Biff+and+Happy

Biff vs. Happy As Individual Characters: Biff: ·  As the stage directions state, Biff has lost al sense of confidence both in himself and his parents. On the one hand he vies his mother as being the unreasonably loyal wife and his father as the cheating husband with the brother who goes around town acting like Casanova. ·  So far we have learnt that Biff is not seeking a corporate job and is not happy learning ‘office politics’ like happy has. This not only shows us that Biff may be a motif for the original American dream, the thought of wanting to acquire material possessions rather than intangible symbols of status. ·  Uncle Ben and Biff hold many similarities in their dreams. Not only do they both wish to explore the ‘jungle’, Uncle Ben maybe more literally than Biff- but both men wish to acquire tangible assets for them in order to fulfill their dream of success. Not only does Willy aspire to become like Ben, but it is possible to argue that Biff was ‘modeled’ after Ben. Not only does Willy constantly seek his brother’s blessing in regards to Biff, but Happy is significantly neglected. ·  Biff seems to uphold the most amount of mystery within the first act of the play. Not only does he hold a secret about his father but also the mystery of why he suddenly left to the West and resumed his life there for such a significant time. Possibly Biff is acting as a motif for, not only the deterioration of the family and its relationships but also the deterioration of family in America as a whole. Charley and his family, we later find, was not perfect and his son Bernard was often treated harshly. Furthermore, the relationship between Willy and his brother Ben is strained and verging on the awkward. Ben often portrays signs of agitation in regards to Willy and his dreams as well as towards his nephews. Happy: ·  Womanizer: much like his father, he feels he can only advance in his job and in life if he is ‘liked’ and popular ·  Unlike Wily however, Happy does it by sleeping with his executives’ wives and girlfriends- this shows how corrupted Happy’s values are and to what extent he is willing to go to succeed in his job ·  Most likely, Happy is motivated by Willy’s parental influence over both himself and his brother. Not only did his father constantly emphasize the value of popularity but also the value of success in corporate America, most likely instead of Biff taking on the values his father taught him Happy follows these, however, not in the moral and ethically correct way but rather whilst taking on his father’s values he also takes on his ethical corruption. Sleeping with married women, manipulating to take jobs and also being inconsiderate towards other people. ·  Happy represents the corrupt corporate values and the unethical behavior of the modern corporate world in America at the time. Biff and Happy as brothers (interlinked characters): ·  Both brothers are contrasted by each others behaviors and morals. Happy as the manipulating corporate worker and Biff as the hard working, old morals upholding free spirit of the family. ·  Although, superficially Happy and Biff are opposites, the symbols and the messages that they represent are quite similar. Whilst Biff still values the tangible assets of the world, Happy values the successes of oneself in an intangible world- these two cross- over when regarding them in a larger aspect and in relation to modern America and the modern corporation. Although Biff is no longer willing to work in corporate America, he shows the audience the negative and corruptive side of the corporate world and how it can affect families that were once harmonious. Biff portrays a critical on-looking of the capitalism system and its affects on the people involved by it. Happy presents a similar aspect. Although Biff may not directly affect this portrayal of corruption, Happy is directly involved through his affairs with the executives’ wives and his manipulative ways with his colleagues. .