Did Willy in Death of a Salesman have the wrong dreams? How do we know?

The characterization, conclusion, and overall tone of Death of a Salesman all suggest that Willy had the wrong dreams.  Willy is caught up in an ideal based on his interpretation of the American Dream.  He believes that he must be successful in his career, and that this success is defined by both money and reputation.  He pushes this dream onto the lives of Biff and Happy, and Willy's ideals begin to consume the way he views the world around him.  Both Biff and Happy shy away from Willy's praise and badgering about their careers which causes a disconnect between the sons and the father.  However, Willy does not regard the distance between him and his family because his dreams have taken over his state of mind.  At the end of the play, Willy has committed suicide because he cannot deal with the feelings of disappointment that he has in himself over not living up to his imagined standard of success.  The play's conclusion defines the overall tone of the play as one that is wrought with tension  and the lingering depression that Willy feels.  If so many negative things have come from Willy's dreams, then the reader is led to believe that all along, Willy had the wrong dreams (or at least he went about trying to fulfill those dreams in the wrong way).

In Death of a Salesman, was Biff correct in saying that Willy "had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong"?

Biff's assessment of his father's dreams is ultimately validated by the play at large. He argues his father's dreams were wrong because they were shallow, focusing only on a meaningless, empty idea of what a successful life should look like. For Willy Loman, success meant being liked by other people and being financially well-off, making Willy totally at the mercy of other people's validations of his behavior and life.

Personal happiness does not factor into this definition of success, making it hollow. Willy had no passion for salesmanship: he liked the image it gave him more than he liked actually doing the work. Biff notes that Willy seemed to enjoy doing work on the house more than selling products, suggesting Willy could have found happiness had he pursued a line of work closer to his own aptitudes and personality.

In the end, Biff rejects his father's notions of success and sets out to forge his own unconventional path, while his brother Happy is seduced by the same warped idea of the American Dream which consumed and then destroyed Willy. In this way, Biff is presented as the antithesis of his father and allowed a chance at happiness which eluded Willy and will more than likely elude Happy as well.

In Death of a Salesman, was Biff correct in saying that Willy "had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong"?

Biff is correct that Willy had the wrong dreams. This insight shows how Biff has grown and come to see reality clearly. It offers the tragic play a glimmer of hope that Biff can make good use of the insurance money from his father and forge a different path.

A fundamental problem with Willy's dream of becoming a successful salesman was that the dream didn't have anything to with liking or having an affinity for sales. To Willy, selling was simply an easy way to get rich quick. Willy deluded himself that he would quickly become a person sitting in his velvet slippers in a hotel room doing nothing more than answering the phone as the orders rolled in.

Willy also wanted to believe that success could come simply by having a good personality. He didn't want to put the work into to developing any kind of expertise. He didn't want to be a plodder, slowly building to success. Tragically, he foisted his misplaced values onto Biff as well, discouraging him from getting education by pushing the idea that his personality could get him anywhere.

Willy would have been happier and more successful had he pursued a career in gardening or some kind of outdoor work that used his talents. He might never have gotten rich, but he would have found self-respect and satisfaction. As it happens, he ends up neither with wealth nor self-respect.

In Death of a Salesman, was Biff correct in saying that Willy "had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong"?

On the whole, you'd have to say that Biff's assessment is correct. Notice, however, that Biff doesn't criticize his father for having dreams; it's that he had the wrong dreams. It's not that Willy was too ambitious or wanted something better; it's that he had unrealistic dreams that led him to make bad choices in life. Most people have dreams, and that's perfectly healthy and natural. But Willy's dreams are delusions because they're not related to who he really is as a person; they're not an accurate expression of his soul.

A good example of this is the brief affair he had with his secretary. Willy prides himself on being a family man and yet he was so corrupted by his unattainable dreams of success that he cheated on Linda with a woman who ultimately meant nothing to him. His dreams of being a hotshot salesman, a "well-liked man" led him to look upon having an affair with an attractive young woman as one of the trappings of success. And this, in turn, affects Biff. Once he uncovers the affair, the relationship with his father is ruined forever. Willy's dreams have impacted negatively on Biff, so it's not surprising that he regards them as being so terribly wrong.

In Death of a Salesman, was Biff correct in saying that Willy "had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong"?

Biff was correct in his assumption that Willy's dreams were "all wrong". Shortly before Willy's death, Biff began to experience an epiphany in which he realized the extent of Willy's fantasies and the effect they had on him. He noted that Willy lived a life of self-deception and false ideals, always chasing after a victory that Willy himself could not fully describe. Furthermore, Biff knew that his father's talent would have been better invested in chasing after the things that he really loved, which were nature, the outdoors, and building things.

In addition to this, Willy did not become a salesman because he wanted to become one. Instead, he did it because he once heard that a man named Dave Singleman had become successful as a salesman. Therefore, Willy was trying to repeat the success of another person, and did not try to go after his own.

This is also why Biff's assumption that Willy's dreams were all wrong is correct. Not only was Willy not going after what he loved, but he was also going after the dreams and successes of someone else.

Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams." What was wrong about Willy's dreams and was there a right dream for him?

