Ribkoff's Fallacies
Fallacy in Fred Ribkoff’s Shame, guilt, empathy, and the search for identity in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Modern tragedies are a direct representation of many people’s life in the present day. Some would be able to realize their tragic flaws and try to distinguish their identity or purpose, but for some, raw emotions can blind them from realizing and can end in tragedy. In Fred Ribkoff’s Shame, Guilt, Empathy, and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman discusses the emotions of “shame together with the sense of inadequacy and inferiority manifest in the need to prove oneself to others” and how it is displayed by Willy and Biff which shapes their sense of identity. According to Ribkoff, Willy and the rest of …show more content…
This is not accurate because there was no shame or guilt with Biff in the first place and he found himself early in the play in the hotel room in Boston with his father. Biff had high respect for his father, he was his role model and this can be seen especially during the conversation he has with him in the hotel where he asks for help to ask his math teacher to pass him by saying “you gotta talk to him before they close the school. Because if he saw the kind of man you are and you just talked to him in your way, I’m sure he’d come through for me” (Miller, 92). The tragic truth is revealed when Biff finds “the women” in the same room and breaks down crying realizing his father’s affair. He takes back his help and says “never mind” (Miller, 95) and says “I’m not going there [university of Virginia]” (Miller, 95) as he walks away from the hotel room while his father “order” (Miller, 95) him to come back because he longer believes his father’s high stature can help him pass high school. This was moment of realization for biff where his mask built by his father gets broken as it was “fake” (Miller, 95) revealing nothing but him. It was his own self that decided to walk away ignoring his father which proofs his sense of identity. There is no “feelings of shame” involved in this process as none of this situation was Biff’s fault. Therefore Ribkoff’s argument on Biff’s shame and how and when he found himself should be dismissed. Logically his admiration for his father turns bitter resulting in an aggressive emotion of hatred but not
Modern tragedies are a direct representation of many people’s life in the present day. Some would be able to realize their tragic flaws and try to distinguish their identity or purpose, but for some, raw emotions can blind them from realizing and can end in tragedy. In Fred Ribkoff’s Shame, Guilt, Empathy, and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman discusses the emotions of “shame together with the sense of inadequacy and inferiority manifest in the need to prove oneself to others” and how it is displayed by Willy and Biff which shapes their sense of identity. According to Ribkoff, Willy and the rest of …show more content…
This is not accurate because there was no shame or guilt with Biff in the first place and he found himself early in the play in the hotel room in Boston with his father. Biff had high respect for his father, he was his role model and this can be seen especially during the conversation he has with him in the hotel where he asks for help to ask his math teacher to pass him by saying “you gotta talk to him before they close the school. Because if he saw the kind of man you are and you just talked to him in your way, I’m sure he’d come through for me” (Miller, 92). The tragic truth is revealed when Biff finds “the women” in the same room and breaks down crying realizing his father’s affair. He takes back his help and says “never mind” (Miller, 95) and says “I’m not going there [university of Virginia]” (Miller, 95) as he walks away from the hotel room while his father “order” (Miller, 95) him to come back because he longer believes his father’s high stature can help him pass high school. This was moment of realization for biff where his mask built by his father gets broken as it was “fake” (Miller, 95) revealing nothing but him. It was his own self that decided to walk away ignoring his father which proofs his sense of identity. There is no “feelings of shame” involved in this process as none of this situation was Biff’s fault. Therefore Ribkoff’s argument on Biff’s shame and how and when he found himself should be dismissed. Logically his admiration for his father turns bitter resulting in an aggressive emotion of hatred but not