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Version vom 21. November 2019, 01:34 Uhr

1

Biff and Happy Loman are the sons of Willy Loman, the main character in the book :“Death of a Salesman“.Biff is Happy´s two years older brother and they both are reunited in the first act of the book. When Biff and Happy where younger ,about the age of Highschool, Biff was popular and a football player (p. 26 ll.24-25) and Happy really admired him. In act one we can hear the brothers talking in their old bedroom. Although both have changed through the years, they still support each other and still have dreams to achieve together (p.19 ll.26-37). Biff and Happy are both dreaming of a fullfiled life and of the respect of their father Willy. They are both very worried when it comes to Willy, but Happy is more aware of what is happening to his father (p.16 ll. 24-33). We can really see the good relationship the have and that they enjoy being together in the begining on act one. In the second act their relationship is still close but there are some arguments, for example when Linda told them Willy wanted to kill himself.

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Biff and Happy are the sons of the Lomans. Biff is the two years older sibling and he has “succeeded less” (p. 16 stage direction l.13). Happy is also “lost” (stage direction l.16), but on another way as his brother. During Willy is talking to himself, the two brothers talk about different topics. First Happy tells Biff that he is caring about Willy because he seems to be absent while he drives a car. Biffs opinion to that is that his dad is just colour blind (com. L.28). Happy does not agree what shows that they are honest to each other, both of them stand for their position and don’t say something just to say what the other wants to hear. After that, Happy holds out a pack of cigarettes. Because of Biffs question “You smoking?” (l.36) it is clear that the siblings do not know each other exactly. That could be because of the fact that they did not see each other for a long time. This is also shown, when Happy asks Biff where his old humor is (com. P.17 l. 24f). Otherwise, the brothers are very close because they talk about privacy topics like women and the first time of Happy, their feelings about their own life and success and their thoughts about Willy. Although Happy says things like “Us sleeping in here again?” and “All the talk that went across those two beds, huh? Our whole lives.” (p.17 l.4ff). That makes clear that they were close all the time and they are not ashamed to talk about everything with the other one. That underlines the good and trustful relationship of them. Besides they talk about Willy because both of them are caring about him, which is another agreement of them. All and all, Biff and Happy have a very strong and open relationship, which is a little bit less good because of the distance. Nevertheless, they can tell the other one everything.

Kristin

Biff and Happy are the two sons of Willy and Linda Loman. The older one of the two, Biff, is “less self-assured “(p.16 l.12) than his younger brother. He is also not as successful and his ambitions are not as accepted compared to Happy's (cf. p.16 ll.12). Who on the other hand is “hard-skinned“ (p.16 l.18), charismatic and attractive, which can be seen in the stage directions. “Sexuality is like a visible colour on him“ (p.16 ll.14). The two talk about past relationships and Happy's first time (cf. p.17 l. 12-18) which shows how comfortable they are around each other. Biff and Happy are also able to look past each other's mistakes. Because when Happy admits that he is still acting bashful towards other women in his life, Biff tells him to “go on“ (p.17 l.22). Therefore, encouraging Happy's behaviour. Furthermore, the brothers are to be seen to be very supportive of one another. Happy calls Biff an “idealist“ (p.19 l.6) while Happy encourages Biff's dreams of living on a farm by asking him about it (cf. p.18 ll.23). The two share a lot of similarities as both feel unhappy with their current lives. Biff on one hand thinks that all he has done is “waste [his] life“ (p.19 l.5). Happy on the other hand tells Biff that he feels “lonely“ (p.19 l.25). Biff also suggests to Happy that they should head west together to live on a ranch. Happy doesn't seem opposed to this idea, as he exclaims “enthralled“: “That's what I dream about“ (p.19 l.35). And further expresses the wish to stay with Biff when he asked him not to leave again (cf. p.22 l.23).

In conclusion, Biff and Happy are very close and play a very important role in one another's life.

8 The Relationship between Biff and Willy

The relationship between Biff and Willy is a turbulent one. Biff doesn’t really like talking about his feelings towards Willy so he tries to change the topic (l.36, P.16) “You Smoking?”. Willy is not noticing any changes in Biffs behaviour, Happy does and he opens up to him, about how the situation with his dad bothers him (p.17 l.27) “Why does Dad mock me all the time?” and how it affects his mental health by feeling not accepted and not getting close to him (l.29-30) “Everything I say, there’s a twist of mockery on his face. I can’t get near him.” After Happy explains to him, what he heard Willy says to himself Biff really wants to know what he says about him by asking questions like (l.1) “What’s he say about me?”, which shows how much he cares about Willys opinion. But after Happy repeats his Dads sentences, Biff seems disappointed, because it’s again about his lifestyle and how he imagines his future. Biff is the complete opposite of Willy. He is not craving for money, success or popularity like his father does, he only wants to become happy, do the things he love and see what the future brings. Biff tried the lifestyle of his dad seven years (l.14-16), but he wasn’t happy with it and he realised that this is not the life he wants. He found his passion working on the farm (l.31-32). Later on, Happy and Biff both have the opportunity to listen what Willy says. First Willy gave Biff some tasks to do (l.14) “You gonna wash the engine, Biff?”. Even in his “Dreams” he still is talking to biff not really deep or lovingly. He wants the best for Biff but he always sounds very strict and not understanding or happy. He wants to persuade Biff to become like him and talks baldy about everything that matters to him. It doesn’t seem like Willy wants Biff to be as happy as possible of even to become a girlfriend (l. 15-19), he wants biff to become the second version of him, no matter what.

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First of all, it becomes clear that Biff is "two years older than his brother Happy" (p. 16 l. 11). Furthermore, it can be said that both of them have the same goals like finding a constant relationship or sharing their vision of a life together in the future. But it is obvious that they go through different developments. In context to that Biff "seems to be less self-assured [...] and succeeded less" (p. 16. ll. 12-13) in comparison to his younger brother who has more success in his career. However, they have in common that both of them are lost, because Biff has no clear plan of his future and Happy tries to find his sense of life. Furthermore, it is apparent that they are supportive and help each other what becomes clear as Biff tells Happy that they "stand up for one another" (p. 20 l. 8). In addition to that it becomes clear that they are really honest, trustful and open to each other when they reveal each other their state of feeling, for example as Happy tells Biff about his situation that he is "lonely" (p. 19 l. 25). Finally, it is shown that Happy cares for his brother and that he wants him to stay as he begs him to "don't leave again" (p. 22 l 23). In addition to that it can be said that his unstable emotional perception is dependent on the support of his older brother what shows that his company has positive effects on Happy 's emotional balance. All in all it can be concluded that Biff and Happy have a really close relationship with each other in comparison to the other members of the family.