In every day life, families learn to set certain moral standards or values on what is acceptable to society. Honesty, integrity, and loyalty are just a few of the simple and obvious character traits that every family should aim towards. Respect towards other members of the family is very significant in that each person is a part of a team trying to accomplish a common goal. In the short story The Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller illustrates that the Loman family does not portray the family values that most people would want to follow. .
Willy who is not honest to his family, illustrates to his kids that lying and cheating your way through life is okay; that society accepts people because they are good looking, but not for all of there hard work or dedication of getting a job done. When the entire family is having a discussion in the kitchen, Willy is constantly telling Linda to quit interrupting him, showing no respect for Linda's thought on the matter. Finally, Biff exclaims "Stop yelling at her" (Miller). Also Willy is not honest when he refuses to tell his wife that he's having an affair with another woman when going on his sales trips. H e gives this woman stalkings in his hotel room. So every time he sees his wife mending stalkings in the house he yells "will you put those things away, no one in my house will make their own stalkings" (Miller). .
Willie has set examples for his children and he's hoping one of them will succeed so that he will not have to work another day. Willie thinks that everybody will jump out of their way to give Biff a job just because he was a football star and everybody thought back in High School that he was so popular. The reality of this is that both of his sons really do not know how to deal with their problems or how to tell the truth to one another because of their father. Then one day Biff goes to see Oliver and waits all day in the waiting room and Oliver does not honestly remember who Biff is.
