culture, move on to what? Is Biff's desire to break free merely natural for a son trying to find himself, or is it a product of a shift in the family dynamics of the day? Like I said, you suggest a fallout from the change in the family dynamics, but how the two relate, I'm thinking, might be the substance of your research.
DeleteBiff about Linda... sort of...
ReplyDeleteRed Jumpsuit Apparatus - Face Down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LNVOreafhk
(oh, and just for laughs) Willy to Biff and Happy:
ReplyDeleteMulan - I'm Make a Man Out of You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9MfuWSQoWc
In tragedies catharsis is a way of getting an emotional response, like pity, from the audience. We've spent the whole play watching Willy's life and family fall apart without resolution. Biff has been struggling with trying to find himself and trying to confront his dad, and here in the last section of Act II he has finally got the chance to speak up for himself. We now get the satisfaction of seeing Biff relieve himself instead of continuing to watch the tension build up. The line I think sums up Biff's catharsis is "We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house.". Biff is the only one who knows about his father's affair, this was his realization that his dad is a "phony". At that moment in the story his trust was broken and he knew his dad to be a fake. Willy had not only been taking advantage of his wife's loyalty, but he also exaggerated his success. He would often tell Linda that he made a fortune on his trips and then when he was confronted he'd slowly decrease the number to meet reality. He also exaggerated how "liked" he was, telling his boys that all of the buyers praised him. Biff knew none of this to be true, but it was a secret he kept, and not the only one. Biff hide his shame from his family: the extent of his crimes while he was away from home. In this one quote he sheds the light on their dishonesty and omission that he and Willy have been dealing with. It's the moment that the audience gets a glimpse of Biff's confession, when he can finally free himself of the negative feelings towards his father.
ReplyDeleteGet it right- Glee
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K3F5rpzo1s4
Something more- Sugarland
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp5foT32tKM
Tara: I liked the quote you used: “We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house”. That perfectly sums up every tension between Biff and Willy. Happy and Linda were never exposed to Willy’s lies, so they had no proof to despise them; it caused them to sugarcoat everything and try to keep peace in the family. I find it amazing how for how much emotion he expressed, that he still hid all of Willy’s dishonesty from Happy and Linda. Willy’s life was full of lies. He cheated on Linda. He over exaggerated how successful he was and how much people liked him. I think this really led to his demise. If he accepted reality and let the people in his family be who they were, I think he would’ve suffered less disappointment. Biff was holding all this in, and at the end of the play, he let it all out. I agree that he has freed himself of the negative feelings towards his father by letting it all out. He can finally move on and be the person he wants to be.
DeleteTara: I agree with you that in that moment is when Biff realized that his dad is a fake and he didn't need his approval anymore. That's why he told Willy he was going to leave and not keep in touch anymore. And like Leslie said: "he can finally move on and be the person he wants to be."
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ReplyDeleteCatharsis is so imperative to this particular story because the conflicts between Biff and Willy have been brewing since the very first pages of the play. At this point the audience needed this outburst to finally occur in order to feel closure. For the characters this scene was vital as well. Biff could not continue his life the way he had for so many years knowing that his father was unsatisfied with him and that their relationship was so poor. Willy needed this moment, or he probably would have never felt like Biff liked him. One of Biff’s defining lines in this scene includes, “The man [Willy] don’t know who we are! The man is gonna know! We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house!” First of all Biff is shouting all of this which shows the intense emotion he is releasing. Also he references the fact that this has been brewing for a long time by saying “we never told the truth”. A catharsis tends to show an ongoing issue being pushed to its breaking point and this issue has been building up since Biff caught Willy at the hotel. I feel like in this tragedy and in all tragedies this type of moment is so essential because it brings out the emotion in the reader or audience member and helps them see that these characters are really going through something big and important. In this case it was a transition to the end of the story getting everyone to say what they have to say at the last possible opportunity they have to do so.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kFr7IJBmz0
Perfect by Simple Plan
You said in your prop analysis that the flute "implies that many of Willy’s issues are derived from his feelings associated with the absence of his father. Being that it is always a solo flute playing, that could suggest that Willy feels like he is alone in fighting his issues or that they are solely his." This idea--that the product of one's relationship with his father can be either a feeling that one always feels that they are going it alone or not--is certainly in Biff, here, is it not? With his own son, how is Willy just like his father in this way? With the cards he was dealt in the fathering area, how has Willy made sense of how this role is played out? Why is the net result of it the kind of loneliness Biff seems to be revealing to his father? Lonely in what way? What that flute symbolizes--that lone flute playing--should be the essence of what you research. There is a kind of absence here that ties Willy to his own father, and the product of it is going solo.
