One of the great literary genres is drama. Dramas demonstrate, criticize, and evaluate our everyday lives. More importantly, dramas accentuate the relationships built between people. Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, is a tragedy that analyzes the relationships of a family in search of the "American Dream."" The plays plot specifically focuses on the relationships between the protagonist, Willy Loman, a salesman, and his sons, Biff and Happy. In attempting to steer his sons to a better life, Willy in turn tapers their futures, destroying his own life as well. In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller invisible walls can be the cause of difficult parent/child relationships. .
Willy tries to live his life through his sons by inscribing in their minds specific ideals and morals that are contrary to what most parents would generally enforce. Willy who did not have a great relationship with his father does not give the necessary foundation and morals for his sons to succeed. Willy is a confused man who is loosing his mind and holding conversations with himself within the conversations with his family. A "fake- moral that Willy instills is the idea of popularity. He states to Ben, his dead brother, " That's just the way I'm bringing them up, Ben "rugged, well-liked, all around."" (Miller, 1150) Willy shuns his son Biff for not being what Willy wishes him to be. When Biff was a teenager, Willy did not care about his son's grades, but to a certain extent more about his son's talent in football and his ability to be well liked. Willy shows his sons disrespectful treatment towards women and consequently, Happy grows up treating women in the same manner. Willy's inadequate parenting causes a break in the communication with his boys therefore creating a bad relationship.
Due to the aforementioned ideals and morals, Willy's sons, Biff and Happy, are forever more tainted from what they were raised to believe and lead dead-end lives with few opportunities to rise in the world because of what their father taught them.