Willy Loman's dream was to become a well-liked, wealthy salesman like Dave Singleman, who was conducting business from his hotel room at the age of eighty-four and died a popular man. Willy was inspired by Dave Singleman to pursue a career as a salesman and naively believed that he could attain popularity and wealth with relative ease. Willy also has a warped perception of the American Dream and believes that being well-liked is the key to success. He completely neglects the importance of hard work, dedication, patience, and opportunity in order to attain wealth and ascend the social ladder. Willy's dream of living a fulfilled, content life as a salesman is wrong for him on many levels. Willy is depicted as an excellent handyman, who is talented and creative with tools in his hands. In addition to being a natural builder, Willy also has an affinity for the outdoors and enjoys being outside. He feels cramped and stifled in the city and desires to travel to Alaska, where he can enjoy the outdoors. Willy would have been better suited to enter the field of construction or choose an outdoor occupation instead of becoming a traveling salesman. Tragically, Willy fails to become a successful salesman, experiences auditory and visual hallucinations, and ends up committing suicide.

Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams." What was wrong about Willy's dreams and was there a right dream for him?

The dream that would have made Willy happy is to have followed his inner love for building and creating things. It would have been a gift that kept on giving, since it would have given him both the pleasure and the benefit of being productive in society, and to be there for his children.

Instead, Willy's dream was to follow the steps of another man. When  he was little, a man named Dave Singleman. This man was the inspiration behind Willy's career choice. He saw how this man supposedly made lots of money out of a hotel room. He figured he could do the same, and have a good lifestyle just on the basis of "being liked" and achieve financial success.

However, when Biff talks about a "wrong dream" he is mostly referring to the fact that his father was following another man's dream. He never once stopped to figure his own destiny and, instead, went following a journey already walked by another person.

In Death of a Salesman, was Biff correct in saying that Willy "had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong"?

Biff Loman is Willy Loman's eldest son in Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman. After much realization and thinking, he comes to the conclusion that his life has been nothing but a byproduct of Willy Loman's personal dreams. That his father's eternal quest for his own idea of the American Dream has somehow trespassed into Biff's own psyche, making Biff almost make the same mistakes as Willy has.

This is not a simple thing to admit. Biff has lived his entire life under the ideas that Willy has put in his head. It is not until Act II when he finally confronts himself, and Willy, about it.

BIFF: (Crying, broken) Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will youtake that phony dream and burn it before something happens?

Biff knows that his father as well as his grandfather and even himself are men who enjoy working outdoors, with wood, and with freedom.

BIFF: [...] Mom, I don’t fit in business. But I’ll try, and I’ll make good.

HAPPY: Sure you will. The trouble with you in business was you never tried to please people.

BIFF: I don’t care what they think! They’ve laughed at Dad for years,and you know why? Because we don’t belong in this nuthouse of a city!We should be mixing cement on some open plain or — or carpenters. Acarpenter is allowed to whistle!

Willy attests to that much, but rejects this by downplaying it as if it were a bad thing to work in some kind of trade work.

WILLY: Go back to the West! Be a carpenter, a cowboy, enjoy yourself!

Therefore, when Biff says that Willy has the wrong dreams all along he basically expressed how his father never takes the time to explore what he is good at and essentially goes after the success dreams of other men who do make it rich.

However, Willy is really never successful. He only succeeds at dreaming and at hoping. Since he is not living up to his best talent, he cannot give 100% at anything. Even Linda admits it:

Willy Loman never made a lot of money. He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s ahuman being.

Therefore, Willy's chasing of other people's dreams ultimately renders him as a man that has nothing to give and very little to leave behind.

In Death of a Salesman, was Biff correct in saying that Willy "had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong"?

Biff's view of his father after Willy's death has to be seen as a frail attempt to justify Biff's own inability to accept and deal with his father.  Biff spent much of his life doing exactly what he was accused of by Willy: acting spitefully.  Willy's dreams were actually quite simple and at the same time universal.  He wanted a better life for himself and his family.  He wanted his children to be successful.  He wanted to fulfill his American dream of success. Willy was wrong in believing that the secret to success is in being well liked, but it was his understanding of the world of business that was at fault, not his dreams. When Willy was unable to achieve his dream, he tried to pass it along to Biff; however, when Biff discovers his father has human frailties, the son turns on the father, spurning any chance to be successful in his own life and then blaming all of his failure on Willy. Willy is flawed, not only because of his extramarital affair, but because he built a life made of lies.  In spite of this, Willy's dreams are valid.  He certainly cannot be accused of not trying to succeed.  Imagine how painful it must have been to him to travel so far and earn so little for his efforts.  In the end Willy sacrifices his own life for Biff.  Is this the dream to which Biff was referring, the dream that his son would enjoy success in life?  It is not the dream that is wrong, it is the son who is unable to live up to the dream.  At every turn, Biff fails his father, and the great tragedy is that even in the end he cannot relent.  He must blame Willy and trash Willy's dreams, and be extension, Willy's life or he must take ownership and responsibility.  We never see Biff live up to the love his father felt for him.  The flaw was not in Willy's dreams but in his son's inability to forgiveanyone, himself included.