In Death of a Salesman, Miller presents the Lomans, a family hindered by a dysfunctional nature. Although Miller presents Willy as the main character of the story, he lacks the praiseworthy traits that would make him the protagonist. Instead, his son Biff is heroic in that as an adolescent, his father impresses faulty ideals upon him, which he later discards in his search for his own identity. Ultimately, Biff does not succeed in his father's eyes, but he does finally realize his true identity and, because of this, deserves the role of protagonist in the play.
             First, Willy Loman is the overbearing but idolized father, who sets the foundation for Biff's beliefs. There are many aspects of this father-son relationship that lead to Biff's self-realization at the end of the play. In his youth, Biff respects and adores Willy because that is the nature of a young child. Even though we later realize the error in Willy's ways, his intentions on teaching his son to succeed were purely honorable. Willy supplies Biff with an ego because of his excessive praise, consequently making Biff extremely conceited. This praise helps Biff to develop pride in himself and his family and causes him to feel superior to his peers. His father's praise made him feel that he was too good for mediocre tasks and should not settle for them. Biff erupted, "I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody!"(131). Like any son, Biff loved, respected, and praised his father; his only mistake was adoptin!
             g his father's ideals as his own. By holding Willy in such high regard, Biff always saw himself as a superior.
             In addition to Willy's false ideals being adopted by Biff, the fact that he held his father in such high regard exposed him to the painful truth. In his discovery of failure, a crestfallen and emotionally vulnerable Biff sought his father ...