Death Of A Salesman Father Son Relationship Essay

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In most cases, it is considered normal for the father to be the head of the household. Providing and taking care of the family are some of his many duties. He could pass down his views on several things. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, this is not the case. The relationship between Willy Loman and his sons steadily changes throughout the play. As Willy Loman attempted to prepare his sons for life; he ultimately failed to enforce good qualities and skills because of his breakdowns to work, mental issues, and self-control. Willy tried his hardest, but was unfit as a father to Happy and Biff. One could attribute his role of being an unsuited father towards his sons from never really having a good connection with his family growing up. Willy failed as being a parent because of the struggles he faced with his own father. With issues among his father, he sought advice, affection and parenting skills from his brother Ben. His older sibling was a role model for how he wanted his life to go with his successes. According to Miller’s play Ben was a very rich man while he was alive. “Ben: Why, boys when I was seventeen, I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God, I was rich” (Miller 2128). Being an underpaid salesman Willy looked up to his …show more content…

Biff struggles with a broken bond with his father, while Happy yearns to create a bond with Willy. Willy praised Biff while he kept Happy behind him as if the younger brother was a shadow of his older brother. Throughout the story Happy tries to impress his father to receive the same praise that Biff receives. In the story Happy constantly attempts to earn Willy’s attention. Reminding him of how he is losing weight attention hungry as he does pushups outside of the house. Biff and Happy in their thirties still live in the Loman home trying to develop success within them to go out and work on their

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