Death of a Saleman †Happy Loman Essay

knowing sh bes none of the poetry that erupts from clout nail and that is buried in Willyhe is the stunted incarnation of Willys worst traits and the conformation of the lie of the happy Ameri go off conceive of. As such, Happy is a difficult character with whom to empathize. He is one-dimensional and static throughout the tour. His empty vow to punish Willys death by fin completelyy beating this racket provides evidence of his critical condition for Happy, who has lie withd in the shadow of the inflated expectations of his brother, there is no escape from the Dreams indoctrinated lies. Happys diseased condition is irrepar fithe lacks even the tiniest spark of self-knowledge or expertness for self-analysis. He does share Willys capacity for self-delusion, trumpeting himself as the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only an assistant to the assistant buyer. He does non possess a hint of the latent thirst for knowledge that proves Biffs salvation. Happy is a doomed, utterly duped figure, destined to be swallowed up by the force of blind ambition that fuels his insatiable sex drive.Character Analysis Happy might as well be Willy Jr., because this apple hasnt fallen far from the tree. Though he is relatively successful in his job, he has his dads totally unrealistic self- assertion, and his grand hallucinations about getting rich quick. Like Biff, barely to a lesser extent, Happy has suffered from his fathers expectations. Mostly, though, his father doesnt pay that much caution to him. Willy was ever a bigger fan of Biff. Happy, maybe because he al federal agencys felt back up best, has more of a desire to please his father. Despite his respectable accomplishments in business, and the many, many nonches on his bedpost, Happy is extremely lonely.Happy is combative and ambitious, but these feelings are misdirected. Unable to compete on his own terms in the business world, Happy blindly pursues women taken women purely for the sa ke of doing so. Looks exchangeable hes taken his sense of competition to the realm of sex. Of course, this, much like the world of business, fails to satisfy him.Most disturbing for Happy is the incident that he cant figure out why all this isnt working. Hes followed the rules, done all the right things, yet Happy undecomposed isnt happy. His name highlights the irony of his predicament. If you consider the fact that parents name their children, you could say that Willy foolishly bestowed the nickname on his son in yet another peril of misguidance and delusion. Nice.Just as the saddest part of Willys suicide is his continued delusion, the saddest part of Happys ending is his own persistent misbelief. Still driven by what he feels he should want (money, a wife), he sticks to Willys foolish dreams to the bitter end.Happy Loman Hap is the Lomans youngest son. He lives in an apartment in New York, and during the undertake is staying at his parents house to visit. Hap is of low mora l character constantly with another woman, trying to find his way in life, even though he is confident hes on the right track.Hap has everlastingly been the second son to Biff and tries to be noticed by his parents by showing off. When he was young he always told Willly, Im losin weight pop, you notice? And, now he is always saying, Im going to get married, just you wait and see, in an attempt to redeem himself in his mothers eyes. Hap as well as tries to be on Willys good side and keep him happy, even if it means perpetuating the lies and illusions that Willy lives in.In the end of the puzzle out, Hap cannot see reality. Like his father, he is destined to live a fruitless life trying for something that will not happen. Willy Loman did not die in vain, he says, He had a good dream, the only dream a man can have to come out number one man. He fought it out here, and this where Im gonna win it for him.Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller Character Analysis Happy Loman Happy is a y oung version of Willy. He incorporates his fathers habit of manipulating reality in order to wee situations that are more favorable to him. Happy grew up listening to Willy embellish the truth, so it is not surprising that Happy exaggerates his position in order to create the illusion of success. Instead of admitting he is an assistant to the assistant, Happy lies and tells everyone he is the assistant buyer. This is Willys philosophy all over again.Happy also relishes the fact that respectable women cannot resist him. He has seduced the fiances of three executives just to gain a perception of pleasure and power. He thrives on sexual gratification, but even more than that, Happy savors the knowledge that he has ruined women engaged to men he works for and also despises. He states, I hate myself for it. Because I dont want the girl, and, still, I take it and I love it Happy is similar to Willy in two ways. Both deny their positions and exaggerate inside info in order to aggrandize themselves, and sexual interludes are the defining moments of both of their lives. Willys life revolves around his attempt