Willy Lohan, a poor role model to his two sons Biff and Happy 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 …show more content…
As a result of these lies, as the months past, his debt grew bigger because he had to get loans to cover up his lie. To the damage of his son’s moral, Biff knew about his father’s deceit to his mother and therefore saw dishonesty as a good thing. In the footsteps of his father, Biff went ahead to lie to his mother that he was ready to sire a family with a woman. He only lied to please Linda, his mother just as his father did. Willy should have taught his sons that dishonesty was against social norms and ethically incorrect and unacceptable. Willy treated people poorly which in turn his children learnt to do. For instance, Willy was married to Linda but went ahead to have another woman. He had an affair with another woman because he was not satisfied with his marriage. His poor treatment of his wife misled his sons to see it as acceptable to be dishonest. They in turn, viewed women as inferior objects of use. They too treated women as objects. To Biff and Happy, they never knew the moral law of treating others as one would want to be treated. This was a major failure on Willy’s part for not shaping his sons on even the most fundamental principals of moral values. It all ended turning inward when his sons started treating him the same way he treated other people. In conclusion, the play Death of a Salesman point out the flaw often left unattended by parents in dispensing their parental role to their
At one point in the play, Willy says, “Biff is a lazy bum”(16). Moments later in the same conversation with Linda, Willy adds, “There’s one thing about Biff, he’s not lazy”(16). Even when confronted by his boys, Willy is unable to deal with the truth, that his sons won’t amount to very much at all. He ignores reality very well, and instead of pointing out that Biff hasn’t established himself yet, Willy tells Biff, “You’re well liked, Biff….And I’m telling you, Biff, and babe you want…”(26). The boys are clearly aware of their status and the status of their father, and Happy is found putting Willy’s personality in a nutshell, “Well, let’s face it: he’s [Willy] no hot-shot selling man. Except that sometimes, you have to admit he’s a sweet personality”(66). Obviously, Willie’s failure to bring up his children effectively, and his delusional thinking including denial of reality helps fortify his depleting condition and confusion.
Johnson provides a brief account of the novella 's plot, together with his own perspective on the fact that so much of literature and literary analysis concentrates on the relationships that the characters have. In this case, the author examines the family as composed of children of ineffectual parents. While this writer does not know this with certainty, it is possible that many cases requiring family therapy are due to this very cause. The author then goes on to discuss the family in the context of the greater social system.
The choices and decisions made control our lives and build our future. Regardless of whether individuals see it or not, the choices did influence today, impact our tomorrow. Once a choice made, the actions play out, and the results convey; at that point, must choose the option to live with those outcomes. In the short story "The Father," the author, Hugh Garner utilizes character development of John Purcell to demonstrate that one's irresponsible choices made have the ability to jeopardize an essential relationship in one's life.
The father-son conflict between Willy and Biff is complex. First of all, there is a strong personal attachment. He wants Biff to love him. He remembers the fondness shown for him by Biff as a boy, and he still craves this. At this point, however, relations are strained. Although Willy shies away from remembering so painful an episode, he knows in his heart that his affair with the Boston woman left the boy bitterly disillusioned. Feeling some sense of guilt, Willy fears that all of Biff’s later difficulties may have been really attempts to get revenge. In other words, Biff failed to spite Willy. Although outwardly resenting such alleged vindictiveness, Willy still wants to get back the old comradeship, even if he has to buy it dearly. For instance consider when he asked Ben, “Why can’t I give him something and not have him hate me?” and his final moment of joy and triumph occurs when he exclaims, “Isn’t that remarkable? Biff… he likes me!”
While Biff was in Boston, his discoveries manipulated the course of his life. Willy’s affair damaged the trust Biff had for him. Boys look up to their father. Once Biff saw The Woman, he no longer knew how to act. He had the intention of getting help to pass math. Willy’s affair shattered it all. Bernard explains to Willy that once Biff returned from Boston, things weren’t the same. “…I knew he’d given up his life. What happened in Boston, Willy?”