DeleteI completely agree that this one scene is all of the conflict in the whole play coming out at one time. Biff knows that Willy is soon going to be gone, and I think where you said that Biff can't continue like this is exactly right. He won't be able to live with himself unless he tells Willy how he feels, and that's why he must lash out on him at this point.
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ReplyDeleteCatharsis is an important concept when writing about a tragedy because it is what creates the mood. Mood is important because it is a key factor that helps the reader to connect to the text and truly understand what is happening.
ReplyDeleteThe quote from Biff that I think showed the most catharsis is: "We never told the truth for ten minutes in this house." I believe this displays Biff's fear, pity and need for the truth. Biff has always acknowledged his failure and throughout the play tried to cover it up with excuses, for his father, but eventually he manages to confront them. Biff recognises that he and his family are all telling lies so that everything can seam okay, and also sees the error in this. He is aware of the need for truthfulness because then they all can except each other, or not in his father's case, and their flaws; Willy and his sons did not achieve the American dream and that is okay. This quote also shows the fear and pity Biff feels for his family. Biff sees their lies are not keeping them together any more than they were before and fears that he'll lose them. He tells his father that he rather be himself and not stay in contact because he thinks this is better than losing them and not being true to himself.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=H25ORRgLxdA
I think this song represents Biff and the catharsis displayed in his quote.
I love the quote choice. Biff finally admits to the truth about the lies going on in the house and calls out not only himself but the entire family. I also agree with the last sentence as well. He chooses what anyone with a moral conscious would.
DeleteCayla: The way you define your prop--the stockings--is that they are symbols of success to Willy, but success at work that enables him to provide for his family, but at the cost of betrayal. This implications of this success at work--his impressing the woman, his being well-liked--are lies. Is this the nature of his job? Has his family become his clients, too? Or is it the amount of commitment he is being asked from his job? Either way, you noticed that the stockings are both a symbol that brings satisfaction to Willy and guilt. Satisfaction, it would seem, in the workplace, and his ability to sell himself (to the woman). Guilt because...you tell me, how is his work affecting his relationship to his family? This tension between work and home might be a research topic.
DeleteI totally agree that catharsis helps us, as readers, connect to the text. I like the quote you chose because it shows how Biff approaches this situation by calling everyone out. Even though the truth emotionally hurts him, he desires for more of it because he knows they need to face it and change. It hurts more not to know than to know the truth that will hurt in itself.
DeleteDad you're not letting me tell you what I want to tell you! This sums up what a Catharsis is and sums up James Joyce use of it. Biff is so frustrated by his fathers lack of attention in what seems to be a dyer situation. This outbrust is possibly how Biff has felt since he didn't go on to a football stud. Willy has looked at him differently ever since and he is now begging for fathers attention,unlike before, where he was the sole focus.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/gYpIIB4Z44I
ReplyDelete“Pop, I’m nothing! I’m nothing, Pop. Can’t you understand that? There’s no spite in it any more. I’m just what I am, that’s all.”