to forget his affair with the Woman, while Happys life revolves around an active pursuit of affairs with many women.Death of a Salesman addresses loss of identity and a mans inability to accept change inside himself and society. The play is a montage of memories, dreams, confrontations, and arguments, all of which make up the last 24 hours of Willy Lomans life. The three major(ip) themes within the play are denial, contradiction, and order versus disorder.Each member of the Loman family is living in denial or perpetuating a cycle of denial for others. Willy Loman is incapable of accepting the fact that he is a mediocre salesman. Instead Willy strives for his version of the American dream success and notoriety even if he is forced to deny reality in order to achieve it. Instead of acknowledging that he is not a well-known success, Willy retreats into the med ieval and chooses to relive chivalric memories and events in which he is perceived as successful.For example, Willys favorite memory is of Biffs last football game because Biff vows to make a touchdown just for him. In this scene in the past, Willy can hardly wait to tell the story to his buyers. He considers himself famous as a result of his sons pride in him. Willys sons, Biff and Happy, adopt Willys habit of denying or manipulating reality and practice it all of their lives, much to their detriment. It is only at the end of the play that Biff admits he has been a phony alike, just like Willy. Linda is the only character that recognizes the Loman family lives in denial however, she goes along with Willys fantasies in order to preserve his fragile amiable state.The second major theme of the play is contradiction. Throughout the play, Willys behavior is riddled with inconsistencies. In fact, the only thing consistent about Willy is his inconsistency. From the very beginning of n umeral I, Scene 1, Willy reveals this tendency. He labels Biff a lazy bum but then contradicts himself two lines later when he states, And such a hard worker. thithers one thing about Biff hes not lazy. Willys contradictions often confuse auditions at the beginning of the play however, they before long become a trademark of his character. Willys inconsistent behavior is the result of his inability to accept reality and his tendency to manipulate or re-create the past in an attempt to escape the present. For example, Willy cannot resign himself to the fact that Biff no longer respects him because of Willys affair. Rather than admit that their relationship is irreconcilable, Willy retreats to a former time when Biff admired and respected him. As the play continues, Willy disassociates himself more and more from the present as his problems become too numerous to deal with.The thirdly major theme of the play, which is order versus disorder, results from Willys retreats into the pas t. Each time Willy loses himself in the past, he does so in order to deny the present, especially if the present is too difficult to accept. As the play progresses, Willy spends more and more time in the past as a means of reestablishing order in his life. The more disjointed and disastrous reality becomes, the more necessary it is for Willy to create an alternative reality, even if it requires him to live solely in the past. This is demonstrated immediately after Willy is fired. Ben appears, and Willy confides nothings working out. I dont know what to do. Ben quickly shifts the confabulation to Alaska and offers Willy a job. Linda appears and convinces Willy that he should stay in sales, just like Dave Singleman. Willys confidence quickly resurfaces, and he is confident that he has made the right decision by turning down Bens offer he is certain he will be a success like Singleman. Thus, Willys memory has distracted him from the reality of losing his job.Denial, contradiction, an d the quest for order versus disorder comprise the three major themes of Death of a Salesman. All three themes work together to create a dreamlike atmosphere in which the audience watches a mans identity and mental stability slip away. The play continues to affect audiences because it allows them to hold a mirror up to themselves. Willys self-deprecation, sense of failure, and overwhelming regret are emotions that an audience can relate to because everyone has experienced them at one time or another. Individuals continue to react to Death of a Salesman because Willys situation is not unique He made a erroneous belief a mistake that irrevocably changed his relationship with the people he loves most and when all of his attempts to eradicate his mistake fail, he makes one grand attempt to correct the mistake. Willy vehemently denies Biffs claim that they are both common, ordinary people, but ironically, it is the universality of the play which makes it so enduring. Biffs statement, Im a dime a dozen, and so are you is true after all.Miller often experiments with floor style and technique. For example, Miller includes lengthy exposition pieces that read as symbolize directions within The Crucible. At first glance, it seems that an audience must either read the information