Death of a Salesman

Another fully depressing play. I have to admit I have a soft spot for the elderly (although my dad is 60 too and seems way younger than Willie is portrayed), so I get a lot more upset when I see old people mistreated and starting to lose their minds than I do for younger people. So I really disliked Biff and Happy for the whole first part until you find out about Willie's affair and why Biff really left. Then when Biff has the whole personal discovery after leaving the office with the pen, you just have to love him. He plays the characteristic of every kid in America who was always getting ragged on by his parents for not making anything of himself, when really he was just trying to do what he loved. I did not like Happy until the very end of the play when he decides to stay and try and start the family business. Other than that I thought he was a bit skanky. Also, I just couldn't forgive him for leaving his dad alone at the restaurant. Something that I noticed throughout the play were that everyone kept calling Willie "kid". I know that that is just slang from the time period, but I found it very demeaning and kind of showed how everyone noticed the part of Willie's personality of him just being kind of a joke and very childish. Willie, however proved to be very childish. He was obsessed with Biff's football career, and was always calling people mean names. The father/child relationship was a little twisted, with both parties constantly trying to impress the other one: Biff uses sports, Happy uses his weight loss, then his marriage goals, and Willie uses his success and reputation. There is way too much packed into this play to discuss in one blog posting, so hopefully the guys touch on more tomorrow.