In literature and in life, people endure events which are the effects from the relationships between a parent and their child. In Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller it is evident how the relationship between Willy and his sons creates the downfall of the dysfunctional Loman family. Miller depicts the possessiveness that exists in humans through Willy Loman. In the 1949 era to preserve a healthy household it was important for the father-son relationship to be strong. If conflicts were to arise in their relationship the entire family would collapse and fail. Biff and Happy constantly idolize and praise their father, however, they realize that he is flawed and how as a father he failed to prepare them for the real world. Willy Loman is a man that is happy and proud in one moment and suddenly angry in another, which exhibits how the inconsistencies in his character make it difficult for anyone to have a strong relationship with him. In the play it is evident that the tension between the father and son relationship is the factor that causes the protagonist’s tragedy. The dispute between the father and …show more content…
It is evident that Happy only found happiness in pleasing Willy. Even though Willy ignored Happy, his devotion to his father was strong and this is evident because he would stand up to Biff and defend Willy. Happy states: All right, boy. I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He has a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him” (Miller, 139). This quote is said at Willy Loman’s grave and Happy says that he will continue his father’s illusions and become the next generations, Willy Loman. Willy always favoured his son Biff, and it turned out that Happy was the son who obeyed his
The saying, like father like son, is typically praise, but In The Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, it is evident that it may have a negative effect on a man’s life. In the play, Happy Loman is similar to his father, Willy, in that he is stuck in his dream world, has a false sense of confidence, and is desperate for attention. This resemblance is portrayed in the play through different instances where Happy and Willy demonstrate these characteristics in nearly identical ways. Happy’s purpose in the play is to resemble a young version of his father, and to show how Willy’s “legacy” has been passed on.
Within the drama, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the Lowman family is presented within the post war economy trying to achieve the American Dream. The father, Willy Lowman, represents a well-off salesman that demonstrates a persistent husband and father figure throughout the late 1940s and early 1950’s. Throughout this piece, Willy desires for his two sons, Biff and Happy, to follow in his footsteps as a salesman and to represent themselves throughout the economic decline. Throughout the storyline, Miller demonstrates the theme of success and failure, the representation of a tragic hero and the symbolism of seeds.
In his stage play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller introduces us to the family of Willy Lohan. There is greater influence of the parents to the children as is portrayed in the play. Willy Loman laxity has weighed heavily on the conduct of his sons, Happy and Biff. The main theme in the play is sustained in the play with the sons of Willy attaining their personality from their father. We learn that one’s upbringing shapes their behavior. The actions of those within one’s surrounding influence one’s behavior. This is quite evident in the case of a parent child interaction as portrayed in the play. Since most the time the child will look up to their parents, their ethical and moral values will be acquired from their parents. The impact of parent’s ethical degradation, on their children in is shown clearly in the play Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller.
he did to Biff. In Willy's eyes, Happy wasn't good enough. Therefore, Happy was always trying to live up to his expectations and please him.
Death of a Salesman is a play by Arthur Miller that follows the dying days of Willy Loman. Willy is a salesman who is not very at selling whatever he is selling so he takes the easy way out and goes to his neighbor, Charley, who has worked very hard for his money. Willy thinks that Charley and his son Bernard are nerdy and that they are not successful. Success to Willy is all about looks, which is why his son Biff grew up with the idea that as long as you are well liked than you will be successful. Willy faces the conscious battle between what he wants his sons to see and what he wants to keep personal. He wants to set the example of success to his sons by having a death of a salesman where tons of people attend his funeral and everyone knows whom they are there for. However, because he cheats at everything in his life from his job to his wife, his sons, Biff and Happy, have no father figure to look up to. This upsets Willy because he wants his sons to find happiness and success by following in his footsteps. Mr. Loman thinks that he will find happiness in work and doesn’t see that his wife, Linda, finds happiness in him. Linda finds joy in their relationship even though she is unaware of the affair he is having with a woman in Boston. She would do anything for him because for her he is everything. She would even kick out her own son because he brings so much pain to house and that “[he] can’t just come to see [her] because she loves [Willy]” (Miller). He is her happiness and her love. She doesn’t want Willy to die when he died. Willy ends up dying in a car crash and thinks that he solved his family’s problems, which is success in his eyes.
In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the conflicts that formulate between Biff and Willy Loman build up to the death of Willy. Biff’s delusional perception of being liked in the world leads to a successful life which was an idea brought onto him by his father, Biff’s discovery of his father's affair, and Biff’s lack of business success all accumulate to the heavy conflicting relationship between Biff and his father, Willy. These contribute immensely to the idea that personal dreams and desire to reach success in life can negatively impact life with personal relationships, which causes people to lose sight of what is important. This ultimately leads to the Willy committing suicide from the build up of problems with his son.
