Father-Son Relationship In Arthur Miller's Death Of A

Salesman

KAVITA
University Research Scholar
Kurukshetra University
Kurukshetra
India
Abstract
Arthur Miller, along with Eugene O’ Neill and Tennessee Williams, is
one of the important names on the sta ge of American Drama. It was with
Arthur Miller that post -war drama acquired a new dignit y and import. He was
a playwright who had a troubled awareness of individual psychology. In most
of his plays he explores the dynamics of famil y relationships. The pre sent
paper makes a study of one of the recurrent themes in Miller’s plays –
‘father-son’ relationship. The study focuses on the father -son relationship in
one of the best plays of Miller – Death of a Salesman (1949). Though the
play dramatises the last day in the life of the protagonist, Will y Loman, yet
the father-son relationship, in the play, can be divided into three distinct
developing stages – namel y, the childhood stage, the youth stage, and the
mature stage. In this paper, an attempt has been made t o study these three
stages in details and examine the intricacies of the relationship of Will y
Loman with his two sons – Biff and Happy.

Arthur Miller was a prolific American dramatist whose literary career

spans over a period of 60 years. His most famou s and successful plays were
All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A
View from the Bridge (1956). Miller's works and his writing career show a
profound influence of the great depression and the Second World War, on

www.ijellh.com 367
him. Through his various plays he depicts the harmful effects of these
historical incidents on the American man, his values, and his ideology. The
pursuit of the 'American Dream' and the consequent failure is also an
important theme in his plays. The commercialis ation and cut -throat
competition to become the most successful man brought demise in the whole
value-s ystem of the Americans. Post World War II America was facing new
challenges. It seemed harder to hold on the famil y as a 'whole’. The
disintegration of th e American families was becoming a common trend.
Miller took all these issues as the major concerns in his plays.
Mostl y he dealt with industrial and commercial societ y on one hand
and famil y on the other. While dealing with the theme of famil y, Miller pa id
special emphasis on the Father -Son relationship in the famil y. The portrayal
of this relationship is a recurring theme in Miller's plays - be it The Man Who
Had All the Luck (1944), All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Price
(1968). However, Death of a Salesman is one of the best specimens of this
theme. The play is a masterpiece and depicts the last day in the life of the
protagonist Will y Loman - a salesman. Willy Loman, an average -earning
American, worked throughout his life to achieve the 'Americ an Dream' – the
dream of becoming successful and popular. However, he suffers because he
had a flawed value-system. He thought that whoever is well -liked among his
peers and has an overall impressive personalit y can easil y succeed in life.
Moreover, he thi nks that 'salesmanship' is the best profession through which
one can gain respect, affection, popularit y and success. But late in life he
realises his mistakes as he doesn't turn into a successful man. The tension
arises when he starts transferring these m isconceptions and false ideals in his
two sons- Biff and Happy. From their very childhood, Willy makes a false
impression on his sons. He makes them believe that their father is a ver y
famous and successful salesman; that people love him wherever he goes; that
he is an indispensable employee of his employers; that he is a very worthy
man.
WILLY. . . . . Because the man who makes an appearance in the
business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man

www.ijellh.com 368
 who gets ahead. Be liked and you will nev er want. You take me,
for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. 'Will y
Loman is here!' That's all they have to know, and I go right
through. (Miller 25 -26)
The growth of the father -son relationship in this play can be divided
into three stages. The first stage is the childhood stage of Biff and Happy.
From this very stage Biff had been, undoubtedl y, Will y's favourite. Happy,
on the other hand, always tried to grab his father's attention but mostl y he
played the role of an assistant to his elder brother. The writer also explores
the relationship of Biff and Will y more than Happy and Biff. Willy's special
attention was always towards Biff. The reason being, Biff was a good
sportsman of his school and he was very popular among the students an d
teachers. This made Willy believe that Biff would very easil y succeed in life
as he is efficient in making good impression upon others. Will y himself
wasn't a very successful man, so he started harbouring his dreams in his sons
that they would achieve wh at he couldn't. The second reason for Will y's
special love for Biff was that Biff was almost an alter ego of his father. Both
Willy and Biff had a love for manual labour - works like making a stoop in
front of the house, or mending the wall, ceiling and oth er parts of the house.
Both loved the outdoor field work surrounded by natural sceneries and fresh
air. They both felt a kind of suffocation in the modern urbanised cit y life and
weren't able to enjoy it properl y. However, Will y never realised his actual
talents and suffered failure because of plunging himself into a wrong
profession. He was not a man for the business -world but still in order to earn
fame he was trying to make himself what he was not meant to be.
During the childhood stage the love and und erstanding between the
father and the son was the most. The love and affection was transmitted
equall y from both sides. Biff and Happy used to idealize their father. Will y
was Biff’s 'hero' and the centre of his life. He trusted his father a lot and
trul y believed in his success. But the seeds of the future tension and
shortcomings were also sown in this very stage. Will y brought up his sons on

