Act 2- Howard Wagner

The audience is positioned to feel a little bit of aversion towards Howard Wagner. For one thing, he isn’t completely engaged in the conversation when Willy is trying to ask him a serious favor. His focus is on the recorder that he had recently bought and showing it off to Willy. In a way a similarity between Howard and Willy is the consumerist mindset—both characters place value on man-made objects like machines. One characteristic we see in Howard is his love for his family, which is evident in the way he brags about his children’s talents. He is also seen cutting off Willy to let him hear his children- which further emphasizes the love he has for them as seen in “Sh! Get this now, this is my son” (57). “She is crazy for me”(57) referring to her daughter really shows that Howard is a family man.