When happy and Biff were kids they actually cared and respected Willy. When Biff became older he stopped respecting Willy. Also as Happy aged he didn’t care about Willy anymore. The emphasis on the father/son relationship is very important to the play, even if the realshiption was rough towards the end. As you get older you shouldn’t stop caring for someone because you never know when they're going to be gone. Biff and Happy had to learn that the hard
In many literary works, family relationships are the key to the plot. Through a family’s interaction with one another, the reader is able decipher the conflicts of the story. Within a literary family, various characters play different roles in each other’s lives. These are usually people that are emotionally and physically connected in one way or another. They can be brother and sister, mother and daughter, or in this case, father and son. In the Arthur Miller’s novel, Death of A Salesman, the interaction between Willy Loman and his sons, Happy and Biff, allows Miller to comment on father-son relationships and the conflicts that arise from them.
Relations between fathers and the younger generation have been and continue to be an important theme for various literary genres (King Lear, Shakespeare; Fathers and Sons, Turgenev). For many famous writers the significance of fathers’ influence on their children forms a subject of particular interest. . In the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller shows in a very striking manner that the father's influence can be either positive or fatal. The dispiriting story of the three generations of the Lomans family contrasts with the happy account of the life of their neighbors, Charley and his son Bernard.
Beliefs and goals are directly conveyed from parents to their developing children, regardless of their legitimacy. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman’s fundamental belief is that the success of an individual is measured by their likeness– however his reasoning is extremely flawed. Unfortunately, as children, Biff and Happy are brainwashed by their father’s construed ideology. As a result, Willy acts as an instrument of suffering in his son’s lives by not acknowledging authentic success. Throughout Arthur Miller’s composition, Willy enables Biff and Happy by teaching them the false belief that being well-liked denotes success, consequently setting his sons up for failure.
Willy Loman: Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. While he achieves a professional understanding of himself and the fundamental nature of the sales profession, Willy fails to realize his personal failure and betrayal of his soul and family through the meticulously constructed artifice of his life. He feels that Biff has let him down by not being any more successful in life than Willy himself has been. Biff has no proper job, is not married and is unable to settle down. Willy seems to feel that Biff has done the things he has done, just to spite his father. Biff and Happy, who idolize and have nothing but love for their father when they are children, but later realize how their father failed to prepare them for the real world. His insecurity does not allow him to see the mistakes he did by implementing his strong beliefs about life, behavior, future, goals
Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman follows protagonist Willy Loman in his search to better his and his family’s lives. Throughout Willy Loman’s career, his mind starts to wear down, causing predicaments between his wife, two sons and close friends. Willy’s descent into insanity is slowly but surely is taking its toll on him, his job and his family. They cannot understand why the man they have trusted for support all these years is suddenly losing his mind. Along with his slope into insanity, Willy’s actions become more aggressive and odd as the play goes on. Despite Willy and Biff’s “family feud”, his two sons Happy and Biff truly worry about their father’s transformation, Happy saying: “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I wanted to talk to you about dad for a long time, Biff. Something’s – happening to him. He – talks to himself” (Miller 21). Willy, as a father, cares about his children but he wishes they would do better. He believes Biff should have been an athlete. According to Harrington, “Even figuratively, Willy is haunted, and particularly in Biff’s failure to achieve success as a sports figure” (108). This haunting is part of what led to Willy’s slow plunge into madness. As Willy’s career in sales fails, he also fails, even failing his family. Heyen adds: “He didn’t have anything of real value to give to his family, or if he did, he didn’t know what it was” (48). His debilitating flashbacks and delusional hallucinations with Uncle Ben cement his horrifying realizations that he has let down his family. Willy Loman blames the economy for his downfall in his career. In one of his more extreme outbursts he exclaims, “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. ...
Happy Loman is Willy's youngest son and is often over shadowed by his older brother Biff and ignored by his parents. As a result of growing up in Biff's shadow, Happy was always striving for Willy's attention, but never really got it. This is shown when the young Happy is always telling his father
Parent and child relationships are the main point of play in many literary works. Through their relationship, the reader can understand the conflicts of the play, since the characters play different roles in each other’s lives. These people are usually connected in physical and emotional ways. They can be brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters, or fathers and sons. In “Death of A Salesman,” by Arthur Miller, the interaction between Willy Loman and his sons, Biff and Happy, allows Miller to comment on the father-son relationship and conflicts that arise from them.
They see the injustices that are working contrary them and they fight against them tirelessly to “gain their ‘rightful’ place in society” (Miller 144). This idea of the tragic mode manifests itself most clearly, in Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, within the characters Willy Loman and his son Biff. Throughout the play both of these characters are forced to question what they believe to be true and “unchangeable.” Willy is shown to be a pathological liar who has never been able to accept the truth about himself, his family, his brother and his father, no matter how clear his friends and family presented it to him. Furthermore, Willy continually has visions from the past that permeate into real life. Most prevalently he gets "visits” from his brother Ben who, in stark contrast to his brother Willy, was hugely successful in the business world. On the other hand, you have Willy’s son Biff, a nobody who became that way because of his father. He has spent multiple years moving from jail to jail, lying to his parents, claiming instead that he was working on ranches down south in order to “find himself." However, by the end of the play, Biff becomes the only one in all of his family to accept the truth, while Willy, still not seeing the truth, kills himself for a life insurance claim. Willy wants to become successful like his brother and for his sons to conform to what they “should be”,