In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman projected a false narrative into his kids’ heads, beginning at a very young age. As we see with Biff and Happy, children’s moral and ethical values are obtained from their parents. The value Willy prioritized to teach Biff and Happy was to be well-liked. He felt as though if they were well-liked, they would be successful. However, Willy did not teach them any determination or responsibility while they were growing up. Although Willy decided to prioritize teaching his 2 sons about their appearance, most fathers are not like that. In my personal experience as a son, my dad taught me about appearance, but also things such as loyalty, respect, ambition, action, and many more. While Willy did not entirely teach Biff and Happy the correct values, some of the values he taught are similar to what my dad taught me.
As we discover early on in the novel, Willy tells Happy and Biff that the key to success in life is to be “well-liked”. Willy’s beliefs about being liked have been transferred on to his sons. We see this apparent when Biff dismisses Bernard, “He’s liked, but not well-liked” (33). Willy continuously enforces his influences on Biff and Happy of appearance being the number one value to success. The viewpoint Willy puts on his kids sets them up for failure. They begin to believe that if they are popular and liked, life will be smooth. As the book goes on, we see that Biff embodies some aspects of Willy’s character. In addition to him preaching appearance to his kids as a very important value, he puts the idea in their mind that lying is alright. We see Willy lie to Linda early in the book when he comes home and tells her that he could not drive anymore. Soon after, Willy says the real reason that he came home was that he almost ran over a kid. Willy has no trouble lying and soon after, his kids are lying just as easy.
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For example, when Biff committed theft, Willy did not consider it a crime, although it was. Therefore, he was consciously lying to Biff teaching him that it is ok to lie. Willy teaching his kids that lying was ok had a pretty big effect on them. Biff lied to Willy about where he was during a three month period where nobody heard from him. He was in jail but did not tell anyone that. The values Willy projected on to Biff and Happy are faulty and do lead to negative consequences.
As a 17-year-old boy, I have had many different values projected on to me from my father. Starting at a young age, I’ve always been told to do the right thing if I want to succeed. Sounds easy right? Just “do the right thing”. As that seems like a very simple and easy phrase, not everyone knows what the “right thing” is. Struggling to figure out what the “right thing” for success is, my dad decided to help me out. My dad is from Trinidad & Tobago which is in South America. As he did not have much money growing up there, he moved to NYC at the age of 8. He then worked very hard and went to the University of Tulane. Later going to law school and eventually becoming one of the best lawyers in Georgia, he had to work very hard to get to where he is today. That being said, my dad takes the process of success very seriously considering where he came from. He sat me down one day and told me that there are 5 values that he lives by and I will need to stick to if I want to be successful. Those values were hard work, confidence, perseverance, honesty, and determination. While he told me those could be applied in anything (such as sports and school), it was more of success in the real world. He used those core values to come from a lower-class background and build his way up in society.
Along with having a father who came from a different country, being black in America has a role in the values he has portrayed on to me. I have always been told, “you have to work twice as hard to earn half as much”. While I did not understand that at first, it made a lot more sense as I started to grow up. As a black male, I am already at a disadvantage. My father always emphasized hard work as the most important out of the 5 key values. He still tells me up to this day that working hard can get me anywhere I want to go. As I grow up and get older, the values my dad subconsciously preaches to me have started to change. While he still is very persistent about the other values, he has started to preach more values to me. I had my first job interview last spring. Before my interview, he was telling me to remember what he had been saying lately. He would say things like, “As a 16-year-old boy, you need to learn about loyalty, respect, manhood, ambition, and self-esteem”. Although at times it gets annoying, I have started to reflect on what he has taught me and it only has had a positive impact on my life. I have been told by many people recently that I am extremely honest, I am very respectful, and that I am very confident. The values that my dad has taught me over time only are for the good (as of right now), and I believe that they will continue to help me succeed.
Despite the fact that Willy primarily set his kids up for failure, because of the values he taught them, he did have a few similar lessons to my dad. For example, Willy influenced his kids to be very manly and have expectations of success. My dad has enforced many stereotypical masculines things on to me from a young age such as playing sports, being a gentleman, not to cry, and much more. Willy forced Biff into football (sports) which is a very common thing for fathers to do when they want their son to be masculine. Although Willy projected somewhat similar values to his sons as my dad did to me, Wily was too focused on the wrong ones.
Willy and my Dad, both fathers, have a few similarities but multiple differences. Fathers always reflect their own views and perspectives on their children. My Dad, an immigrant, gained his success from working hard and perseverance. That is why those select values have been projected on to me which is leading me towards success. Willy, an unstable businessman, does not know what his sons need for success. Good luck and being well-liked will only get anyone so far in life. Willy does not realize that and doesn’t understand that he is setting his kid up for failure. The true key to success is tireless ambition and hard work, exactly what my dad did. Willy fails to teach his sons the importance of hard work and dedication. Neither Willy nor his sons ever learn the correct conditions to succeed in life.
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