Much of a person's personality is derived from his or her parents or the people with whom they live. In fact, it is fair to say that nearly all morals and ethics are learned from parents. One's behaviors are a reflection of his or her up bringing. In the play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller portrays the consequences of the lack of positive role modeling and enforcement of morals and ethics from parents through the relationship of Willy Loman and his two sons, Biff and Happy. Willy failed to set moral boundary in his sons' lives and as a result of his ineffectual parenting, his sons failed miserably in life.

Willy established a poor moral standard for his sons rather than having set a strong code of ethics. We first discover this when Willy finds Biff practicing football with a new, "borrowed", ball. Willy: "Sure, he's gotta...