Death of a Salesman: The Relationships Father and Son

Biff, on the other hand, had it worse because his father sold him lies about his importance in the business industry, which forced Biff to admire Willy and strive to be like him one day. Willy’s consistent stroking of Biff’s ego misled Biff into thinking that he could get away with anything simply because he was “popular” and “well-liked”. However, when Biff accidentally stumbles upon his father’s adultery, his world crashes in on itself as he loses his sense of identity. He quotes, “I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been” (Act II). Willy wasn’t much better with his “friends”.

Willy prefers to dr... ... middle of paper ... ...ather, not as a salesman? (Corrigon 105). Although he is not flawless, Willy ?accepts the responsibilities [his family?s] existence creates? unlike his brother Ben because he truly cares about them (Abbotson 44). Willy?s devotion to his family is sabotaged by his misconceived ideas on how love is conveyed, as he attempts to endow his sons with corrupt objectives.

When Biff realizes that he has been idolizing a failure he is devestated. Biffs life begins to tumble downhill uncontrollably. Biff is so affected by is father’s wrongdoings that is creates never-ending animosity between Willy and Biff. Biff feels that the reason him and his father are always fighting is because “he’s a fake and he doesn’t like anybody around who knows!” (Miller 1221) Happy, Willy’s younger son, is also greatly affected by Willy’s antics. Happy is affected differently than Biff because Happy never realizes that his father is a failure.

In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller paints the relationship of Willy and his two sons, Biff and Happy, through the dreams of living a successful life but achieving that success in the wrong manner. He wants his kids to live a better life than he had to but he had no clue on how togain this success the correct way. This wrong teaching built a wedge in their relationship with neither being successful and their father never letting them hear the end of it. His high expectations deemed foolish with his many failures at life and even indulging in an affair, guiding his sons down the wrong path of life. Willy’s dreams of having a successful life in the future are lived through the ones of his children because he couldn’t find a way to achieve

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a tragic play about an aging and struggling salesman, Willy Loman, and his family’s misguided perception of success. In Willy’s mind, being well-liked is more important than anything else, and is the means to achieving success. He teaches this flawed idea to his sons, Biff and Happy, and is faithfully supported by his wife Linda. Linda sympathizes with Willy’s situation, knowing that his time as an important salesman has passed. Biff and Happy hold their father to impossibly high standards, and he tries his best to live up to them.

As Pamela Loos says, “Willy Loman fails to understand himself and esteems a career path that goes against who he truly is,” this keeps him from ever being happy with himself. It is easy to see that these problems hurt his personal relationships with Biff and Happy, and they keep them from having a stable family. As the story unfolds, the flaws that each character possesses begin to all come back to Willy, and the way that he conducted his life. Early on in the story, it is clear that the brothers are very different, but each of them shares something with Willy. Biff is the all-american boy, and seems to have everything going for him.

In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller describes Willy Loman as a tragic character who failed to succeed his dreams. Willy never becomes a part of the American Dream, because he is always following other people’s dreams but never his own. He chooses to become a salesman only because he is truly inspired by Ben and Dave Singleman’s successes. Willy Loman, a rather hard working man, might succeed his own American Dream in another career that he is capable of. The fantastic illusions that he himself creates due to the inspiration of others’ successes eventually lead to his failure as well as his sons’.

He believes that to be well liked is to be successful. Willy would rather be in a world with dreams than realize that he was a failure. In the play there is a lot of Daydreams. Daydreams are just another way for Willy to escape failure. He daydreams about his sons being s... ... middle of paper ... ...w he never reaches this because he kills himself in the end to continue this dream for his son Biff.

Throughout this play Willy believes that in order to be successful, it doesn’t just take hard work, but it takes a likeable personality, the ability to be popular and well known. Willy encourages this perception onto his sons Biff and Happy. However, throughout the play Willy realizes that the American Dream he was chasing wasn’t going to be achieved, which ultimately lead to his death. In the beginning of the play when Bernard notifies his Uncle Willy that Biff is failing math. Willy entirely disregards Bernard and only cares about Bi... ... middle of paper ... ...grasp the truth of his unaccomplished life and his failure as a father and a husband and a successful man.

Bill Cosby once said, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone” (goodreads). Willy Loman in the play “Death of a Salesman” of Arthur Miller is the character that directly relates to the state. He believes wholeheartedly in the American dream of success and wealth, but he never achieved itment of that quote. Willy spends his entire life to try to achieve “the American dream” but the result for his effort is being mental illness, which directly ruin his life. Willy is stuck in the past, and is constantly disappointed when he realizes that his dreams and memories are better than his present life, which then leads to his depression and ultimately, his suicide, showing that memories, illusion, delusion of the past have the power to ruin someone’s present and future.