Personality, Big Business, and Willy's Death

Hey guys, so after reading DSM I was most interested in Happy's role and contributions. There were at least three times during Willy's flashbacks that Happy vied for his father attention, saying "I'm losing weight, you notice, Pop?"Although this may be just that, a vie for attention while under his older, more accomplished brother's shadow, I think it might also represent the culture / type of person that Willy was trying to force onto his children. Willy consistently prided Biff on his football and personality accomplishments and didn't care much about his work in school, referring to those who do as inferior. This belief in the superiority of the outgoing, more assertive personality spawned out of America's shift during this time period from a Culture of Character into a Culture of Personality, mainly due to the social-based world of growing Big Business. When Americans embraced the Culture of Personality, they started to focus on how others perceived them. They became captivated by people who were bold or entertaining. In order to secure a job, potential employees now had to exude confidence to sell themselves to businesses and other colleagues, favoring a more social, outgoing personality. Happy's plea for his father to notice his more athletic build seems to validate this shift, however detrimental Miller may seem to portray it.

Does anyone have any insight into how Willy's favoring of athletic achievement or personality might contribute to his death?