ReplyDeleteThis quote is the result of Biff’s catharsis: becoming free from the chains that caused him so much pain in life. As Biff lets out his frustration about this lie his family has been living, and that he’s been trying to play his role in for so long, he takes off the burdens he’s been carrying for so long. In the end, after all of the distress about trying to be “something” that he wasn’t, he’s able to tear himself away from the unrealistic image he felt he had to live up to, and accept being “nothing”. By “nothing”, Biff means he’s just like any other human on earth. He doesn’t have some great destiny built within him that he must fulfill -- he’s just a regular guy who can fail, like anyone else, has failed, and accepts that failure will happen. His life hasn’t been the greatest, his family hasn’t been the greatest as they keep lying and don’t always deal with situations the right way, but he’s realized that all he can do is accept it, not deny it. By letting himself feel the pain of failure, he’s able to accept it, and ultimately let go of it and move on. The point of his catharsis is for the audience to confront their own possible difficult emotions, gain some sort of insight about the origins of those emotions (we can’t understand where our emotions come from if we don’t allow ourselves to truly feel them), and by accepting the circumstances of the emotions, feel released from them. Accepting troubling circumstances means being able to accept that they exist, that they can cause a variety of difficult emotions, but if we deny them, we won’t be pushed into the direction of change and growth to feel free from them. Emotions exist for a reason -- they are a response to a situation, and by letting ourselves feel emotions, we can figure out who we are, what we care about, and how we can accept and deal with the circumstances that come about in our lives. The rest of the Loman family would rather attempt to deny their pain and the reasons for it, deny that they haven’t been all that successful in some ways, and caused more problems for themselves in other ways, and are in turn not able to make a change. Instead of directly confronting their pain, it come through in misdirected bursts of anger, as when Willy gets mad, but doesn’t let his anger out because of the right reasons. Biff’s catharsis is a meaningful release of anger that has to do with the actual origins of his problems, because he’s okay now with accepting these problems exist.
Phantogram - Don't Move https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2RlV6cteiA
"By 'nothing', Biff means he’s just like any other human on earth. He doesn’t have some great destiny built within him that he must fulfill -- he’s just a regular guy who can fail, like anyone else, has failed, and accepts that failure will happen". It's a mighty difficult thing to accept failure---especially if we've stood upon, forever it would seen, something that makes us feel distinctive. Our egos can be crutches, big time. Takes a lot of courage to be humble, but what's so cool is the after part: that when we realize we aren't all that, there is suddenly so much room to grow, so many problems we can accept and learn from, head on. It's a really painful thing, though, to accept, especially when it involves the intimate roles we take on in our lives.
DeleteThe kitchen scene was a scene that we were all expecting to happen. We could see all the pent up frustration and anger that each character had with each other. They had so much to say but just couldn't get it out. Biff even says “Pop, get this now, will you? Every time i've left its been a fight that sent me out here. Today I realized something about myself and i tried to explain it to you and I- I think i'm not smart enough to make any sense out of it for you.” He can’t seem to get what he wants to say out. The truth in that house is feared to be dad. But in this final scene, Biff redeems himself and confronts his father with the truth. The lies, the affair, everything had come out.
ReplyDeleteSo, what now?
DeleteCatharsis, pretty much, is a release of emotion during a time of tragedy. Biff is so frustrated in his father's lack of truthfulness and willingness to listen that he just all of the sudden snaps and says,"Dad you're not letting me tell you what I want to tell you!" to his dad. Willy is literally on the verge of dying when Biff says this to him and Biff is finally begging for his father's attention, but it's too late. Willy, throughout the play, didn't pay any attention to his family really and would always interrupt them whenever they wanted to speak. Biff saved up all of his hate for his dad in this one quote, which sums up what catharsis is. He released all of his anger towards his father during a tragedy of him dying. Biff and Willy really haven't gotten along very well since Biff stopped playing football. That was one of the only ways those two connected with each other when Biff was younger. And now, he isn't able to share anything with him because he's so disappointed in Biff.
