Thursday, August 28, 2014

Death of Salesman; How do you see yourself in a character?

I believe that I am similar to Biff Loman is several ways. Biff has always lived under extremely high expectations, his father seems him as this perfect machine for success. While my parents don’t expect impossible things from me, I expect extreme success from myself. My standards for myself reflect in everything I do, and I shape my life around these ideals. Both Biff and I are cognitively aware of our situations. Biff spends his entire life trying to escape these expectations from his father, and he eventually move to the west and works on a farm. As dramatic as this sounds, in a way I have been trying to escape myself. Not myself literally, but my standards. Part of me wants to become something important, like a doctor, and to spend my entire life learning and helping others. Another part of me just wants to move to Europe and spend my days WOOFing and playing music on the streets. I see a lot of myself in Biff. He is trapped in a world shaped by his father, and I admire his ability to follow his heart and escape the expectations. However, I don’t want my future to be either one of my extremes. Unlike Biff, I want to find the balance between the too. But the first step is to escape my expectations for myself. 

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