Willy on the other hand will always love Biff and even after failing high school he tries to get him through life, an example for this is how he pawns his diamond watch fob to pay for Biff’s correspondence courses. Even when Biff fails at this, and makes nothing of his life, Willy pushes on and believes that Biff’s popularity will get him the success Willy dreams of, but it never will.
The relationship between Willy and Biff when they were younger is what Happy wants. Happy is the exact opposite of Biff; Happy tries to put on a show of love for his parents and often tries to gain their love; “I’m gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you.” However, Willy and Linda see Happy for who he really is; “You and your lousy rotten whores!” Linda knows that Happy will never really get married and settle down with anyone. He often tries to take Biff’s glory as the one who has an apartment, and a job, which he has settled in to. However, he doesn’t really stick to it either and is often making excuses for himself. This is not the kind of life Biff wants to lead, or the kind of life Willy will respect Happy for.
Happy is known throughout the play for trying gain a little, of the huge proportion of respect and admiration Willy has for Biff.
The dark side to Happy isn’t really shown until the end of the play when he meets up with Biff and Willy in the restaurant. When confronted with Willy’s outrageous behavior he comments “No, that’s not my father. He’s just a guy”.
Here we really see what Happy thinks of Willy and how much respect he has for him, or rather the lack of respect, as he thinks he is a failure and Happy can’t handle the fact that he could turn out like Willy. However, Willy isn’t really a failure, this is a point Linda tries to convey to her two sons several times, and so does Willy; “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away. A man is not a piece of fruit”. Willy Loman may not have the American Dream in his pocket and live in a mansion with millions of dollars in the bank. However, he made the best of what he had rather than fail with the ‘wrong’ dream.
To some extent, Charlie fuels the dreams of Willy. Willy admires Charlie for the success that he has made for himself. Charlie has made a success of all aspects of his life, most of all his career and his family. Willy is not so much envious of Charlie’s career; it’s more that he is covetous of his family. Charlie’s family is an important aspect of the play, because it is the family life that Willy dreams of; he wants the same success for Biff as Bernard. Bernard was never popular to Biff or Happy’s standards, and he probably didn’t dream of being the top football player and best at everything he does. Instead he carried on at school, he kept his head down and studied and his life turned out to be just like his fathers was. He is a successful lawyer, and has a family to look after. Charlie has the chance to marvel at what a great son he has brought up; this is all Willy wants.
Charlie is always trying to help Willy out when he is going through a rough patch. He offers him a job, which Willy turns down several times (he cant accept the job as he still sees himself and his son as turning out more successful than Charlie) and Charlie gives him money when Willy is making almost nothing through his traveling.
The source of the most love, and respect, that Willy will ever gain from one person is Linda. Linda, Willy’s trusting wife has a great deal of respect and love for Willy. She cares for him and realizes his limitations and that he will never be as successful as Charlie but she doesn’t mind. She knows that Willy is breaking up and his mental health is deteriorating faster and faster everyday. She tries to help him yet she cannot build up the courage to remove the piece of pipe that Willy is using to slowly kill himself.
“Willy, darling, you’re the handsomest man in the world –“
“No. You can’t just come to see me, because I love him. He’s the dearest man in the world to me, and I won’t have anyone making him feel unwanted and low and blue”
“I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lives. But he’s a human being and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid”
These three quotes show us how much Linda loves Willy and that love can never be broken. Linda does not find it easy to cope with the family all at once when they are all home. When Biff and Happy are there she has to make excuses for Willy’s actions and his odd behavior which they don’t understand. Linda tries to manage, but she gets exhausted, just like Willy, and when they are both put threw this situation, we really see the bond between them.
The bond between Willy and Linda was never really enough for Willy. He wanted more - he needed more. The love he gains from other people gives him something to cling onto and it brings him through the rough times in his life. Linda’s love for him, we find, was not enough and he ends up having an affair with another woman. In the play, it is not important to find out much about the woman, what we do learn is they met when he was away on his trips. Willy uses this excuse when biff finds out about the affair, and dismisses her, just as Happy dismisses Willy, as just a friend and a client. There is more to Willy Loman than meets the eye most of the time, and we do start to see where Happy gets some of his qualities (good or bad) from. One dramatic parts of the play is where we find out that Willy has been promising the woman stockings when they meet up, stockings that Linda would have had. When Willy sees Linda fixing her stockings he realizes what he has done. He wanted Linda and the woman, but he realizes that Linda will stick with him, stockings or no stockings, while the woman he isn’t sure about.
Linda: “Just mending my stockings. They’re so expensive –“
Willy: “I won’t have you mending stocking in this house! Now throw them out!”
What makes Willy carry on with this affair with the woman is the fact that he has been picked by her. It makes him feel more important for a while and makes him feel like he is living out part of his dream and tells himself that it was him who picked her, and he can still get the woman and the buyers if he wants to.
The mixture of all these loves brings out Arthur Miller’s hope, and gives them plenty of space for confrontation. The relationships flood the play and advance the plot, rather than the characters advancing the plot.
