Compare and Contrast

Nobody believes more fervently in the American Dream than Willy, yet the dream has somehow eluded him. Now he is sixty years old, a beaten and discouraged traveling salesman, with nothing to show for a lifetime of hard work but a small house on a crowded street where grass doesn't grow anymore and apartment houses block his view.
Rustling about upstairs are Willy's grown sons, Happy and Biff, home for a visit. Their presence in the house causes Willy to reminisce on happier times; times when their growing strength and athletic feats - especially Biff's - were a source of pride and joy to him; times when it seemed certain that his kids would go out and conquer the world. In this heightened and reflective state ' Willy speaks aloud to his boys as if the two youngsters he fondly remembers from the past had materialized in the room.
WILLY: That's just what I mean. Bernard [the son of Willy's friend] can get the best marks in school, y'understand, but when he gets out in the business wo...