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 ...
As a young lad Happy was the younger of the sons, just like his father. His older brother Biff Loman, was prototype of today’s ignorant jock; he was handsome, well built and athletic, exceptionally popular with both sexes, yet he had no intelligence, book smart or wit, what so ever, in essence he was the epitome of today’s high school athletes. Their father had increasingly more affection for Biff, and Happy was always thrown into his shadow. Like Willy, Happy was the neglected by his father as well. From Happy’s beginning he tries to draw the attention from Biff towards himself. When Willy is talking to Biff, congratulating him on his asinine efforts, Happy buts in multiple times with, “look dad I’m losing weight…” (17). Then near his father’s demise, after Willy and Biff get in a fight and then Willy condoles Biff, he tries to make his father notice him again with an ‘out of the blue’ comment, “I’m getting married, Pop, don’t forget it…” (107). The...
BANG! Your father is dead. Within a few seconds, although he attempted many times, your father dies. He gave up. All the fights, all the disrespect, and all the struggles are behind you. However, all the hope, all the passion, and all the love is still there. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the main conflict is between Willy Lowman and his son Biff. Most of their struggles are based on disrespect; however, much of the tension throughout the play is also caused by the act of giving up.
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
Biff Loman grew up in a family of a salesman. He had a reasonably happy childhood, and a great school career. He was good at American Football and won a football scholarship. His father, Willy Loman, was always very proud of his son and always praised him and put him above others. Unfortunately, Willy's life philosophy was ruined by the corrupted version of the American Dream. He believed that the key to happiness is money and success and the a person does not necessarily has to work hard to attain it. Biff grew up with those ideas and they influenced him a lot. But when he caught his father with another woman, the realization of the lie and corruption turned his life around. He no longer believes in his father or the dream, and lives a...
Happy is in a constant battle for approval from both of his parents. He tries to gain approval by mostly boasting about himself or complimenting either of his parents. However, it all ends with the same conclusion; his parents just brush off what he says and pay little attention to what he is saying. After Happy brings up that Willy has been having troubles
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.
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.
“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
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, Linda, Biff and Happy are all characters that use self- deception as a way to mentally escape the terrible reality of their lives. As the play progresses, and ends Biff is truly the one and only character that becomes self- aware. At the end of the play Biff accepts the lies his family and him have been living in for years. Biff makes huge changes mentally at the end of the play, which cannot be said for the rest of the Loman family.
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...
Happy Loman is Willy's youngest son and is often over shadowed by his older brother Biff and ignored by his parents. As a result of growing up in Biff's shadow, Happy was always striving for Willy's attention, but never really got it. This is shown when the young Happy is always telling his father
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
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.