www.ijellh.com 369
wrong ideals and false pride. He always ignored their mistakes and rather
himself tried to cover them.
When Biff had stolen a basketball from the locker -room of the coach,
Willy ignored his mistake and passed the incident as a joke. When Bernard
warned Will y that Biff would fail in the exams, Will y suggested Bernard to
give the answers to Biff during the exams. Moreo ver he told Biff that in
future it is for sure that Biff would be “five times ahead of” Bernard. The
reason being, simpl y, that Bernard didn't have an impressive personalit y.
WILLY. . . . Bernard can get the best marks in school, y'understand,
but when he gets out in the business world, y'understand, you are
going to be five times ahead of him. That's why I thank Almight y
God you're both built like Adonises. (Miller 25)
The second stage of their relationship began when both Biff and Happy
grew up and st epped out of their school premises and entered the competitive
and practical American World, where each was trying to become successful
and carve out a space for himself. Just at the beginning of this stage
something happened that changed the father -son relationship completel y. As
it has been mentioned earlier also, Happy's relationship with Will y is
presented on a secondary level. The actual father -son relationship that is in
limelight, in the play, is Willy and Biff's relationship. Therefore this incident
is also related to Will y and Biff. Biff once caught his father, red -handed,
cheating on his mother while on a business -trip to Boston. This Boston
episode shattered Biff's confidence in his father completel y. The image of his
‘hero’, his ‘ideal’ came to p ieces when he saw his father in an incestuous
relationship. It seemed as if Biff's life lost its balance and its centre. There
was nothing left to hold on to. After this incident Biff lost all interest in his
future career as well as studies. The spirit of his life vanished and he
unconsciousl y became a 'nomad'. The result was that he kept on changing
jobs but was unable to find satisfaction.
BIFF. Well, I spent six or seven years after high school trying to work
myself up. Shipping clerk, salesman, busine ss of one kind or
another. And it’s a measl y manner of existence. (Miller 16)

www.ijellh.com 370
 However, the basic reason behind such a nomadic life was onl y one -
that all his ideals, values proved to be fake and false. His father, the epitome
of these ideals, was a cheat . Biff lost all respect for his father and called him
a "liar . . . fake" (Miller 95). However, he didn't reveal his father's extra -
marital affair to his mother. But after this incident Biff started arguing and
disrespecting his father. Will y on the other hand felt guilt y but never
apologised. Rather he kept on pressurising Biff for trying jobs in the business
field. He knew that Biff has become aimless in life because of him. He often
realised that he, himself, was to be blamed for Biff's failures and his
unsuccessful career. But his false pride never let him accept this. He tried to
find faults in Biff's personalit y. Therefore, this was a stage where there were
accusations as well as arguments from both sides. As a result, Biff started
leaving home and liv ing somewhere else with the changing jobs. He kept on
changing addresses as well. During this stage the relationship between father
and son suffered a communication gap too. On the other hand, Happy, though
living at home, tried to impress his father. Thou gh he too was not very
successful, but like his father he also made false impressions on others and
became a fake show-off. He, also, lied to his parents about his position in the
office.
The final stage of the father -son relationship reached its climax d uring
the last day of Willy Loman's life. This is the actual day which the play
picturises. Biff has turned thirt y-four and yet he is unsure of what he wants
in life. He is yet exploring his possibilities. During all these years Biff had
made a journey to find himself; to find the 'real' Biff. He realised that he is a
man of the fields and the business world as well as its coded behaviour is not
his cup of tea. Biff also realised that he had been brought up on false ideals
and that it wasn't necessary that a person who is well -liked, popular and has
an impressive personalit y will surel y succeed in life. He understood that his
real talents lie in his interests in creative manual labour. However, the iron y
was that Biff made a journey to self -realisation while Will y was unsuccessful
in doing so. This led to the actual clash between the father and the son. Will y
is not ready to accept his as well as his sons’ failures. He still harbours false

www.ijellh.com 371
hopes. Thus he loses his mental peace and stabilit y. Half the time he is lost
into imaginary conversations and is unable to differentiate between real and
imaginary. Biff loses patience at his father's deteriorating mental state and
thinks that accepting the ‘truth’ and facing realit y is the onl y possible
solution. Therefore, he attempts to show his father the actual realit y which is
free of all pretensions. He shouts:
BIFF. Pop! I'm a dime of dozen, and so are you! . . .
BIFF. I am not a leader of men, Will y, and neither are you. You were
never anything but a hard -working drummer who landed in the
ash-can like all the rest of them! . . . I'm not bringing home any
prizes any more, and you're going to stop waiting for me to bring
them home! (Miller 105)
After saying this, Biff breaks down and emotionall y overwhelmed,
hugs his father. Willy realises that though Biff had been arguing and blaming
him, since the Boston episode, but inwardl y he always loved his father. Will y
realises Biff's unconditional love and is full of compassion. This is what he
had wanted throughout his li fe - his sons’ love and respect, and he finall y
gets it at this stage. Will y becomes satisfied and wants to give something
worthy to his sons as a return gift. He commits suicide as he thinks that the
insurance money, Rs. 20,000 dollars, would be sufficien t for his sons to
begin a new business and make them successful in life.
Willy, therefore, is indeed a good father who relentlessl y tries to make
his sons successful and instils his own sense of moralit y into his boys. But
the tragedy was that he didn't r ealize that his own sense of moralit y was
flawed. Therefore, he failed as a father not because of misleading his sons;
he failed because he didn't realise his own loss of self -identit y and further
transferred this into his sons. It is tragic to see, in the end, that Happy
doesn't learn from his father's mistakes. Instead he takes the burden of
fulfilling his father's dream - to become a successful salesman - upon him.
He fails to realise that his father failed in life because he chose a wrong
dream. Will y w as not the 'salesman t ype'; he was a man of fields apt at
manual labour. He tried to become what he was not. Therefore, Biff is the

www.ijellh.com 372
onl y character in the play that actuall y shows a growth in his personalit y. He
makes a journey to his self and realises who he is and where his interests lie.

www.ijellh.com 373
Works Cited And Referred:
Bigsby,C.W.E. A Critical Introduction to Twentieth Century American
Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1984. Print.
Carson,Neil. Modern Dramatists: Arthur Miller . New York:St.Martin’s,1982.
Print.
Miller,Arthur. Death of a Salesman . London:Penguin Classics,2000. Print.

www.ijellh.com 374