Death of a Salesman - How effective is the ending? Who do we sympathise with?

to be the one to stand up for him and care, "He's going to get his licence taken away if he keeps that up.  I'm getting nervous about him, y'know, Biff?"  As the play progress Happy grows as a person.  Although it is not very visible Happy does try to keep the family together.  As he sees himself as successful in Willy's eyes he tries to help Biff become successful by setting up a business together, "Wait! We form two basketball teams, see?  Two water-polo teams.  We play each other.  It's million dollars' worth of publicity.  Two brothers, see?  'The Loman Brothers'.  Baby, we could sell sporting goods!"  This all shows that Willy was wrong about his sons, Happy is the son with the courage and strength to be part of the American dream.  He is the son that will follow on from Willy and either be a success or a failure.Within the ending of the play Biff's true character is also shown.  During the play he has a moment of self-realisation, showing him who he really is and how he is living a life of lies.  The ending develops this and shows him as who he really is.  Just before Willy's death Biff confronts Willy about everything in his life.  Biff tries to explain to Willy about how he is living a lie leading to an argument and a loving moment between the two.  This shows how the American Dream truly effect those around Willy and brings the play to a good ending.  It shows that although the two men had a moment of forgiveness and happiness together it was still not good enough for Willy.  As Biff still had no success and did not wish for it Willy still felt a failure.  Willy expected Biff to succeed in many ways, from the beginning of the play this is visible.  As a child Biff was popular in school and was succeeding in sport although his school grades were dropping.   His popularity is visible within the beginning of the play as Willy looks back on his life,"Biff [goes through the wall-line of kitchen to doorway at the back and calls down]: Fellas! Everybody sweep out the furnace room! I'll be right down!Voices:  All right! Okay, Biff.Biff: George and Sam and Frank, come out back! We're hangin' up the wash! Come on, Hap, on the double!"Willy seemed to care more about Biff's popularity and friends rather than his success in school.  This is the influence of the American Dream upon Willy's life and family.  As Biff grows older this still seems to be the case, although Willy also seems to expect Biff to be earning a lot of money.   This is Willy's idea of success; it is more materialistic rather than personal goals.During the end of the play Biff makes a number of short speeches full of his thoughts and feelings.  I think this is very effective for the end of the play as it shows emotion in a different way.  An example of one of the speeches is, "Pop, get this now, will you?  Every time I've left it's been a fight that sent me out of here.  Today I realised some thing about myself and I tried to explain it to you and I - I think I'm just not smart enough to make any sense out of it for you.  To hell with those whose fault it is or anything like that."  This shows how Biff feels about himself and his father; it is the beginning of the argument and shows great feeling.The very end of the play is shown as Willy's funeral, it is very small and consists of only 5 or 6 people.  This is very much different to what Willy expected, he hoped for a large funeral with every one he had ever known or met.  These expectations were all due to the falsity of the American Dream and the funeral shows this in many ways.  It is a very effective ending as the funeral puts life in prospective for the others and shows their true character.  It shows that Biff really cared for his father, as he paid little notice to the amount of people there, he did not need to be impressed with popularity.  Where as Happy was concerned about the funeral and still believed in his fathers dream, "I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain.  He had a good dream.  It's the only dream you can have - to come out number - one-man."There are three other main characters within the play that show the contrasts and other parts of the harsh reality of the American dream.  Howard is Willy's boss; he cares for money and not people and is also very fascinated with technology.  He shows the growing business world and the effects of the American Dream as a truly successful man.  His fascination with technology tends to over power his care for people.  For example Howard has purchased a Dictaphone and is showing it to Willy whilst he is trying to talk,"Willy: It certainly is a -Howard: Sh, for God's sake!His Son: 'It's nine o'clock, Bulova watch time.  So I have to go to sleep.'Willy: That really is -Howard: Wait a minute! The next is my wife."This shows how Howard is wrapped up in the growing technology rather than Willy's welfare. Charley contrasts with the cold capitalism, he cared for Willy and seems his only friend.  In times of need Charley has given Willy money and is really the only person to support him. He is the philanthropist within the play. Charley sticks my Willy and is one of only a few people to attend his funeral.  He shows that he cares when he and Willy talk about his life Charley gets quite upset, "you don't have to be popular".  Ben is the cold capitalist part within the play; he is Willy's dead brother.  Willy sees and talks to him regularly within his imagination, this seems to be the moment were Willy makes all of his decisions.  As Willy is deciding about his suicide he is talking to Ben, the conversation is very much based upon money.  The conversation is very harsh between the two and Ben seems to relate Willy's choice of death to a business deal.Willy's suicide choice is the very heart of the play and the way in which he goes about his choice is very original.  As he discusses the matter with Ben it seems as though he does not care about those around him, more about the amount of money he would leave behind him.  This shows the true harsh brutality of the American Dream.  The discussion between the two shows a lot about Willy's mind, Ben seems to represent a part of Willy's mind that is not often shown.  It shows how society has taken over his life and is now influencing his choice in death.At the end of the play the person that I felt the most sympathy for was Linda, she has to bear the brunt of the harsh American Dream.  Linda has the very end line of the play, "We're free.we're free." it shows how she is left alone in the world and how Willy's life truly affected her existence.  The end of the play shows Linda's love for Willy and how his belief in the American Dream lead her to live a life protecting him, now that this is over she has nothing to live for.  Linda does not only feel lost but as Willy died they had finally paid off their house, it belonged to them.  This would have allowed both Willy and Linda to be free, but instead Linda is left alone and lost.  Linda makes a small but moving speech at the end of the play.  It is directed to Willy apologising, as she can not cry, it brings feeling into the play and ends it very emotionally.  This as a play would greatly effect the feeling in the audience; I think it allows a very touching emotional ending.The play is very successful in the way in which it is written but to add to it the stage directions are very detailed and descriptive.  Without them I do not think the play would be as successful as they play a very important part.  The stage directions towards the end of the play are very frequent and allow the atmosphere to be built up in a very successful way.  I think this is what allows the ending of the play to be so successful.  The last two parts of the play are linked together with the use of the stage directions they go straight from Willy's suicide to his funeral.  This gives little time for the reality of Willy's death, I think this is a very original way of joining the two scenes and creates a very strange atmosphere.  The very last stage direction that ends the play is the most successful through out,"[BIFF lifts her to her feet and moves out up right with her in his arms.  LINDA sobs quietly.  BERNARD and CHARLEY come together and follow them, followed by HAPPY.  Only the music of the flute is left on the darkening stage as over the house the hard towers of the apartment buildings rise into sharp focus.]"  This gives a harsh atmosphere, which adds to the shock of Willy's death.  I think this would greatly effect the audience as it creates a very strange atmosphere for them to take in.I think the ending of the play is very successful and really shows the true heart of all of the characters.  In a very small space of time I think there is a totally different view of the different family members and even Willy who is no longer alive.  I think the sympathy within the ending is very much for Linda, I felt very sorry for her as she is left with no one and her life seems so meaningless now.  I think the purpose of the play was to show the effect of society upon one small family that had little success.  Miller shows that you can escape society, but only if you know yourself.