Also it is apparent that the teenage characters in this play, are excessively disrespectful of their parents:
He would give his mistress brand new stockings, as a gift, while Linda would mend her old ones at home. When Willy would see this, an overwhelming state of realizing all he had done wrong would come over him, he was furious with himself and the amount of guilt brought upon him, which then turned to anger that was to be taken out on Linda. “I won’t have you mending stockings in this house! Now throw them out!” (Miller 26) The guilt from his infidelity caused him to further abuse Linda. Not only was Willy’s cheating affecting his relationship with his wife, but it was also hurting his children. When Willy’s son Biff, came to him for help, regarding a math credit, he saw Miss Francis in Willy’s room and realized that his father was having an affair. The perfect image of the Loman family was then shattered in Biff’s eyes. Biff insulted Willy, yelling, “You fake! You phony little fake! You fake!” (Miller 95) The perfect marriage that Biff believed his parents had, held enormous dishonesty. With his family falling apart, Willy’s disappointment grew. Willy was a family man who had so much pride in his children. He believed that his sons were outstanding scholars and athletes and would one day make excellent salesman. Like any parent he wanted them to achieve success so badly that even much after their high school careers he still found it necessary to defend and support their high school success (Miller 105) In reality Willy was building his kids up to be something
Apart from Willy’s delusion of his own success, he also sees his sons as great successes in the business world, and that they will amount to so much in their lives. These boys cannot be successful because they have been “[blown] so full of hot air [they] could never stand taking orders from anybody” (131). Willy’s illusions about his sons not only ruined Willy’s life, but it caused these boys to have a false sense of reality, which is the theme. This false sense of reality leads to their downfall in the business world because Willy had built them up so high that they believed they should be the one giving the orders, not taking them. When Willy tells his boys “together [you] could absolutely lick the civilized world” (64), this is an example of the way Willy falsely sees his boys and fills their
Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become
The plays, The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun, deal with the love, honor, and respect of family. In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda, the caring but overbearing and over protective mother, wants to be taken care of, but in A Raisin in the Sun, Mama, as she is known, is the overseer of the family. The prospective of the plays identify that we have family members, like Amanda, as overprotective, or like Mama, as overseers. I am going to give a contrast of the mothers in the plays.
Ever since Biff walked into the affair between Willy and “The Woman”, Biff hasn’t been able to speak and look at his father the same; this causes Willy to think that Biff hates him. Also, Willy could still be upset about how he may ruined Biff’s chance of going to summer school for his failing subject. From there, Biff could’ve gone to college and become more successful than his father. Willy becomes happier when Biff attempts to talk to Bill Oliver because he wants him to be the successful man that he could’ve been before.
In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, the contrast between expectation and reality has a crucial role throughout the play. One day, before going to work, Willy expresses a desire to his wife to retire to the countryside and start a farm. However, in doing so, Willy creates the unrealistic expectation of retiring to start a farm when his current circumstances wouldn’t allow him to do so. This moment is emblematic of the play as a whole because it exemplifies the recurring theme of reality falling short of unrealistic expectations.
Later in a flashback, Willy and Biff are on their way to Ebbets Field for a football game when Charley appears and beings a conversation with Willy. Merely joking around, Charley makes a few comments which Willy takes great offense too and beings insulting Charley and telling him to put his hands up as if to fight. Willy's arrogance shows it's face once again when Willy is talking to Biff about his meeting with Oliver. Completly ignoring what Biff is saying, Willy goes on about how good of a kid Biff is and how impressive he is. Though not directly insulting, Willy ignores what his son has to say and goes off on his own tangents, losing the respect of the reader. Willy then ends up in another flashback in the bathroom of the restauraunt where he met Happy and Biff for dinner. The most disgusting part of Willy is revealed here. Biff walks in on Willy and his woman friend whom hes had a secret relationship with. Willy attempts to cover it up and when that doesnt work he orders Biff around and shows how bad of a person he can be.
Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person as an instrument of sexual pleasure. Miller elucidates this by using milieu of the time period. This sexual objectification of women is mainly used by Willy with his mistress and also with the philandering Happy when he talks about women. This ideology that women are only good for the pleasure of men something that has been prevalent for centuries, stemming from the stereotype that women are objects and/or possessions for a man to exploit. Willy shows no respect to either his wife or his mistress. On his way back to Brooklyn, Willy tells his mistress to “keep [her] pores open” (1.39). This degrading statement gives insight on how Willy views women. He does not view women as people who have identities of their own, but objects that he can use for his own pleasure. Not only does this statement give insight on Willy’s views on women, but also how the mistress views herself. Her response to this statement was “Oh, Willy (1.39)”, and starts to burst out laughing. This depicts how in this time men treated women with no respect, and there were no repercussions. Linda never stood up to Willy in Brooklyn, and neither did his mistress in New England. Willy’s insolence towards women definitely rubbed off onto Happy. Happy, a philanderer, had an “If I want it, then I will get it” attitude towards women. This attitude is demonstrated when he states that, “...I don’t want the girl, and still I take it and- I love it” (1.25). This statement is the epitome of sexual objectification towards women. Happy doesn’t view women as people, but instead just as things that he can “take”.
Willy Loman has the ups and downs of someone suffering from bipolar disorder: one minute he is happy and proud- the next he is angry and swearing at his sons. Their relationships are obviously not easy ones. Willy always has the deeper devotion, adoration, and near-hero worship for his son Biff; the boy, likewise, has a great love for his father. Each brags on the other incessantly, thereby ignoring the other son- Happy- who constantly tries to brag on himself in order to make up the lack of anyone to do it for him. This turns sour however, after Biff discovers the father he idolizes was not all he had thought him to be. Afterward, familial dynamics are never the same, as Willy continues to hope that Biff will succeed, ignorant- perhaps