Happy Loman has grown up to be a well-adjusted man of society. He has developed from a follower to a potentially successful businessman. Throughout his childhood, Happy always had to settle for second fiddle. Willy, his father, always seems to focus all his attention on Happy's older brother Biff. The household conversation would constantly be about how Biff is going to be a phenomenal football star, how Biff will be attending the University of Virginia and be the big man on campus, how Biff is so adulated among his friends and peers, and so on. Young Happy was always in Biff's shadow, always competing for his father's attention but failing each time. Happy would resort to such antics as laying on his back and pedaling his feet backwards to capture his father's attention but to no avail. Willy would continue to not take notice of his younger son and maintain his attention on other matters that he thought were of greater importance. Growing up under these conditions is what motivated Happy to be the man he is today.
Happy Loman is now a different person from when he lived under the same roof with his father. Happy is now a self-sufficient, proud, confident, and eloquent gentleman. He has moved out into the city and found an apartment to his liking and an adequate paying job. Happy also has turned into a lady's man. He has gained what his brother Biff has lost. Spotting a beautiful lady in a restaurant Happy automatically approaches her with the utmost confidence that she ...
The lonely, depressed, and heartless Happy Loman is the product of an unbalanced family and the evils of corporate America. His problems stemmed from the time of his childhood, and only multiplied by the time he worked for the business world. What is most tragic about this case is the fact that his life mirrors his father's almost identically, and that all hope is lost for Happy Loman.
support is a pathetic effort to protect his identity. Linda will never admit to herself,
In spite of the fact that he only shows up for a few key conversations, his philosophy and ideas drive Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy in many aspects of their lives. Willy continues to search for fame and fortune, Biff and Happy still to try to impress him, and Linda supports Willy’s and Ben’s ideals, even when her husband becomes delusional and her children become stuck in an endless cycle of disappointment. By the end they escape these issues, but it’s important to acknowledge where they went wrong in the process of getting to that point. Often times, the most important thing to remember is that one person shouldn’t govern what someone does with their life, and that the search for one’s own individuality is the most important goal of all. Sometimes the best way to escape the jungle is to not enter it at
No one’s life can be classified as “normal”. Everyone has conflicts that they have to eventually deal with. People do in fact deal with these personal conflicts in different ways; some take it easy some take it hard. Some ignore the problem as long as possible and some deal with it right away to get it out of the way. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Lowman’s technique to his problem solving leads to severe consequences. Willy never does anything to help the situation; he just escapes into the past to happier times when there were few problems. He uses this escape as if it was a drug, and as the play goes on, this drug becomes dangerous, leading him to his death.
The playwright Arthur Miller once insisted that any great play must deal with the question, "How may a man make of the outside world, a home." It was his belief that the most tragic issue which one could document was the embittered battle between society and the individuals which it was supposed to protect and nourish. Contrasting forms of this topic are well evidenced through his works, especially the plays All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. Both of these plays archive a day or so in the lives of the Keller and Loman families’ respectively. While the climax of both these plays lies in the present, invariably most of the major action takes place in the past. Events are revealed throughout the course of the play that further complicate a seemingly straightforward issue. However, Miller attempts to answer his essential question of, "How does a man adapt to the society in which he lives" in two very different ways, both of which represented in each play by the fathers of both families. In All my Sons we are introduced to the seemingly kind-hearted Joe Keller, a man who has refused society’s dominion over him, and has attempted to put his own family’s well being above all else. In contrast, Death of a Salesman portryas Willy Loman as quite the opposite; Willy has completely succumbed to society’s will, and is trying to forge a life for him and his family in the way he believes society preaches success. Disturbingly enough, even though both men are sundry to the core and would never be friends had they met, their divergent strategies towards living within society deals them parallel fates.
Linda: Well, the man said that’s the way it is. Till they work themselves in, y’know.
In my opinion, Willy Loman did not attempt to keep-up-with the Joneses as he never made enough money to incorporate that lifestyle. His wife was repairing hose for herself and they had a cheap refrigerator in constant need of repair. Mr. Loman perhaps dwelled on a lavish lifestyle in his mind but he was extremely far from it at all. He wanted to be able to live that way but his job did not allow for those things. He expected his sons, Biff and Happy, to be successful as to compete with those around him and that did not happen either which cause Willy lots of stress, anxiety, and sadness. He consistently thought back into his boy’s younger days when they were energetic and popular as that brought him comfort. He looked at his boys as failures
Willy Loman receives a deserving punishment for many reasons, but the lesson he leaves behind to his sons is one of the most everlasting to his family. Field in his article claims “what he has taught them does not look to him like what he had wanted them to learn” (21), but Willy’s failure is that Biff and Happy have learned exactly what he has taught them their whole lives. Much of the conflict stems from their similarities rather than their differences. Much of the contradictory nature of Willy’s own thoughts are the same as that of Biff’s. For instance when Biff catches Willy with another woman, he is furious with his father shouting, “You fake! You phony little fake!”(2. 745), but even though Biff is angry with his father h...
