For most families with sons, the father figure is an idealized figure. Even Wllly Loman, a traveling salesman and definitely not a huge money earner and on the road probably more than at home is looked up to by his two sons, Happy and Biff. But, right from the start of the play, there is an undercurrent that separates Biff, seemingly estranged from his father. Even Willy recognizes this: “There’s such an undercurrent in him. He became a moody man” The undercurrent, of course, comes from the revelation later in the play, of Willy’s being discovered with a hooker by his oldest son. Times, of course, have changed.
There may be more permissiveness in the world today. But, at the time of this play, fathers were paragons of virtue. They could do no wrong, and they were expected to represent the best of life to their offspring. That single incident in Boston has changed Biff’s outlook on life and turned him into something of a vagabond. Even Willy sadly admits that Biff never held a job making more than thirty-five dollars a week. Biff is still so angry at his father that he feels he must choose sides- his mother against his father. Linda, his mother will have none of it, of course: “Biff, dear, if you can’t have any feeling for him then you can’t have any feeling for me”
We see how more successful fathers and sons have a different sort of relationship. Willy, a veteran who began with “Old Man Wagner” now has to deal with the old man’s son, Howard. This is a case of a business-school educated head of the company no longer willing to let emotions drive the business. That boy Howard, he don’t appreciate” Later, in an agonizing discussion with Howard, Willy hears him say: “You gotta admit business is business” No matter how much Willy brings up the past and his relationship with Old Man Wagner, Howard is unmoved, and the descent to failure and the end of life for Willy accelerates. Miller makes a sharp observation about American Capitalism: business is business and there’s little or no sentiment because it doesn’t affect the bottom line.
Another sign of the Lomans’ failure is Bernard. To parents, and that has to include Willy and Linda Loman, young Bernard is the sort of scholastic over-achiever they had wished at least one of their sons could have matched. In today’s world, young Bernard would be a computer nerd, one of those smart kids with thick glasses, more concerned with his grades than ingratiating himself to his fellow classmates. We all know the Bernards of the world- those who will blab about someone else’s mistakes, if nothing else than to be noticed. He sets the tone for the intellectual failure of Biff.
From his first entrance, he says: “Biff, where are you? You’re supposed to study with me today” . He says it loud and clear so that the whole Loman family is made aware of his scholastic superiority. He can’t compete physically, but Bernard makes certain that his IQ is the main point here. He is obviously no physical specimen, not as ruddy as Biff, for example. Willy even comments: “What’re you lookin’ so anemic about, Bernard? . But, Bernard continues to make his point that he is essentially superior to Biff. “Listen, Biff, I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you don’t start studyin’ math he’s gonna flunk you. And you won’t graduate. I heard him! .
In this play, therefore, we have the strait-laced business-man-heir of the Wagner firm. We have Bernard, the brain, more successful than Biff the athlete, and we have Willy, unable to fathom the chasm his own actions caused to break apart his family. In the end it is not just the “Salesman” who dies, bujt the hopes and dreams of his family- unsuccessful against the other “sons.”
