The Boys Next Door

	CHARACTER BREAKDOWN

	Willy Loman is a traveling salesman, who has lost his way in search of the American Dream that is rooted in the belief that success and a man’s self-worth are measured by his accumulation of wealth. In his frustration at his and his son’s failures, Willy’s self-delusion begins to unravel and his mental health begins to deteriorate.
	Linda Loman is Willy’s physically frail, yet mentally strong and loving wife, who suffers without complaint her husband’s faults. She remembers and loves her husband before his self-delusions began to destroy him. Linda has always supported her husband’s misguided hopes and dreams. She is the rock of emotional strength and supports him to the end.
	Biff Loman is Linda and Willy’s thirty-four-year-old elder son, who had led a charmed life in high school as a football star with scholarship prospects, and many female admirers. However, when he failed math and did not graduate high school, he has been unable to hold a job. Biff has Willy’s vulnerable, poetic, tragic side. but has been unable to abandon his parents, move West and become a craftsman. He cannot escape Willy’s expectations for him and holds a terrible secret about his father.
	Happy Loman is Linda and Willy’s younger son, who has lived in his elder brother’s shadow. His entire life is lost in meaningless sexual encounters. Happy represents Willy’s sense of failed ambition still searching for El Dorado in the American Dream. In reality he is doomed to a live without love or success.
	Charley is Willy’s next-door neighbor and only friend. He is a successful businessman and his son, Bernard, has become a wealthy, important lawyer.
	Bernard, Charley’s son, is the good student Biff failed to be. He has always loved and admired Biff, the football hero. Bernard succeeds, where Willy’s sons fail.
	Ben Loman is Willy’s deceased wealthy older brother, who exists in Willy’s “fantasies.” Ben is a symbol of the successful exploitation of the American Dream that Willy desperately craves for himself and his sons.
	The Woman was Willy’s mistress when the boys were in high school. Her attention and sexual favors boost Willy’s failing ego. Unfortunately, Biff discovers his father in a hotel room with The Woman and the son loses faith in his father, and his own dream of going to college on an athletic grant.
	Howard Wagner is Willy’s new boss having inherited the company from his father. Howard treats Willy with condescension and eventually fires him, which is the final blow to Willy’s fragile mental health.
	Stanley is the waiter at Frank’s Chop House and is an acquaintance of Happy. As they banter and ogle Miss Forsythe, they exhibit the worst tendencies in young American males.
	Miss Forsythe and Letta are young women, who are most likely prostitutes “on call’, Happy and Biff meet at Frank’s Chop House.
	Jenny is Charley’s secretary.