In the play "Death of a Salesman" both sons have responded
to their upbringing in a home where reality is somewhat distorted and the dysfunctions
of the family have affected their ability to move forward in life. Happy is the
youngest son who is in a go nowhere job as a buyer's assistant in a store. He builds
his position and self up by sleeping with the wives of the people who have more
prestigious positions in the company.
Biff is hindered by
his own high ideals for himself. He has come to believe that he is above others and
does not have the same work or goals as them because he is "special. When Biff returns
home he is still delusional about himself, but while waiting in the office of his
friend, who ditches him, he begins to see his life in the "real" for the first time. He
goes home and confronts the others with who and what they really are versus how they
have lied about their lives to themselves.
Neither son is
able to take on the permanence of marriage because they have seen that family values and
marriage are a scam. Biff's and Happy's rememberance of their father's having cheated
on their mother may have affected them making them not want to
marry.
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