Arthur Lam GR
Why are Biff and Happy unhappy?
In ‘the Death of a Salesman’ we already know that Willy thinks of himself as a failure. He tries to escape the reality by living in the past, having illusions. Biff and Happy, Willy’s sons have respected Willy as the ideal father, their idol, until Biff finds out that all these were lies.
In the middle of the Act 1, both Biff and Happy regard their father as a great man, a man to look up to, and a man to respect. To the boys he was seen as an ideal father, as he was never present to control the two and he was keen for them both, Biff in particular, to fulfill their potential and become great men. However, as the play progresses, the idealistic image of Willy Loman seems to evaporate through the test of time as we can see at the beginning of the play Biff is angry with Willy.