Somebody with character, with resistance! Like Mom, y’know?
– Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman, Act 1. As the Loman brothers discuss the possibility of settling down with a wife, Happy declares that he wants to marry someone like his mother. Happy idealizes Linda, seeing her as a spirited woman in comparison to all other women who have been in his life. He doesn’t see her as she really is, a flawed person who is a slave to her husband and goes along with Willy’s fantasies.