Why does Willy both defend and criticize Biff in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller?

The love/hate relationship between Willy and Biff stems from three events that changed the perception that the men had of one another:

1. uncovering who each of them really is


2. ending their sham dynamics and


3. realizing the difference between their fantasies versus their reality.

Willy saw in Biff both his future dreams and his shattered dreams. Biff was the source of Willy's hopes and possibilities. When Biff was no longer Willy's symbol of success, Willy's former admiration transformed into rejection. All is further complicated by the fact that, regardless of it all, they are still father and son.

How it all began

From the very beginning of the play Death of a Salesman, the audience can perceive that there is an inner conflict between the character of Willy Loman and both of his children. This becomes evident when Biff tells his brother Happy about his father, Willy:

"Everything I say there's a twist of mockery on his face. I can't get near him."

The problem between Willy and Biff started when the latter was 17. Willy adored Biff, who had grown up to become  a good-looking, tall, athletic, and witty teenager. Willy relished basking in the light of his very popular son, who represented everything that Willy believed in. He saw in Biff someone who, at a very early age, had accomplished the earmarks of the American Dream, according to Willy. 

Biff was

• well-liked


• popular


• admired


• handsome


• successful

Willy loved so much to vicariously mesh himself into Biff's persona that he transferred all of his views of life, and of himself, onto his son: In Willy's eyes, Biff was basically a better, perfected, much more successful version of himself.

In turn, Biff loved and admired his father; at least, he admired the version of his father that Willy presented to him--someone who is also well-liked and very successful.

However, all of this imagery and mutual admiration was over once Biff discovered that Willy cheated on Linda, Biff's mother. His view of his father, and the persona of the fatherly hero that Biff once held so true, shattered him enormously. As such, he refused to continue being a part of the dyad that once were Willy and Biff. Biff goes away, leads an unsuccessful and unfulfilling life, and becomes everything that Willy feared and dreaded.

As such, Willy now sees Biff as a defector, or a traitor, of what could have been a great alliance. Biff is a failure of the American Dream. He is no different than Willy--the difference is that Willy insists on living in a fantasy world.

Willy has an unhealthy type of fixation with success; one which is entirely shallow and superficial. Hence, rather than exploring ways to mend the relationship with Biff and see how his son could be happier, he rejects Biff's lifestyle and takes it as a direct attack on his own dreams.

Why does Helen find the garden to be a source of comfort in The Story of My Life, Chapter 1?

During the early years of Helen Keller's life, she lived in a small house on the family's property with her parents.  This tiny house "was called 'Ivy Green.'"  Beside the house was an "old-fashioned garden[, which] was the paradise of [her] childhood."

When Helen lost her sight and hearing at a young age, her life changed dramatically.  She found solace in nature despite the challenges of not being able to see and hear.  Helen used her remaining senses of touch and smell to enjoy the beauties of the garden.  Young Helen "used to feel along the square stiff boxwood hedges, and, guided by the sense of smell, would find the first violets and lilies."  

Helen often became angry and frustrated because of her disabilities.  She wanted to communicate like everyone else, but she could not.  At times, she would throw temper tantrums to express her frustration.  Sometimes she escaped her rage by finding comfort in hiding her "hot face in the cool leaves and grass" in the garden.  Helen could recognize the different types of flowers by their scent and by how they felt.  She found joy in the many flowers in the family garden.  Helen especially loved the roses.

There were many reasons why Helen loved the garden and found comfort in it.  She was naturally drawn to nature.  She could use the senses that she still had, such as touch and smell, to explore the intricacies of the garden.  The garden was a place where she could escape.

How does Ravi think it would feel to be "the winner in a circle of older, bigger, luckier children"?

Ravi thinks that winning the hide-and-seek game is the most thrilling and wonderful thing that he could possibly imagine.

Ravi can't even begin to describe how awesome winning would be.

To defeat Raghu—that hirsute, hoarse-voiced football champion—and to be the winner in a circle of older, bigger, luckier children—that would be thrilling beyond imagination.

The thought of winning and the feelings that it would bring are "beyond imagination." That means no matter how great Ravi imagines winning might be, winning will be better than that. He believes that winning will earn him respect and adoration from the other children.

Ravi is desperate to experience that win over Raghu. He is willing to endure for many hours in order to secure his victory. Ravi's hunger for the win is why he stays in the shed for so long. He must be in there for hours. The children rush out of the house sometime during the afternoon heat, and they immediately begin playing hide-and-seek. Ravi hides in the shed, and he doesn't come out until twilight.

