The Effects of Male Expectations Male expectations are ever-present in our world creating a negative effect on men by making them feel inferior if they are unable to succeed financially. Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman explicitly shows how harmful these expectations can be to a person and their families. The main character of the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, is strongly influenced by these male expectations. The man is expected to not only support his family, but must also be able to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Willy's inability to succeed financially as society expected in turn affects his two sons Biff and Happy and his loving wife Linda. Willy's eldest son, Biff, is the most affected by his father's failures. Biff is more affected by his father's failure towards his mother than by his father's financial failures. Biff's whole life is ruined when he finds out that his father is cheating on his mother after everything she has done for him. When Biff realizes he has idolized a failure, he is devastated. Biff's life begins to spiral out of control. Biff is so affected by his father's misdeeds that it creates endless animosity between Willy and Biff. Biff believes that the reason he and his father always argue is because "he's a phony and he doesn't like anyone who knows it!" (Miller 1221) Happy, Willy's youngest son, is also very impressed by Willy's antics. Happy is affected differently than Biff because Happy never realizes that his father is a failure. Happy is always competing for his father's attention, but he can never take his attention away from Biff. Throughout the play Happy defends his father and never admits to himself that his father is the main reason for his and his brother's failures in life. One downfall of the Loman boys is their father's ideas about how to succeed in life. Willy encourages his children so much that they end up failing. Willy fills his children with hot air because he himself is a failure and he can't imagine his children being the same way. Thanks to everything his father instilled in him, Biff is so sure that being popular and well-liked is the key to success. This belief leads him to fail school and do nothing with his life. Willy convinced his children that the most important thing in life... the medium of paper... one's life thanks to the ideas Willy instilled in them throughout his life. Willy's failure affects not only him but also his family because they are now left without a father and husband. The belief that Biff would not be able to succeed without his father's life insurance money is enough to drive Willy to commit suicide. Willy believed that when he died he would give Biff twenty thousand dollars to help him succeed. Male expectations put too much pressure on men to be the most successful. If a man does not reach the “end goal” he is made to feel inferior and like a failure. We see that in Death of a Salesman when a man is unable to achieve ultimate success, it can destroy his life and can drive a person to madness and suicide. Works Cited Gill, M.S. "Boning Up." Rolling Stone; 3/19/92 Issue 626, p62.Miller, Arthur. Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry and drama. Kennedy, XJ and Dana Gioia. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.Sander, Fred M. “Psychoanalysis, Theater, and the Family: An Ever Broadening Scope.” Psychoanalysis Annual; 2001, vol. 29, p279.Siegel, Lee. “Cultural errors”. New Republic; 02/08/99, vol. 221 Number 5, page18.