He realizes that he has no direction and instead of facing it and doing something about it, he lashes out at his father. Fred Ribkoff asserts that Biff inherited a "sense of inadequacy and inferiority" (Ribkoff" and a "sense of shame" (Ribkoff) from his father. Domina suggests that Biff is the "clearest failure" (Domina) of the Loman clan, "unable as an adult to succeed or even persevere at any professional challenge" (Domina). Because Willy never took the tie to prepare Biff for the real world, Biff emerged from high school unprepared and ill-equipped. Biff Loman becomes what every parent should avoid creating in a child. Willy enables Biff to be so many things but none of these things actually builds his character and causes him to be a productive member of society. Instead, he is a fledgling with no hope of ever achieving anything. This...

Willy needed to build character in his son and teach him that things are tough but with determination, success is possible. Willy failed as a father because he failed as a person.
Works Cited

L.M. Domina, "An Overview of Death of a Salesman for Drama for Students." 1997. GALE

Resource Database. Site Accessed April 22, 2009.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. An Introduction to Literature. Sylvan Barnet, ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1985. 1030-1114.

Ribkoff, Fred. "Shame, Guilt, Empathy, and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller's Death of A

Salesman." Modern Drama. 2000. GALE Resource Database. Site Accessed April 22,

2009.