Similarities Between Willy And Happy Loman

In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman instills his own skewed vision of success into his sons; however, Biff Loman rejects Willy's teachings and looks for success elsewhere, while Happy Loman follows Willy's advice and leads a materialistic and idealistic, yet unsatisfactory, lifestyle. Hard work and success are not intertwined in Willy’s mind; instead, he believes that he can succeed by the merit of his charm alone. This wisdom, when imparted to Biff, leaves him confused with how to integrate his own dreams with what Willy wants of him. In contrast, Happy blindly accepts Willy’s teachings as truth and suffers, like Willy, because he is discontent with the materialistic lifestyle that he has worked to achieve. Ultimately,
Although Willy wants Biff to become a salesman like himself, Biff’s true dream is to work outside with his hands. He does not understand why one would suffer for “fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two week vacation, when all [one] really desires is to be outdoors” (22). He appreciates the natural world more than the artificial business world, which displays itself when Biff states “there’s nothing more inspiring or beautiful than the sight of a mare and a new colt” (22). He could become a successful businessman and achieve everything that Willy expects, but his life will only have meaning if he works outdoors and does what he loves. Regardless of what Biff wants, his foremost concern is that he is disappointing Willy and wasting his life because he lacks a socially acceptable job. Miller, in the stage notes, calls Biff’s dreams “stronger and less acceptable than Happy’s,” highlighting how the societal view that one must be a wealthy businessman to succeed subdues Biff’s passion for his own dreams (19). Away from the city, Biff can ignore that societal pressure; however, whenever he returns home, Willy confronts him, causing him to feel like “all [he has] done is to waste [his] life” (23). Although far from the truth, Biff acutely feels Willy’s disappointment, which guilts him into agreeing that he is
Within the play, Biff represents this generation gap. He, against the wishes of Willy, wants to find a job that makes him happy, not just wealthy. Happy, on the other hand, gets stuck in the routine of the old generation. He works a job he does not like just to gain reputation, and he refuses to quit because, then, he will never acquire the respect that he craves. Ultimately, Happy ends up no better than Biff as an adult, even though he followed Willy’s teachings; however, neither son is completely to blame since, originally, Willy’s false teachings brought the confusion and harm to both of his