All My Sons Critical Essay

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman offers a distinct commentary on the American Dream, best explored in the death of its protagonist, Willy Loman. Almost immediately before Willy and his wife Laura are to make their final payment on their twenty-five year mortgage and take full ownership of their house, Willy, crazed and desperate, commits suicide. As his family mourns and praises him, Willy’s eldest son, Biff, bemoans, “He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong…He never knew who he was” (Miller 111). This occurrence sheds light on the truth Miller hoped to convey: The American Dream – what should be equated with home, family, and happiness – may all too often be corrupted into something much more superficial. It may be warped into the

Many workers today go through a low time or a struggle and give up. Today’s workers do not necessarily commit suicide when they are in a low point but they do things such as quitting the job or relying on government assistance. Willy strives to achieve the American dream and he eventually realizes that he has failed and gives up on life. This dream is a belief in America and that all things are possible if you work hard enough (Criticism of ' the American Dream' in 'Death of a Salesman'). Arthur Miller uses this story to expose the problems with pursuit of such a dream: “What Miller attacks, then, is not the American Dream of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, but the dream as interpreted and pursued by those for whom ambition replaces human need and the trinkets of what Miller called the ‘new American Empire in the making’ are taken as tokens of true value” (Bigsby). “Death of a Salesman” creates a challenge to the American Dream and shows that an American should live a prosperous and plentiful life instead of get lost and die tragically (Criticism of ' the American Dream' in 'Death of a Salesman'). Gradually throughout the play, Willy gets farther and farther away from achieving his idea of the American Dream. His income slowly decreases to nothing: “as a salesman, Willy stages a performance for buyers, for his sons, for the father who deserted him, the brother he admired. Gradually, he loses his audience, first the buyers, then his son, then his boss” (Bigsby). His problem is that he completely surrenders to the American Dream and by the team he realizes his mistake, he has nothing to fall back on (Panesar). If Willy would have embraced his natural talent for manual labor and his family’s love for the countryside, the Lomans could have a totally different lifestyle (Panesar). Towards the end of the play, Willy became overwhelmed

Arthur Miller has shown the influence of the beliefs perpetuated by society on the actions of women throughout the play. The play is set in Salem, Massachusetts, a Puritan community. Their society values the sense of community

Many people know Arthur Miller as an author due to his many famous works such as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. However, there’s much more history to Miller than what we know. Key events in Miller’s life were composed of three marriages, many of his workpieces making it to Broadway, and how he made it to the top. Although he had a very satisfying professional life, there were many political conflicts involving communism and much more.

Sometimes when a situation turns bad, many people begin to assume the worst. Arthur Miller uses Hasty Generalizations to show the panic and even fear of the

Looking at all of those characters individually, it is tough to pinpoint if Miller believes in one, all, or a combination of those views. Fortunately, it becomes clearer in the introduction written by Christopher Bigsby. Insightful in his analysis of the play, Bigsby explains that “Death of a Salesman is not an attack on American values. It is, however, an exploration of the betrayal of those values and the cost of this in human terms” (Bigsby XXIII). To put it more simply, Miller’s view of the American dream (A dream where equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative) is that it serves more as a misrepresented societal norm, than a guide to lifelong happiness. Looking at the work as a whole, he shows that more often than not, the theory of the American dream is not aligned with the reality of an American life.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Edited by Christopher Bigsby, London, Penguin Books, 2003.

Compare and contrast the ways in which the American Dream is presented through Walter Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘ A Raisin in the Sun’ and Willy Lehman in Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of the Salesman’

Over the years many movies have been made based upon famous plays or books. Often times these movies are successful in portraying the play-writer 's images and thoughts for the play or book. Arthur Miller 's play, The Crucible and the movie version have many differences and similarities, all of which contribute to the individual effectiveness of each in conveying their central message. There are several additions and changes to the plot, characters, and mood of the play, which have been implemented into the movie.

In life there are many people who do not know how to own up to their misfortunes that's caused by their harsh or unintended action. So, through Arthur Miller's perspective we see some of the major characters who have fall under the content of self-pity.

During Millers lifespan he was effected by many important struggles and successes in America that shaped not only him but his legacy. One of the significant early struggles that shaped Miller was the Great Depression. During this time his father lost his small manufacturing business. This period created much doubt to a young Arthur Miller about his existence, security, and religion. He then began leaning “left”, politically. Around the early 1900s the arts, theater more specifically, was the most avant-garde way for left

Joe Keller is described as a martyr. The martyr can be depicted as a charismatic leadership ,sacrifices himself for the good of others that they may live. Joe is the father of Chris and Chris has always looked up to his dad his whole life but around this part of the play Chris finds out what his father has done “it was too late. The paper, it was all over the front page, twenty-one went down, it was too late” (Miller 420). All the respect the leadership that Chris had for his father was gone at this point he had lost it all when he found out his was the one that new about the cylinder heads he knew everything. Joe is reading a letter from Larry that shows the reason for

A blue house, red shutters, and a white picket fence with a border collie. Three kids are running around in the front lawn up on a hilltop. That is what the American dream is right? The American dream is truly in the eye of the beholder. One might think that the American dream is an apartment in downtown Los Angeles, but others might want the smell of fresh cut grass in a small suburb. It’s whatever the person who is working for it wants it to be. As we can see in the play, all of the main characters might be striving for an American dream, but none of them are striving for their same American dream.

Published in 1949, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a tragic commentary on the hollowness and futility of the American Dream. This paper will explore Willy’s obsession with achieving material wealth and prosperity and how his yearning for the American Dream ultimately caused him to deny reality and lead the breakup of his family. Ultimately, Miller’s message is not that the American Dream is by necessity a harmful social construct, but simply that it has been misinterpreted and perverted to rob individuals of their autonomy and create inevitable dissatisfaction.

Arthur Miller is an American playwright who wrote The Crucible in 1952. The story is basically about a time of suspicion and accusation of many innocent women and men caused by a group of girls doing witchcraft that led to hysteria and complete turmoil in Salem village, and this exists in the late 1600s . It was actually written on the heels of World War II, during a time when the United States, especially Senator Joseph McCarthy as one of the most outstanding people at the time, was highly concerned about the rising power of the Soviet Union’s communism that would infiltrate the US leading to a significant amount of paranoia within the American government as compared to the paranoia about witchcraft in the play. Therefore, Arthur Miller must write The Crucible and mainly make a strong connection to this political and social event occuring after the World War II, and even relates that to himself.