ReplyDeleteBen: Can you pay a lot of attention to your child on the field or on the court, and not really be paying attention to them? Also, why doesn't he let his son tell him what he wants to tell him? Is he scared of what he will hear?
DeleteYou really think it's hate? They end up hugging.
This is definitely an example of catharsis, but I do not think Biff hates his father. I think this is an example of the exact opposite. I think Biff loves his dad so much and wants his dad to understand him and except him. I think Biff has been frustrated with his dad’s mental illness and suicide attempts, so throughout his visit he is trying to figure it out. The reason this comes out as an outburst is because Biff wants his father to see his true colors and accept him before his father dies.
DeleteBen: I like your quote and explanation. I agree that Willy seems incapable of ever showing true attentiveness to his family members. It seems like any attention he does give to them is filtered and diverted through something or another, as with football. When Willy praises Biff for his abilities it's through a subject he can relate to. Willy never really talks to Biff himself as much as he does to Biff's actions and accomplishments.
DeleteJudas: Kind of begs the question for the reader: what is the substance of "true attention"? As a father, I struggle with this a lot! My kids are so active in their sports and school and things, and I commend them all the time for it. But, is that a filter or diversion--as you put it? What is the substance of those potential special Willy-Biff moments that would have prevented Willy and Biff form so much regret? What hard and difficult emotions might they have had to endure for those moments to exist?
DeleteBen: In your prop analysis, you describe the Loman house as being run, down, old-looking (in the opening of the play, Miller describes it as "fragile"). You note that the "foundation" is old. Then you observe that Willy is bothered by how the "new culture" has encroached upon them. Then, last week, you mentioned how much you were bothered by how much Willy associates success with business and money, and not so much with his family. Finally, you've suggested here, that Biff's main struggle is to get his father's attention. Let's look back on this: struggle for attention, a model for success around the acquisition of wealth, and the feeling that the city ("new culture", as you put it) is encroaching on and making the family home old, run-down, its foundations withering away?. How do these all relate? How indeed, might the "new culture" be threatening the foundations of the family--or why would someone of WIlly's age find it threatening--so much that the battle itself is getting in the way of his attention to his own son? Was there something in the culture, or in our current culture, that prizes wealth or being well-liked so much that it does obscure our focus on family? Or maybe it is, literally, urban sprawl, that is encroaching on the space left for a family? Maybe it's the nature of how one's job (city) changed in the 40s and 50s that upset the balance of attention between home and work. You mentioned "new culture"--perhaps the research that you conduct looks more closely at what that "new culture" was?
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ReplyDeleteBIFF, crying broken: Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? Struggling to contain himself, he pulls away and moves to the stairs .I’ll go in the morning.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of catharsis is so important in tragedy because it is the most emotional part, which then leads to relief and a humanizing effect. For me, the quote above is where the catharsis happens in Death of a Salesman. Biff crying is his emotional relief. Water is a symbol for purification and with these watery tears Biff is trying to let go of the differences between him and his father and purify their relationship by deciding to leave. He came home to help rehabilitate his father and possibly fulfill the dreams his dad had for him. At this moment he realizes that he needs to find his own dream and find a career that he will enjoy, whether his father understands or not. His emotional breakdown may have been out of respect and love for his father; he has to resort to leaving in an effort to create a future for himself and salvage his relationship with his father. This is also catharsis for the audience because we know that this is what Biff needed to say all along and it is a relief that he has finally got it off his chest. The humanizing part is that after Willy interprets this as his son’s affection for him, which is exactly what it was.
"His emotional breakdown may have been out of respect and love for his father; he has to resort to leaving in an effort to create a future for himself and salvage his relationship with his father. This is also catharsis for the audience because we know that this is what Biff needed to say all along and it is a relief that he has finally got it off his chest. The humanizing part is that after Willy interprets this as his son’s affection for him, which is exactly what it was." I can't wait for you to see this scene.
