Death of a Salesmen-P83 thoughts

There are many interesting aspects that drew my attention in the pages running up to page 83. These include:

• We learn from Bernard that on returning from Boston Biff burnt his University of Virginia trainers. This stood out to me as I think it illustrates just how affected Biff is by something that took place in his past as for him to burn those trainers was, I think, representative of him throwing any dream, hope or ambition he had. We debated in previous lessons whether Biff has the characteristics of Aristotle's tragic hero, and we couldn't think of a Hamartia or downfall for Biff. I think that his burning of his trainers could be his Hamartia to some extent, as even though Biff hadn't really achieved anything at this point, he had goals and aspirations, which seem to then disappear with the burning of his trainers. For example Biff doesn't really know what he wants from life so he has never been able to go out and get it, especially as whenever he feels pressure he seems to run away, for instance when he steals the fountain pen from Bill Oliver, whereas he used to have some drive spurring him on.  It is also obvious that something happened between Biff and Willy in Boston as when Bernard enquires about it Willy says angrily "Nothing. What do you mean, 'What happened?' What's that got to do with anything!"-however this still is a stange reaction from Biff, to metaphorically burn all your own hopes and ambitions just to distance yourself from your father seems odd. However perhaps Biff feels that his dreams and Willys dreams were, at that time, the same so to really show the relationship with Willy breaking down, he had no choice but to throw his dreams away.
• Another thing that struck me as interesting up to page 83 was the way Willy asks Bernard for advice about Biff. He initially still boasts untruthfully about how Biff is wanted by Bill Oliver "very badly" to work with him. But then when Bernard swiftly changes the subject to Willys job, he cracks up and talks about Biffs lack of success. I also think Willys lack of knowledge about business oncemore shines through when he asks Bernard "What's the secret?"-Bernard replies with "What secret?" and goes on to say that Biff's problem is that "he never trained himself for nothing". Willy thinks there is a sure fire way to be successful in business, such as being liked, or knowing the right people etc. Whereas Bernard understands that you have to train youself at business and work hard. 
• The final think that I found interesting was the way Happy acts with the woman, Miss Forsythe, who enters the bar. His bahaviour is reminiscent of Willy in that he thinks the only way to ever gain respect or get what he wants is to decieve and put on a front to people. He is very confident in his ability with women, perhaps compensating for his lack of business ability. For example he lies to the woman, telling her he's a rich champagne salesman and that Biff is "one of the best football players in the country". Like his father he exaggerates to make himself feel better. Happy also doesn't treat the woman with any respect and seems to take advantage of her, saying she's "on call", he then gets angry with Biff when he doesn't seem interested. Happy uses seducing women as a way to feel like he has accomplished, and is good at, something.