Father-Son Relationships and Conflicts in Death of a Salesman by Arthur MillerIn many literary works, family relationships are key to the plot. Through a family's interaction with each other, the reader is able to decipher the conflicts of the story. Within a literary family, different characters play different roles in each person's life. These are usually people who are emotionally and physically connected in some way. They can be brother and sister, mother and daughter, or in this case, father and son. In Arthur Miller's novel Death of A Salesman, the interaction between Willy Loman and his sons, Happy and Biff, allows Miller to comment on father-son relationships and the conflicts that arise from them. During most father-son relationships, there are times when the father wants to become more of a "player" in his son's life than the son feels necessary. The reasons for this are numerous and can be demonstrated in different ways. Miller is able to provide an example of this behavior through the actions of Willy Loman. When Biff comes home to remember, Willy perceives him as a failure. As Willy desperately wants his oldest son, Biff, to succeed in any way possible, he tries to take matters into his own hands. "I'll get him a job as a salesman. He could make it big in no time" (16). The reason Biff came home is to find out what he wants in life. Because Willy gets in the way, things become more complicated. Partly because of Willy's persistence in Biff's life, they have conflicting ideas about what the American dream is. Willy believes that working on the road selling is the greatest job a man can have (81). Biff, however, believes that the most inspiring job a man can have is working outside (22). When their two dreams collide, it becomes frustrating for Willy because he believes his path is the right one. If a father becomes too involved in his son's life, Miller believes friction will be the resulting factor. As unfortunate as it may be, there are many cases where a father favors one son over another, leading to social conflicts within the less favored son. In most cases, it is the eldest son who is favored while the youngest is ignored. Usually the father doesn't even realize what's happening. He is simply too absorbed in his eldest son's successes and may even try to live his life through his son's experiences..