DeleteMorgan-I like how you interpreted water to be a symbol for purification, I did not think of that. But it makes sense that this is a whole new beginning for him when he finally got what he was thinking out of his head, leaving room for him and his father to finally forgive each other. I agree that he finally realized what he really had to do in life, and I believe that catharsis really does start a new beginning, and open up peoples minds to things they may not have realized about themselves. And I agree, we as the audience did know that this had to be done, and I really think it made us as readers give a little sigh of relief when it was finally out in the open. I am glad Willy interpreted it that way, because I agree, that is what Biff was trying to say to Willy.
DeleteMorgan: You chose cheese--because it "could represent change (because it is a new flavor),of which Willy resists. This change is happening to those around him while he is still stuck in his dead end job. Biff moving to Texas soon and Happy has a steady job now which helps him afford an apartment of his own. It is not just the people around him that are changing and growing, even the neighborhood around his house has become more residential with apartments encasing it." I'm wondering how Willy's "dead-end" job,how the neighborhood's growth in population, led, indirectly, to Biff's moment of catharsis here, and its aftermath: when "he realizes that he needs to find his own dream and find a career that he will enjoy, whether his father understands or not." How do these social and cultural factors affect the family, and, ultimately, Biff's motivation to cut ties and find his own career path--one, you say, "that he would enjoy." Cheese has a lot of implications here. Cheese is change, one that seems so simple to accept, but isn't really. Maybe the research topic is the tension between finding a career path that one enjoys versus the one that might seem more traditional, familiar, close-to-home? Was this a thing in the 40s? Today? How does something like establishing one's own path a source of conflict, but, at the same time, a way to salvage the family? Maybe the research topic is about trends in families spreading out due to career relocations. Maybe it's about how many college bound youths chose to go to a college away from home, rather than within driving distance. Indeed, how does a new path, away, help Biff's identity-crisis, and at the same time, salvage the family?
Deletehttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CCMQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSpg9RREW76o&ei=s-aOVNbzDpegyAS-tYKwDA&usg=AFQjCNHacfBR2apy2syQ9IvKZ3V3-N4C1g&sig2=ksr8YB_0iHXmfRHp17tz6g&bvm=bv.81828268,d.aWw
ReplyDeleteThis song is more like schizophrenia I think? but the feelings could be applied towards Willy's dimentia or whathaveyou
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DEfNon7Mjxdg&ei=EOeOVODKFomvyASAvYCYDQ&usg=AFQjCNH0CNaWc_F9sV3UDVdIzbAWwBI0og&sig2=8ta-d0sy8_HgbhnCkJoPhg&bvm=bv.81828268,d.aWw
and then this one
Catharsis happens when people keep their emotions bottled up, and don’t speak up with what they’re actually feeling. This is really important in this play because in this family, the truth is always bottled away. Whether it be to keep Willy happy, to not disappoint their mother, or to not make themselves feel hopeless and alone. These characters keep all of their real emotion inside, and that has caused Willy to go crazy and made Willy and Biff drift away from each other. When the whole family was all in the kitchen, it was obvious that Biff was done with his father, and having to pretend for him. For all these years he let his anger sit inside and boil, and he wasn’t going to let that happen anymore. He couldn’t pretend anymore, couldn’t keep his life hidden from his father just to keep his feelings from being hurt. Thats why he told his father that he didn’t have an appointment with Oliver and why he told him that he went to prison. He could not handle acting like someone he wasn’t. He had to get his feelings out and stop tiptoeing around his father. When Biff says “Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens”, I believe that is Biff finally getting it out that he can’t be who his father wants him to be, and that his father needs to realize this. This is a part of catharsis because Biff has been keeping this inside for so long, and he finally told him that he needs to be in control of his life. That he needs to find his own dreams, and his father cannot do that for him. He finally let it out, and ended up crying. This huge relief of emotion was hard on Biff, but it was something that he needed to tell Willy.
