Death Of A Salesman Essay

In the play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, parenting is a key theme. Willy Lomans’ father was always gone and it made him feel like he was never good enough. Throughout Willy’s life he always felt like he had something to prove because of the way his father was towards him. Willy’s parenting also leaves and impression on his own sons. . . “Biff and Happy are two blind mice who follow in their father’s fallacy of life…” (The System and the American Dream, by Craig Garrison) Biff and Happy are stuck in the image of Willy set up for them.


Biff was a great athlete in high school and Willy thought he had so much going on for him by just being who he was. Biff had all the qualities Willy thought was needed for success; good looks, being well-liked, and well built. Biff isn’t dumb but he doesn’t care about academics and in fact uses his friends to help him. “You’ll give him the answers”-Willy (Act One Miller, pg 26). This is very important quote because it shows how Willy gives Biff the impression that it is alright to take things even if it is just answers. Biff steals the basketball and Willy barely even reprimands him; Willy makes a joke out of it giving Biff the impression that it’s okay. One of Biff‘s serious problems is he is a compulsive thief. Even on an important meeting with an old boss to get a loan; he steals from him blowing his chances. He can’t help himself and he states it when he tells Happy “I don’t know, I just wanted to take something. I don’t know, you gotta help me, Hap. I’m gonna tell Pop”- Biff (Act Two Miller,pg81). Biff wanted the world handed to him; he wanted success without doing any work.


Biff was working out West on a ranch but he came back home because he wanted to try and be successful like his father always seemed to be. He would rather go back out there and make something of himself because he’s much happier doing that. “When spring comes out West I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I’m not getting anywhere. I’m thirty – four years old, I outta be makin’ my future!-Biff (Act One, Miller pg ). When Biff doesn’t find success even though he has all the qualities Wily said he needed. This is one of the biggest letdowns not for him but for Willy. This sense of doubt is brought on by the conflict he has over making himself happy and what would make his father happy. Unfortunately, Biff stays that way until the end of the play.


Happy never received the attention form Willy that his brother did. Happy always felt unworthy of his father’s attention. Biff was the athlete and the one Willy had all his dreams in. Happy was just as good as Biff but he was neglected and thrived for his father’s attention. He could be considered “the other son”. As Happy grows older he goes nowhere just like Biff. Happy has meaningless sex with many women, especially ones about to get married. He can have hold a relationship and always promises Linda he will get married, Happy probably never will though. “Isn’t that a shame now? A beautiful girl like that? That’s why I can’t get married. There’s not good woman in a thousand N.Y is loaded with them” – Happy (Act Two Miller pg80). One of the reasons Happy might indulge in this kind of activity is because the women he is with want him and in his life he never really felt that way. Happy then leaves these girls and they get hung up on him even more. When Happy sleeps with brides-to-be and they say they will leaves their fiancés for him. He seems to have a lot going for him: a good job, a nice car, nice apartment and women who want him. However, none of these materialist things is really filling him. All the things that his father stated were good to have and what really made a man turned out to be false. “…But then it’s what I always wanted. My own car, an apartment, plenty of women…still, I’m lonely.” – Happy (Act One Miller pg

Happy was always in his brother’s shadows and never felt good enough. Happy doesn’t give it his all; instead of trying to get ahead at his job he is going to wait for his superior to die so he can get his job. Happy knows Biff is the favorite even though he never achieved anything great and Happy never felt like he was good enough for Willy so he will never give his all; “Everybody around me is so false that I’m constantly lowering my ideals” – Happy (Act One Miller pg 12), he will continue to be this way for the rest of his life.


Biff and Happy will always be stuck with the image Willy gave them. Biff tries hard to break away from it but he is still what his father made him. Happy never received attention from his father so he will always lack something. Willy’s own father was never there for him and made Willy the way he was. “Dad is never so happy as when he is looking forward to something” - Happy (Act Two Miller pg82). . Although he won’t be outright disappointed, Willy is never going to be really proud of his sons because of their lack of effort and ambition but he won’t realize because he blind to the fact that he didn’t push them in the right way. Willy put false hopes into his sons’ heads and made them believe that a successful career will make them happy and will better them as people. This proves to be false because Biff has no career but hopes for something his father wouldn’t approve of and even though Happy has all material items he’s still lonely.

Although Willy may not do this on purpose it is part of a cycle. The problems Willy has with his sons relate to the one he had with his own son. Willy felt temporary about. He wanted to be treated with the same respect as Dave Singleman. Singleman was another salesman who was well liked and killed in a train fire. At his funeral a thousand people came. Although he always admired the way Singleman was respected, Willy never received when he past away.


In a way the story is a tragedy because of the hopes and dreams that never happened for the son’s and their father. Although he did not do it intentionally; Willy’s parenting hindered his sons. “I see great things for you kids, I think your troubles are over. But remember: start big and you’ll end big...” – Willy (Act One Miller pg 47)
The Loman sons seemed to inherit the same disillusionment as their father and seemed easily influenced by him. After all it was their father and you usually believe what your parents tell you- even it turns out not to be the truth. Willy believed it himself and maybe out of fear of seeing the truth. “…the underlying fear of being displaced, the disaster inherent in being torn away from our chosen image of what and who we are in the world…In fact it is the common person who knows this fear best.”- Arthur Miller (Tragedy and the Common Man). Miller basically says some us think at some point of time. If we all really see ourselves for who we really are and not the image we think of ourselves it can sometimes be scary. Willy’s thoughts of himself as a great businessman could have been made because he was too scared to say who he really was out load and he taught his sons to think of the values he came up with as vital. This just seemed to shoot right back in his face with nothing but disappointment

The way you parent your children will affect how they are for the rest of their lives. Willy Loman’s never taught his children moral values and because of this they don’t know how to live a good life. He wanted the best for his kids-like all parent do- but he was narrow minded about his hopes for them that and they desperately tried to fulfill this for him. Biff and Happy will always struggle with who they are because of Willy.