In "Death of a Salesman", Willy, who is the father of Biff and Happy, has two extremely different relationships with each one of them. One consists of respect, attention, fighting and nostalgia, while the other consists of mild ignorance and no attention, but no fighting.

Willy and Biff are very much alike. Both of them finished high school with promising futures, both had dreams which end up fading away and both have money issues. Willy's dream was wealth and respect from the whole world and Biff's dream was to be an all-star football player. Yet Willy is lost in an uncertain job and Biff is following in his footsteps, as they both cannot find themselves. Linda mentions that Willy's flashbacks are at worst when Biff is home. This could be because Willy wanted Biff to succeed where he failed and wanted him to be famous and respected, yet...