Unfortunately for Ravi, the feelings that he has when he wins are indeed beyond his imagination. Ravi never once imagined that his victory would earn him disdain, but that is what it brings to him. 

"Stop it, stop it, Ravi. Don’t be a baby."

In The Great Gatsby, Myrtle says of her sister, ''She's said to be very beautiful by people who ought to know.'' What does this statement say about...

This comment by Myrtle, Tom's mistress, to Nick in Chapter II of The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) is meant to persuade him to go up to the apartment, where he can meet her sister Catherine. What I find interesting about your question is how similar my response would be if someone were asking this about a story taking place in 2016. Even Myrtle, from the wrong side of the tracks, understands that every society has arbiters of taste, and they are not people who live on the edge of a valley of ashes and over a garage. This is still true today. While Myrtle could never have articulated this, the fact is that she understands very well that Nick, a member of the upper class, is unlikely to take her word for it that Catherine is beautiful, not so much because she is a biased sister, but more because she senses Nick will find her own tastes beneath him—which he does, pitilessly detailing the furnishings of the apartment when he goes upstairs and sees it. Even now, whom do we allow to be our arbiters of taste? It seems it is often the rich and famous who set some standard of beauty that many feel they fall short of. There is probably some aesthetic ideal the Western world can agree upon, but that is not what Myrtle is speaking of—and neither is Fitzgerald.  

There seems to be a pervasive theme of "light vs. dark" that is symbolic of religious good and evil. Try to find at least one example of this in...

When the narrator eventually makes it to the Araby bazaar, he notices that half the lights are out in the gallery. He listens to the English girl flirting with the men at her booth; he hears one of them accuse another of lying. Again, he remarks on the "dark entrance to the stall." Finally, the narrator wanders away from her stall, and he finds that the main part of the hall is totally dark now. Looking up into the pitch black, he says, "I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." In this way, then, sinfulness does seem to be tied to darkness. Vanity is a sin, and the narrator realizes that his hopes that the world would somehow make way for his feelings for Mangan's sister were, indeed, vain. He seems, in this moment, to lose his innocence, a state of maturity also associated with sinfulness, and because he's standing in the darkened hall, the darkness is ultimately tied to this loss.

What are different types of participant observation? What are advantages and disadvantages of each type?

Participant observation is a method of data collection used often in qualitative research, especially the field of cultural anthropology. The goal is to gain detailed knowledge of people through observation and involvement in the daily activities of the participants, usually over an extended period of time.

Types of participant observation are categorized based on the degree to which the researcher becomes involved with the subjects. In non-participatory observation, the researcher has no direct contact with those observed. An advantage of this method is to limit the researcher’s influence on the subjects, but a disadvantage is not being able to establish rapport or ask questions. Less extreme is passive participation in which the researcher limits interaction, acting principally as a recorder. This method has similar advantages and disadvantages as those mentioned above. In moderate participation, the researcher balances involvement with participants and objective distance to strike a balance between these advantages and disadvantages.

You may find the document linked below helpful for more detail on the topic.

In active participation, the researcher becomes a member of the group. This method has the advantage of allowing the observer to fully comprehend the subject matter from an insider’s perspective. However, this level of involvement increases the chances of researcher bias. With complete participation, a researcher is a member of the group being studied before the research begins. This level of participation especially risks the researcher losing objectivity.  

In general, participant observation has the disadvantage of the observer influencing people’s behavior, leading to flawed data. Additionally, the observer’s own biases can skew observations and interpretations. Triangulation (gathering data from multiple sources or observers) can help ensure that data is valid.

Why does Brent build the whirligigs?

The answer comes in the third chapter, “The Afterlife.” Brent had been driving drunk when he caused the car accident that killed Lea Zamora. Amazingly enough, he wasn’t sentenced to jail time or a stint in a detention center. Instead, during a mediation session with Lea’s mother, Brent was asked by Mrs. Zamora to atone for his crime by building four versions of Lea’s favorite wooden toy, a whirligig. Such devices have arms that whirl when the wind blows. She asked him to build them in tribute to Lea and to install them in the four corners of the country: Washington, California, Florida, and Maine. She provided a Greyhound bus ticket good for forty-five days and a camera to take photos of each whirligig. Brent’s parents thought this was a ridiculous request. But Brent warmed to it and accepted the challenge. It would give him time away from the awful memories hanging around back home in Chicago. The trip would give him time to think and to figure out what direction his life should take from this point forward.