5.2.3
Happy Loman
Happy Loman
Happy Loman
Happy Loman, while apparently successful, is in reality a lonely man leading an empty and unfulfilling life driven by resentment.
Success?
Success?
- On the surface, Happy appears to be successful.
- He is in work and, as he tells Biff, has his “own apartment, a car, and plenty of women.”
Emptiness
Emptiness
- However, Happy leads an empty life.
- He considers his job a dead-end, being “one of two assistants to the assistant” and, in his own words, “All I can do is wait for the merchandise manager to die.”
- Biff has security, but lacks status or fulfilment.
Womanising
Womanising
- Happy makes up for this emptiness by sleeping with the girlfriends and fiancées of his work colleagues.
- His womanising is driven by a compulsive need to get the better of men who are more successful than him, confessing to Biff of most recent conquest that “he’s the third executive I’ve done that to”.
Reasons
Reasons
- Happy’s behaviour is fuelled by his resentment of others and his need “to come out number-one man”.
- He admits to Biff that this makes him feel “lonely” but he learns or changes nothing about himself.
- Tellingly, at the very end of the play, he leaves the stage alone.
Attitudes to women
Attitudes to women
- Happy’s language also reveals his shallow attitudes towards women.
- When discussing his “first time”, Happy exclaims “Boy, there was a pig!”, degrading and dehumanising his first conquest.
- Later, while waiting in the restaurant in Act Two, Happy tells the waiter, “Strudel’s comin’”, reducing Miss Forsythe to something he can consume.
Happy's Relationships
Happy's Relationships
Happy’s essential shallowness is revealed throughout the play and examined through his relationships to other characters.
Happy and Biff
Happy and Biff
- Unlike Biff, Happy does not confront Willy about his illusions and, instead, is happy to play along with a lie if it keeps his father happy.
- This is seen in the restaurant scene where Happy is keen to indulge Willy’s fantasies about Biff’s meeting with Bill Oliver while Biff tries to find a way of telling the truth...
Quotation
Quotation
- “WILLY: …So tell me, he gave you a warm welcome?
- HAPPY: Sure, Pop, sure!
- BIFF: [driven]: Well, it was kind of –”
- Happy keeps up the pretence rather than face reality.
Happy and Willy
Happy and Willy
- Happy’s shallowness is also demonstrated by the way he treats his father.
- Although Happy makes a show of wanting to be able to “retire Willy for life”, he cruelly abandons Willy in the restaurant on the day that he has lost his job.
- His betrayal of Willy is all the more shocking for an audience who know the turmoil Willy is in: “No, that’s not my father. He’s just a guy.”
Lying to his mother
Lying to his mother
- Despite Linda’s plea that “attention must be paid” to Willy, Happy deserts him and, when back home, lies to his mother about the “swell” time they all had.
Second son
Second son
- It can also be argued that Happy suffers from being the second-born son as never seems to be given the attention that Willy and Linda give to Biff.
- In the ‘memory’ scenes Happy is often represented as being on the sidelines while Biff takes centre-stage.
- E.g. Happy carrying Biff’s equipment before the Ebbets Field game.
Competitiveness
Competitiveness
- Willy and Linda both dismiss him at times throughout the play, Willy chiding Happy when Happy tells him of Biff ‘borrowing’ the football, to Linda ignoring him when he says he’s getting married.
- Happy’s competitiveness may have roots in his need to compete for equal attention from his parents when his big brother was the bright “star”.
Inner-Conflict
Inner-Conflict
Happy is clearly a very confused man, struggling with what he really wants or values. However unlike his brother he learns nothing from the events that unfold in the play.
Inner conflict
Inner conflict
- To some extent, Happy struggles with a similar conflict to Biff between the urge to work outdoors, relying on his own strength and skill, and the need to make a success of himself in the city.
- He is initially “enthused” by Biff’s suggestion that they work out West together but the moment is short-lived.
Money
Money
- One moment he rejects office-work and admits to wanting to “just rip my clothes off in the middle of the store” and the next he is worried about money: “The only thing is – what can you make out there?”
Lessons
Lessons
- Happy learns nothing during the play.
- While Biff gains self-knowledge and sees through Willy’s illusions, Happy determines to continue to follow them.
Language
Language
- His language in the Requiem is defiant, full of the imagery of battle and victory: “not licked”; “I’m gonna beat”; “come out number-one”; “fought”; “I’m gonna win it for him”.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing
- The tone of Happy’s words is jarring, not reflecting the more sombre and reflective mood of Linda, Biff or Charley’s words.
- Some in the audience may have the strong sense that Willy’s tragedy will be played out again in a new generation.
1Introduction
1.1Introductions
2Act One
3Act Two
4Extended Passage Analysis
5Character Profiles
5.1Willy & Linda Loman
5.2Biff & Happy Loman
5.3Other Characters
6Key Themes
7Writing Techniques
7.1Structure
7.3Expressionism
8Historical Context
8.1Historical Context
9Literary Context
9.1Tragedy
10Critical Debates
10.1Introduction
10.2The Marxist Reading
10.3The Feminist Reading
10.4The Eco-Critical Reading
10.5Other Debates
Jump to other topics
1Introduction
1.1Introductions
2Act One
3Act Two
4Extended Passage Analysis
5Character Profiles
5.1Willy & Linda Loman
5.2Biff & Happy Loman
5.3Other Characters
6Key Themes
7Writing Techniques
7.1Structure
7.3Expressionism
8Historical Context
8.1Historical Context
9Literary Context
9.1Tragedy
10Critical Debates
10.1Introduction
10.2The Marxist Reading
10.3The Feminist Reading
10.4The Eco-Critical Reading
10.5Other Debates
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