Death Of A Salesman Rhetorical Analysis

In the excerpt of Death of a Salesman, Happy and Biff are both discussing their discontent with life. Both Happy and Biff are unsure of their wants and of the future. Particularly Biff who states, “I tell ya, Hap, I don’t know what the future is. I don’t know—what I’m supposed to want”(15-17). The brothers are on different sides of the spectrum of “success”. Happy is seen as successful because of his steady job while Biff is seen as unsuccessful because of his lack of a steady job. Regardless of the measure of their “success”, both brothers have stated their unhappiness and discontent with life which leads into the theme of the passage—happiness is not a direct result of money or “success”. Rather, happiness is what makes someone successful.
The theme of the story is portrayed throughout the passage in multiple ways. One way that the theme was shown was in Hap’s merchandise manager. When explaining his dissatisfaction with life despite his wages, Hap …show more content…
The passage is started off with Biff confessing that he is unsure of himself and his future. Biff goes on explaining that he has had 20 to 30 jobs after high school and blatantly says, “I don’t know what to do with myself” and “I’m mixed up very bad”. These statements tell us that Biff considers himself to be a failure because he does not have a steady job like Happy. Later in the passage, Biff proposes that he and Happy buy a ranch and start up a farm. Biff quickly warms up to the idea and is eager to convince his brother to join him saying, “I’m telling you kid, if you were with me I’d be happy out there…” At this point, Biff is not at all concerned about finances. He is perfectly and completely content with the idea of him and his brother working on a farm together. In this situation, the theme is being illustrated because Biff associates him and his brother together on a farm together with happiness and