Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller

Dangerous Ground of Illusion
Relations between fathers and the younger generation have been and continue to be an important theme for various literary genres (King Lear, Shakespeare; Fathers and Sons, Turgenev). For many famous writers the significance of fathers' influence on their children forms a subject of particular interest. . In the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller shows in a very striking manner that the father's influence can be either positive or fatal. The dispiriting story of the three generations of the Lomans family contrasts with the happy account of the life of their neighbors, Charley and his son Bernard.
The author details father-and-son relations in the Lomans family over a long period of time. He effortlessly demonstrates that a younger generation both inherits the father's way of life and assimilates his best or worst features. He tells us almost nothing about Willy Loman's, the main character's, father. All we know is that he played a flute. Also he was a handy man, because he invented a gadget to make flutes. He was making and selling flutes, traveling across the country in a wagon. He took his family with him wherever he went. When Willy was about four years old, his father went to Alaska seeking to earn a fortune and disappeared amidst Alaska's expanses. Though the period when his sons Ben and Willy were with him was short, it left an indelible impression on the boys' memory. Later, each of them inherited a part of this way of life: the older son Ben got a passion for adventure and travel, and the younger son Willy got a profession of salesmen and an interest to work with wood. Though the father's influence was quite indirect; he mostly figured in their afterglow and rather idealistic fancies, both of them became decent and hard-working people. At the age of seventeen, Ben left his home for Alaska, but soon found himself in Africa and at twenty-one he was already rich. He spent the rest of his life in Africa where he died. He was a wealthy, influential and successful man and fathered seven children. He preferred to be brutal but effective, as befits the jungles of life. On one of his brief visits to Willy's home he admonished Biff, his nephew: "Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way."
Unlike his elder brother, Willy did not have enough strength to be aggressive and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by life. He would rather pretend to be a successful man. He lies to his family that he is well-liked in all of the towns he visits. According to him, he is vital to New England. He lies that he made more money in commission then he actually did. Once he had an opportunity to change his life and to become really successful and rich when Ben offers him a job in Alaska. But Willy refuses this offer, because he is so enthusiastic about his illusion that believes it sincerely. Years later Willy regrets, "If I'd gone with him to Alaska that time, everything would've been totally different." He is subjected to illusions and a theory he develops himself involving personal attractiveness and being well-liked. According to his theory, if you are well-liked, have an attractive smile, a success is guarantied for you and all doors open in front of you. He instills this theory in his sons' mind since childhood, leaving no chance for them to think about such things as honesty, decency, solid education, and responsibility. He wants his sons to be fearless and sends them to steal lumber. When Biff had once taken a football from the locker, Willy does not denounce the theft and even says that the coach will "probably congratulate you on your initiative." Willy's narrow-mindedness does not allow him to see that the world is completely different and defies his theory that could only produce miserable men, not unlike himself. As the result, fourteen years later Biff gets a three-month sentence for stealing a suit and then commits another theft stealing an expensive fountain pen. However, Biff inherits positive traits either. He prefers to work with his hands and craves for the open air or open space. His relations with his father are not simple. He cannot forgive his father's faithlessness. In revenge he does everything to make his father feel unhappy and finally destroys his life.
Happy, Willy's younger son also succeeds to his father. He works as a salesman in the shop. He likes to embroider. Like his father Happy lives in the world of illusions. He dreams of that as soon as the merchandise manager dies he would take his position. He is poisoned by his father's theory of being well-liked, but most often used it to other ends, specifically to winning sympathy of numerous women. His name does no save him from being very unhappy. Even though he has all that he wants, he is lonely. This is because he never thinks of what he really wants. Happy never was his father's favorite son; therefore there is nothing surprising in that one day he rejects his own father forgets his father.
Unlike the Lomans family, their neighbors, Charley and his son Bernard, look more successful. They live in a real world and take any situation as it is. Charley is a realist. He does not believe in personal attraction and care in the least whether people like him or not. He loves his son Bernard, but when his son was a schoolboy, he never attended too much to his personal interests. Charley and Bernard hate discussing their plans. Only when everything is done they would tell what kind of business it was. Charley has his own small business and Bernard is an attorney and father of two children. They have never been well-liked, but their realism helps them firmly stand on their own legs.
Having these two families' sets of fathers and sons as an example, the author shows that each person should be honest with himself and with other people. If a person lives in a world of illusions, his life is most likely to be in conflict with real life. The conflict results in tragic consequences, not for this person only, but also for those who follow his steps. The second act of the play ends rather symbolically, with Willy planting seeds in lean soil, hoping that something worthwhile would grow out, but this is most unlikely. His sons, too, they come up from the poor ground of illusion, of his "insupportably vast and dangerously insubstantial" dreams, from which they sprang in the form of unviable offshoots. Illusions emerge victorious, and Willy is the first to fall victim to them