Compare And Contrast Biff And Happy Loman

The “American dream” is the American idea of prosperity and success to any and all people, regardless of circumstances of birth or social class. All men are created equal, and therefor deserve equal rights to make a living and become successful in terms of wealth, love, happiness, and material possessions. In the case of Willy Loman, of Death of a salesman, he strongly believes in this dream, but unfortunately he doesn’t factor in hard work, but instead thinks he can achieve success in the business world by being “well liked” and “personally attractive”. Willy’s superficial understanding of the American dream leads to insecurities and false hopes for himself and his sons Biff and Happy who also have a warped interpretations. The Death of a
Both are lost, confused, men who are trying to please their father, but end up trying to hide/cover up their insecurities, faults, and false hopes by abusing alcohol, women and their families. Biff, unlike willy, is seeking the truth about himself, he is trying to break through the lies surrounding his family in order to come to terms with his own life. “And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody!” - Biff Loman. Biff also witnessed Willy having an affair, which not only traumatized him, but also stripped him of his faith in his father and his ambitions for him. Happy is more so like Biff in the sense that he is full of Willy’s “hot air” but unlike Biff, he doesn’t have ambition to change his lifestyle or to seek the truth about himself. Instead makes an empty vow to avenge his father’s death “He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him.” - Happy Loman, which will lead him to the same fate as his
His blind faith in this dream led to his psychological decline throughout the final months of his life. In his delusion, Willy not only had reoccurring flashbacks that hindered his interactions with his family and others around him, but also caused him to re-imagine his deceased brother Ben. Willy began to rely on Ben’s advice, and continuously asked how Ben how he “did it”, “what’s the secret”. His obsession with becoming wealthy and a successful businessman caused him to believe things that weren’t real. Ben’s only advice for Willy was that “The jungle is dark, but full of diamonds” and “I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And by God, I was