“I’m in great shape as far as that’s the concerned,” Biff is supporting the illusion the Loman family just created to avoid the tensions and their actual problems so that Willy will calm down from his episode of false reality. (Miller 63) Right after the fight was cut short by Willy freaking out and escaping into his false sense of reality again Linda confronted Biff and Happy and told them to never look down on their father. Even though she knows he has never succeeded in anything in his life and barely provided for them since he cannot even earn a paycheck now and that they have been living off their neighbor Charlie’s $50 every week. Charlie had even offered Willy a job but Willy refused based on his pride even after Willy was fired from his job he still refused the job offer from Charlie. “Listen, if they steal any more from that building the watchman will put the cops on them!,” Charley is trying to protect Biff and Happy from getting arrested from stealing from the development across the street since Willy has convinced his kids that they need to do whatever it takes to get on top especially if it’s from being well liked.(Miller 50) Since
Harold Loman (Miller 79), or Happy as one may know him, never truly saw the epiphany of the ‘American Dream.’ He was just “blown full of hot air,” he never knew what was reality and what wasn’t (105). From the day that Happy was born, to the day his father died, and most likely till the day he would die, he never once saw the truth behind his ‘phony’ of a father. Happy, not only being portrayed as a static character, but also somewhat of a stock character, would end up just like his father, dying the “Death of a Salesman” (111)
He makes unrealistic goals and turns on Biff in no time at all just like Willy. They both criticize Biff frequently then change to be a friendly “pal.” For example, Happy came up to Biff asking him “Is there any future for him out there.” Then only a few lines he compliments Biff saying how he’s an Idealist and Poet. Biff then brings up his plans of going out West and seeing if Happy would consider going along with him. Happy then says “That’s what I dream about, Biff. Sometimes I want to just rip my clothes off in the middle of the store and outbox that goddam merchandise manager. I mean I can outbox, outrun, and outlift anybody in that store, and I have to take orders from those common, petty sons-of-bitches till I can’t stand it any more.” Happy’s goals are very unrealistic. Another extreme goal Happy had throughout the play starting on page 45. Happy thinks they could realistically form two teams for basketball and waterpolo and that they would play each other. He says that it’s a million dollar idea. This is obviously an extreme idea just to pop into his head. Biff always talks about the things he’ll do in the future for example, near the end of the play, Happy says “ I’m getting married, Pop, don’t forget it. I’m changing everything. I’m gonna run that department before the year is up. You’ll see, Mom.” Finally, in his last statement in the play. He says “All right, boy. I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have — to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him.” He will most likely follow in his dad’s footsteps down into the ground. Even though Happy is all of these things, he means the best for everyone. He dreams about a better life for his family. He tries to make his parent scare more about him. He tries to make his
With his first 10 lines of dialogue, he brings up to Biff how “about five hundred women would like to know what was said in this room.” Then, Biff and Happy shared a laugh. Almost immediately in the play, we find out how Happy is with girls and it even gets worse. Only a few lines away, Biff said “I bet you forgot how bashful you used to be, especially with girls.” The Happy replied saying “Oh, I still am, Biff.” Happy also expresses the fact that women cannot resist him. He states that he has “ruined” three of his executive’s wife just for pleasure. He rightfully enjoys it. He states on page 15, "I hate myself for it. Because I don't want the girl, and, still, I take it and — I love it!" This connects him to Willy in a way. Willy's life in the play shows a man in his attempt to forget his affair, while Happy's life includes him actively attempting to create affairs with multiple women. At the restaurant, we see for the first time how Happy treats women. He misguides them in this case from the start. Right away, he offers the women a drink of “his company’s” wine. He then compliments her looks by saying she should be on the cover of a magazine. Then, once again, he lies to the women by saying that Biff is a pro football quarterback for the New York Giants. Then, after the women leaves the stage Happy says that “That’s why I can’t get married. There’s not a good woman in a thousand. New
Due to his being over shadowed by his elder brother Happy has grown up to be a stunted version of Willy's vision of the American Dream. Because of this it is difficult to identify with him; throughout the play he is presented as a one-dimensional character.
Willy Loman has the ups and downs of someone suffering from bipolar disorder: one minute he is happy and proud- the next he is angry and swearing at his sons. Their relationships are obviously not easy ones. Willy always has the deeper devotion, adoration, and near-hero worship for his son Biff; the boy, likewise, has a great love for his father. Each brags on the other incessantly, thereby ignoring the other son- Happy- who constantly tries to brag on himself in order to make up the lack of anyone to do it for him. This turns sour however, after Biff discovers the father he idolizes was not all he had thought him to be. Afterward, familial dynamics are never the same, as Willy continues to hope that Biff will succeed, ignorant- perhaps purposely so- that his son is failing out of spite, knowing that all his father’s hopes are resting on his shoulders. Willy’s relationships with his two sons are tentative at best, but Happy and Biff are partly to blame for this downhill spiral- as their relationship is just as complex.
Happy Loman is Biff’s younger brother, who was often overlooked by his father, who gave all his attention to Biff. Throughout the play the reader can see that Happy has a need for attention that stemmed from his childhood, and carried with him throughout the play. When Happy says “I’m losing weight, you notice pop?” we realize that when Happy was a child he struggles to get the same attention that Biff gets, due to the fact that he never gets the attention he desires, he craved attention from his parents in his adult years also. Happy is more successful finically than Biff in their adult years, but Happy being a one-dimensional character doesn’t possess the knowledge to be his own person, or make his own decisions. Happy doesn’t come to terms with reality in the play, he lives and thrives in the lies that he has made for himself. Happy doesn’t understand that you cannot live a life of make believe to make yourself feel accepted. Even when Happy is confronted with his lies he still tries to make them sound like the truth, we see this occur when Biff says "You big blow, are you the assistant buyer? You're one of the two as...