In my reading of both plays, I, too, noticed parallels between the patriarchs.
Though Troy Maxson and Willy Loman come from disparate social backgrounds -- the former is black and poor, while the latter is white and middle-class -- they are similar. Both experience financial difficulty. Both are philanderers. Both must deal with the disappointment and frustration of their personal and professional failures. Finally, both look to their sons, Cory and Biff respectively, to get a second chance at life.
Willy Loman expects that his son, Biff, will be a great success. While in high school, Biff is a star athlete. He throws away a chance to play for the University of Virginia after discovering his father in Boston having an affair with another woman. This leads Biff to see that his father is not the honorable man whom he looked up to. Biff responds by going out West to...
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farm. This move is a failure and results in his returning home to Brooklyn. He and his brother, Happy, work out an idea to go into the sporting goods business. This plan is thwarted when Biff walks into Bill Oliver's office and, instead of successfully securing a loan, runs away with the potential lender's pen. He attempts to explain his actions to his father:
"And I looked at the pen and said to myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be? What am I doing in an office...when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!"
This monologue, from Act II of the play, presents the conflict Biff faces: his desire to create his own identity while also desiring the respect of his father -- a man whom he resents, but also loves.Â
Because Willy is a rather old and ineffectual man, there is nothing that he does, physically, to his son to "control" him. His impact is psychological and emotional. He had projected so many of his own hopes and desires onto Biff, that it became difficult for the son to discover his own needs.
On the other hand, Troy Maxson exerts both physical and psychological control over Cory. Troy was a baseball player who failed to be picked up by the Major Leagues. He argues that this was due to his being black. His wife, Rose, argues that he was just too old. Either way, Troy is a man who came along too early. His son, Cory, has a chance to play football in college, a prospect that Troy negates.
His reasons for denying his son's opportunity are mixed. He fears that, in the pursuit of football, his son will deny himself more stable economic opportunities. He still thinks that blacks are not given the same opportunities in sports as whites, though by 1957 (the year in which the play takes place), things had changed. Finally, he is probably envious that his son may be given the chance that he was not given.
One way in which Troy exerts direct control over his son's future is in his refusal to sign a permission slip allowing Cory to play with a college football team. Instead, he demands that Cory focus on his household chores, maintain his job at the A&P Supermarket, and then concentrate on learning a trade to secure him in the long-term.
Troy's expectations for his son, compared to Willy's expectations for Biff, seem rather low. However, in 1957, opportunities for blacks, particularly those from working-class backgrounds, were very limited. While Willy pushes his son to strive to the top, Troy simply wants his son to be able to make a living. Both fathers ignore who their sons really are, who the young men wish to be, in order to fulfill their own expectations through their children.