in the program or listen to a long-winded narrator. Upon further inspection however, it becomes unmistakable that Millers inclusion of background material allows actors and directors to get word character motivation and internalize the information, thereby portraying it in the performance.Miller provides audiences with a unique experience when it comes to Death of a Salesman. In many ways, the play appears traditional. In other words, there are actors who interact with one another, there is a basic plot line, and the play contains standard dramatic elements such as exposition, rising accomplishment, conflict, climax, and so forth. However, Millers manipulation of time and space creates a very non-traditional atmosphere that is unsettling but effective because it mirrors Willys mental state, thereby allowing the audience to witness his mental instability and take part in it.Stage directions call for a complete house for the Lomans. An audience will not simply watch the action take place in the kitchen but can observe several rooms within the home. This sounds as if it would be distracting since an audience can view several things at once. After all, what should the audience look at? If more than one character is on stage, whom should the audience pay attention to? Miller solves this problem through lighting. Only characters that are talking or involved in direct action are lit on stage, all other rooms, characters, and props remain in shadow.The result is a vast number of rooms and props that can be utilized immediately. The audience does not have to wait while a new set is erected or an old one torn down, but instead moves directly and instantaneously into the nigh scene. Such movement without the benefit of time delays or dialogue transitions produces a disjointed and fragmented sequence of events, much like a dream. In fact, the stage directions in Act I describe the house as follows An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream arising out of reality.Miller does not stop there. dismantle though the action of the play can shift from one part of the house to another without delay, the action is still limited to the present. Willys dreams, memories, or recollections of past events must be revealed in a manner that is distinct from actions taking place in the present. This is important for two reasons First, the audience must be able to differentiate between the present and the past in order to follow the action of the play second, Willys increased agitation must be apparent to the audience, and there is no better way to reveal it than to have the audience observe his inability to separate the past from the reality of the present.Miller ac hieves this effect by manipulating the space and boundaries of the rooms. When action takes place in the present, characters observe wall boundaries and enter and exit through the doors. During Willys recollections of the past, characters do not observe wall boundaries, and the action generally takes place in the area at the front of the stage, rather than inside the house. As a result, the audience can distinguish present events from Willys memories. For example, in Act I, Scene 3, Willy pours a glass of milk in the kitchen, sits down, and begins to mumble to himself. He is in the present. He then remembers a past conversation with the teenage Biff and resumes the conversation. Since this is a past event, Willy directs his speech through the wall to a point offstage. This cues the audience that Willy is digressing in the past.Sound is also used to create a dreamlike state for both Willy and the audience. A flute melody is associated with Willy, Ben has his own medication, laughter cues the Woman, and so forth. Once the sound is introduced with the appropriate character, the audience mechanically associates the sound with that same character. As a result, Miller is able to prompt reactions and expectations from the audience, whether they are aware or not. For example, in Act II, Scene 14, it appears that things have last been settled between Willy and Biff. Even though Biff is leaving in the morning, he and Willy have reconciled. This puts the audience at ease, but once Bens music is heard, it is evident that the play has not reached its final conclusion. In fact, Bens appearance may create anxiety for the audience because it suggests an alternate, more disturbing, end to the play.As the play progresses, the action shifts to the front of the stage. In other words, the audience becomes increasingly aware that the majority of the action is taking place inside Willys head. It is difficult abundant to watch an individual lose his or her identity. It is extremel y unsettling and disturbing to be forced to experience the individuals memories, illusions, or perhaps delusions resulting in mental instability. Miller takes that into consideration and then pushes his audiences to the extreme. As Willys mental state declines, the audience is forced to watch and to react. As a result, the play may be called Death of a Salesman, but it is a death observed and experienced by every member of the audience.