Sunday, December 7, 2014

What is Happy's plan for his life in Death of a Salesman?

In Act One, Happy and Biff plan to open a sporting goods business. Happy came up with the idea the last time he was in Florida. He explains it to his parents, as follows:

"We form two basketball teams, see? Two water-polo teams. We play each other. It's a million dollars' worth of publicity. Two brothers, see? The Loman Brothers. Displays in the Royal Palms -- all the hotels. And banners over the ring and the basketball court: 'Loman Brothers.' Baby, we could sell sporting goods!"


This plan is supported by both Willy and Linda, though Linda probably only supports it because the plan fits into her husband's grand expectations for their sons, particularly Biff. 


Happy's plan, as you probably notice, is not very detailed. Instead, it relies on his own sense of grandiosity -- learned from his father -- and Biff's former reputation as a great high school athlete. 


In Act Two, after Biff admits that he failed to secure a loan from Bill Oliver and that he has given up on trying to fulfill his father's expectations, Happy decides that he will continue to carry out his father's vision of being a "number-one man." First, he says that he's going to run his department (probably sales) "before the year is up." This seems highly unlikely. Happy gives his title as "assistant buyer," though Biff suspects that he is probably "one of the two assistants to the assistant."


Near the end of the play, Happy insists that he will stay on in the city and "beat this racket." He looks at Biff, with his chin set and repeats: "The Loman Brothers!" Biff rebukes this by saying, "I know who I am, kid." This exchange reveals that Happy insists on carrying out his father's dreams, or perhaps his delusions, of grandeur. Though Willy is dead, Happy will continue to try to live up to the old man's expectations. So, really, Happy has no individual plan for his life, and no individual dreams. His goal is to fulfill his father's dreams: 


"He had a good dream. It's the only dream you can have -- to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I'm gonna win it for him."

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