butterfly group -Eman AL-Ghamdi. -Sal7a AL-Montashri. -Areej Khalaf. -Doa’a Nashashki. -Samar AL-Youbi.

Death of a Salesman & The Relationships between father and sons

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.

The Relationships between willy and his sons

Willy Loman “ The Father”

Willy Loman is an insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it.

Nor do his sons fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. When Willy’s illusions begin to fail under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health begins to unravel.

The overwhelming tensions caused by this disparity, as well as those caused by the societal imperatives that drive Willy, form the essential conflict of Death of a Salesman.

Biff Loman “Willy’s elder Son”

Biff Loman Willy’s thirty-four year-old elder son. There is friction between Biff and Willy from the beginning of the play to the end. Talking with his younger brother Happy, Biff says, "Why does Dad mock me all the time?... Everything I say there's a twist of mockery on his face. I can't get near him." Willy both loves and hates Biff because Biff was Willy's hope for a vicarious success in life, but Biff has let him down.

Biff is a traitor to Willy's values because he does not really believe in them. He is not dedicated to the American Dream as Willy is. Biff tries to live up to his father's requirements for success, but his heart is never really in it.

Biff finally sees that he pities his father, even hates him in a sense, because Willy's life is so thoroughly false. in the end, after repeated failure, Biff sees the truth, too late to really penetrate his father's mind.

Happy Loman “Willy’s younger son”

Happy Loman Willy’s thirty-two-year-old younger son. Happy represents Willy’s sense of self- importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal expectations. Happy is barely talked to. This kind of favoritism has a profound effect on a child.

In order to be acknowledged by his father, Happy believes that he must become Willy’s version of a success by acquiring wealth and being popular. He convinces himself that this is the only way he’ll ever be truly happy.

In the end though, he realizes that he is not happy. "... It’s what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I’m lonely" (23). Happy has been living his entire life in a way that he believes will bring him attention from his father, yet he becomes more miserable than if he had gone his own way.

”“Conclusion

Arthur Miller’s ability to have characters interact with one another allows him to comment on father-son relationships and the conflicts involved. A father is the most important thing a boy can have in his life.

It is important to have communication in the relationship because talking brings the two closer. They relate to one another on a level that cannot be achieved through a mother-son relationship.

A father, though, needs to know when to play an active role in his son’s life, and when to be more of an observer. If he mixes the two up, serious repercussions may occur. A father can be the best thing in his son’s life, but he needs to care for right.