In Act Two of Death of a Salesman, Willy comes Charley's office to borrow more money and runs into Charley's son Bernard, who is now a lawyer and on his way to Washington, D.C. As Bernard is about to leave for the train station, Charley puts his arm around his shoulder and says to Willy:
How do you like this kid? Gonna argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.
Bernard, protesting: Pop!
Willy, of course, is very impressed. Bernard had not said a word about the purpose of his trip to Washington, D.C. because he knows how Willy will be comparing him with his own son Biff, who has never amounted to anything. This surprise is particularly painful to Willy at this time because he has just been fired from his job and is here to beg yet more money from Charley.
Bernard is still characteristically modest and considerate. He knows Biff from boyhood and tried his best to get Biff to prepare himself at school for some kind of future career. But Biff was enjoying an early success as a football hero, and Willy was not encouraging his son to think about scholastic achievement. Willy was teaching both his sons to be "well liked" as the key to success. Neither Willy nor his sons had much respect for young Bernard. But Bernard's obvious success in his chosen career as a lawyer who is permitted to argue in front of the U.S. Supreme Court is proof that Willy's philosophy was wrong and his advice worthless. As Arthur Miller once wrote:
The essence of all drama is this: The chickens come home to roost.
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