ReplyDelete"That he needs to find his own dreams. . . ." To what degree is this a common issue with those embarking on their own paths in their adolescence and beyond? Is there a tug and pull between living the life your parents planned for you and living the life that is the substance of your own dreams? Is it common for this to be a battle of "control"--control over your own destiny, so much that you can feel confident that your future is the product of your choices entire? Is there ever a battle in yourself between pretending to impress or avoid conflict and coming frank with them? Willy may be a special case, but Biff? Is he really that different from anyone else whose ever struggled with an identity-crisis?
DeleteYou chose the car, a Chevy, American-made, a symbol of freedom and movement, a vehicle that delivers him to his job, that brings him home, as a sign of Willy's obstacles--he isn't moving and he is literally trying to crash. It's as if it's Willy's last ditch for control that he's lost in his car--perhaps parallel to Biff's having lost control over his own future and desperately trying to get a hold of the wheel? Either way, I like the idea of the car as the product of your research. All the ways that cars define or shape our lives would, I think, be a great way to start thinking. How has the landscape changed as a result of the car? What freedoms has it created, but, at the same time, what problems has its prevalence created for the American family? I'd pick out those qualities of the vehicle that impress Willy so much, as well as those aspects of the automobile culture that dominate the Loman lifestyle.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfzYn344gVw
ReplyDeleteMy selection is Eric Clapton's My Father's Eyes
I think it represents Biff and Willy's relationship.
"And I know I may end up failing, too"
ReplyDeleteCatharsis is so important to a tragedy because a key aspect of catharsis is the building of tension and conflict. This tension builds and the pressure increases util catharsis is needed to let out all that has occumulated. The quote by Biff shows his release of all the expectations and desires he has built through his life, encouraged by his father. He is giving up on the concept that he is destined for something greater, that he is someone special in the world. With this quote, he is accepting that he may just be a regular person like all the others in the world. This catharsis is healthy and is intended to release the tension that has built as a result of Willy's expectations and Biff's reality.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdT-JG2hb8w
Trophy Son by Sleeping With Sirens to show Biff and Willy's relationship
Catharsis, to me, is the release of stress and mixed emotions during a tragic time in someone's life. As Biff and Willy fight, Biff can no longer handle the pressure he feels from Willy to be a success. As he cries, he says, "Will you let me go, for Christ's sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?" Biff is sick of being the only hope Willy has for success, and his only way of escaping is demanding that Willy release him. Biff knows that Willy just wants the best for him, but the mix of anger, sadness, and stress just make Biff release his emotions in a pitiful and angry way. Biff's catharsis is his lashing out at his father for putting too much pressure on him, and this is the key factor to the biggest tragedy of all in this play.
ReplyDeleteLost! by Coldplay www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6mA8ygABaU
ReplyDeleteI think this represents Biff trying to make his father understand him.
Simple Plan Untitled. It represents Willy's life
ReplyDeletewww.youtube.com/watch?v=mM5PLimWk7g
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ReplyDeleteThe burst of emotions let out by the characters in the climax of the play was the catharsis, and the turning point for each character. Biff has held so much inside the past 15 years, and the anger from him failing, not going to college, not retaining a job, not fitting into society's "plan", stealing, and learning the horrible truth about his family has built him up to the point of explosion. Although he has said it many times before, this release of frustration makes everyone, including himself, know that the american dream path is not for him, and although that is disappointing to his father, it creates more harm for him than it does good. It is the scene where he can finally come into his own, and not teeter back and forth from his dreams to Willy's dreams. It also made the audience not pity his decision for choosing what he wanted, because he stood by his choice firmly, yet we knew this catharsis had to be coming soon to get his point across to Willy somehow, and this seems like it is the only way he could make his family believe him. The line that stood out to me was when he called out his dad while forshadowing at the same time, “Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” He is absolutely done with the life plan that Willy is continuing to shove down Biff’s throat, the life that Willy is trying to live through again, (sound familiar with the football trophy...living through his son’s success and dying through his failures?) He also mentions, before something happens. Biff doesn’t want his family, especially his dad to get hurt over his choices, but he knows the stress is pushing him towards it. Although this is ultimately crushing Willy’s dream, it is an attempt to save him.
