AN ANALYSIS OF BIFF AND HAPPY
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
ARTHUR MILLER
HAPPY
- ‘Happy is tall, powerfully made. Sexuality is like a visible colour on him, a scent that many women have discovered. He, like his brother, is lost, but in a different way, for he has never allowed himself to turn his face towards defeat and is thus more confused and hard-skinned, although seemingly more content.’
- Appearance is important in the Loman household. Happy uses his sexual prowess to allure women from executives with promoted posts – he steals their women to satisfy his over-inflated ego and in fact to feed his growing resentment and discontentment.
- He uses girls to make him feel superior.
- Biff – Remember that big Betsy something – what the hell was her name – over on Bushwick Avenue?
- Happy, combing his hair With the collie dog?
- Biff – That’s the one. I got you in there remember?
- Happy – Yeh, that was my first time – I think. Boy, there was a pig! They laugh, almost crudely You taught me everything I know about women. Don’t forget that.
- Happy is cruel and shows great disrespect for women. His female conquests merely satisfy his own vanity. He has lived in Biff’s shadow all his life and now he compensates by nurturing his relentless sex drive and professional ambition. His father does nothing to show him he is important, so Happy relies on his own sense of self-importance to fuel his over-confidence. This represents Willy’s own over-inflated ego just witnessed in the scene before – ‘I’m vital in New England’, ‘I’d a been in charge of New York by now!’
- He combs his hair or tries on a new hat – this emphasises his narcissism.
