Biff in the past was successful he had big plans. In his fathers view he was on his way to becoming a success because he was seen as a great sports man and Willy was believing that he had a big future ahead of him and Biff was really revelling in his fathers attention and Willy seemed happy because he had a lot of belief in. Also in the past he had full support from his father Willy. Willy was willing Biff on he wanted him to do well. Biff was successful and he was especially at football and we are led to believe that he has been offered places from many different Universities. This seems to have a good effect on Biff and his family because he is happy and so is Willy and so it was happy times in the past and Biff seemed to have high spirits
Happy is virtually unknown in the past because he is not getting the same support that Willy is offering Biff. Happy is the son who is always in the background and we can see that he is in the shadow of his brother because at school he is unpopular and his brother Biff is the opposite because he is respected at school and he seems to have a lot of friends. Happy is suffering from the lack of attention Willy is showing him and he really wants to be like his brother in the past. He wants to be well liked and popular and he also wants the same attention Biff is receiving
The effects of the attention on Biff has left growing pressure upon his shoulders he is constantly pressured by Willy and this has led him to go downhill because in the past he was successful and now he is left without a place at University and without a job
he has hardly any money now very much like his father he is unsuccessful and left hiding it. Biff has no job and has no University place and he is hiding it from his father because he doesn’t want to disappoint his father but the truth is that because all the pressure Willy has placed upon Biff has had a negative effect on him and he is no longer the person he once was he has no vision of becoming like Willy and he does not want to be a salesman like Willy he has changed and he now has a different dream which he wants to fulfil it he does not want to admit it to his father.
The effects of lack of attention and pressure that was placed upon Happy has had a positive effect because he was almost unknown in the past and Willy hardly showed him any attention and from this he has worked himself up to being the person in which Biff aspired to be in the future. He has a job and is respected and he is a hit with the women and this is what Biff was like in the past. So the lack of attention in which Willy showed to happy has spurred him on to prove to Willy that he is a success and he has a vision to follow his father to becoming a success. He also wants to gain the respect in which his father claimed he had from many parts of the nation because he is always saying that he is popular in many parts of America such as when he said “They don’t need me in New York. I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England”. This has helped Happy to prove himself and helped to turn the attention towards himself rather than Biff but this hasn’t happened because Willy is focused on Biff and rarely shows attention towards Happy. Happy was the person in the shadows and now he is breaking through.
Biff changes as time goes by he becomes less interested in being like his father he does not want to be a Salesman. When Willy asks questions about Biff’s job he always covers the truth up he always says that he has a big meeting with Bill Oliver and in truth he hasn’t. Biff has become almost like Happy was in the past he wants to be independent from his father and he does not want the pressures of pleasing him and being the only success in the family. I think he has changed because he doesn’t want to end up like his father because deep down I think he knows that his father is suffering but he does not want the pressure upon his shoulders so he has changed to almost being lazy and unsuccessful but I believe that Willy was to blame for his
downfall.
Happy also changes as time goes by because he is unpopular in the past and he really is nowhere in the past and he is without the support of his father but from this he has built himself up to become a success because he was fuelled by Willy and he wanted to prove himself to his father. So Happy has gone from being nobody to a successful person. He has a job and is popular and this really has come into effect because Willy was really never in Happy’s life from the start. I do not believe that happy will end up like his father because he has become like Willy was in the past. He is a success.
In conclusion I believe that there is evidence for Biff becoming like Willy because he has really thrown his life away but he may be fuelled by the death of his father but his interests diverged and he wanted to do something different rather than follow in the footsteps of his father. I believe he may end up like Willy because he may have become like his father in the past but he had become a failure because of Willy now in the present and he doesn’t know what to do with life because in the first act he says “… I’m mixed up very bad. Maybe I oughta get stuck into something. Maybe that’s my trouble. I’m like a boy. I’m not married, I’m not in business…” so he may in fact end up like his father. I believe that Happy may not end up like his father because he has worked himself up to a success without the support from his father so he was free to do what he liked and he set out to prove himself to his father and he really has become everything Biff should have become and so I do not believe he will end up like his father. However he may believe that he is better than everyone thinks and he may inherit this from Willy and this could lead to his downfall and he may not be able to take being as failure. But I do think they will be fuelled by the death of their father and this may make Biff and Happy be able to follow their dream and work together so both of them may never end up like their father because in the first act Biff says “Listen, why don’t you come out West with me?” and then he says “Sure, maybe we could buy a ranch. Raise cattle, use our muscles…” and happy replies “The Loman Brothers, heh?”. This is the dream which they both may go into and this make them a success and become nothing like their father because this is something that Willy would not dream of doing.