ReplyDeleteMy song choice I feel could be approached in two ways…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzAvdNDGwB4
Phillips Phillips Man of the Moon
My first opinion is that it is Biff talking to himself, and trying to make a decision on where he lands in life. He knows the directions he doesn’t want to go, but is still confused on where to be.
“It's hard to know where I stand
When the man on the moon couldn't tell me where to land
But I, I wanted to fly in the sea with no gravity to pull me down”
Biff also knows that he has been a wanderer his whole life, and his family is quick to remind him as well, so whatever he does with himself, he needs to start.
“Hold on it won't take long
You can find yourself if you decide to finally start”
My second take on it, is that it could possibly be Willy talking to Biff after he has gone “off” = committed suicide. It could be him saying that he knows Biff has passion, and it may be hard for him to truly understand all of his situations, but he knows that Willy still loves him, whatever he does, but he just needs to start life the way he desires, and not let it waste away like his own.
Biff, Happy & Willy:
ReplyDeleteFalse Pretense - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHTHhgl4b0o
Biff & Willy's Hopes for him:
The Kids Aren't Alright - The Offspring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1DOcke51iM
Catharsis is the purgation of emotion(s). Willy has so many feelings - unfortunately they are mostly negative - that he keeps all locked up in his mind. Biff too, has many emotions that he keeps inside; especially concerning Willy. In the climactic scene that took place in the kitchen, all these feelings raging on inside of everyone are finally released and so much is so exposed. Biff calls his father out on the fact that he’s been trying to attempt suicide with the gas hose in the basement and then reveals that during the 3 months none of his family was able to contact him he had actually been in jail. He also explains that the reason why he never got anywhere in life was because of how angry he was at Willy for cheating on Linda with The Woman. He expresses how he’s done trying to be a businessman for Willy because he’s sick of trying to be someone he isn’t - everything he wants is out there in nature. Biff then screams about he’s nothing and has a breakdown. This breakdown, these tears for his father, truly hit Willy. Biff purged all his emotions out in this scene and Willy finally felt again that his son loved him. Linda and the boys feel as if everything is about to come together now that so much has gotten out. Happy got into high spirits as well and they all started to go upstairs. Linda begs Willy to come upstairs right away with her and her fear is clear as day. Finally and unfortunately, Willy purges all his emotions - through his suicide.
ReplyDeleteI believe that catharsis is important because it helps put emphasis on the tragedy. The catharsis almost makes the story a tragedy because it triggers emotions. With no catharsis, there is no tragedy because that would mean there is no response to the tragedy. Catharsis shows the impact of the tragedy to whomever expresses themselves. For example, a little kid is strolling through a park and trips on the cement. He gets a scrape. He can either respond to it or leave it be. The emotional response which would create the pain in his brain would be the catharsis. However, if he does not respond to it emotionally and continues to go on walking, then we, as the readers, don’t really care about it because it is irrelevant to the story. In the kitchen scene, Biff ultimately expresses himself. This expression of his emotions and feelings is what triggers the presence of the tragedy to be known. Of course, this “tragedy” was not as simple as the kid in the park story. Piles of conflict gradually grew on top of one another since the beginning. Biff and Willy struggled to have a father son relationship, but when they were getting better at it, Biff discovered the affair and his bottled up emotions that he never did anything about started to heat up again. His feelings of betrayal really hit him hard because he started to look up to his father. I believe that when Biff says “Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? I’ll go in the morning.” while crying, he’s open heartedly expressing himself and closing the scene with his leave to his room. His emotional burdens slowly have been tearing down through his approach to his dad.
ReplyDelete