Happy Loman

The Restaurant Scene - Happy and Ms Forsythe

Happy is characteristic of an American society because he prioritises short term interests. - he isn’t focused on helping Willy but on the women.

American ideals of novelty rather than repairing something existing. Suggests leaving his family for new family, making Willy’s downfall more tragic because its a shallow reason for happy to be abandoning him.
adds pathos for Happy because he can’t escape his flaws. People can’t improve if they’re products of a capitalist society because that is a characteristic flaw of a capitalist society.
early psychological ideas of happy always chasing short term pleasures
happy isn’t trying to start a family with this women, but is just flirting for the fun, maybe Miller commenting on nuclear family.
Happy is feeding Willy’s elusions in an attempt to make him happy
- placates him rather than caring about being honest or actually supporting Willy.
- His role is to be the happy one, but he takes the short cut by lying and chasing short term pleasures. Ironic but a good portrayal of American society in that time - that is what’s considered happiness because in a sense it is freedom
  - no job, being able to chase women and living out many lives through these lies he tells people about himself.
Being happy is naïve. Willy is naïve as well but not happy. Do emotions affect any part of this? Happy counteracts his own unhappiness by chasing short term happiness.
nomanclature
- the fact that he’s called Happy (nickname real name is Harold) makes us constantly question if there is a role for happiness or not.
willy prioritised short term happiness as well, and we can see how that played out for him because he chose the affair instead of his family and now he is suicidal.
- foreshadowing for Happy? idea of a never ending generational cycle.
Happy takes Willy’s message of being well-liked, except uses it for short term pleasures as opposed to the business world like Willy meant for Biff to use it in.