Comparing 'Death Of A Salesman And Weeds'

The Atlantic and Aspen Institute conducted a survey with Penn Schoen Berland to study how people viewed the American Dream in 2015. “72% said they are living the American Dream or expect to in their lifetime, 85% are happy with their lives overall, 72% are happy with their jobs, 86% are optimistic about the future, and 67% feel financially secure” (Feloni). One of the most memorable explanations of the American Dream was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. for human equality. That said, the American Dream can be symbolized however the protagonist portrays and interprets it. Everyone’s opinion is a reality in their own eyes. This is factual in Arthur Miller’s play, “Death of a Salesman”, and Booker T. Washington’s speech, “The Atlanta Exposition.” The theme of both works uses a pathos approach to depict the obstacles they had to overcome in order to reach what they defined as the “American Dream.” The protagonists shared similarities as it relates to social acceptance, but their stories part different motifs of business success, monetary value, human equality, and compromise in an antagonist American Dream.

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’

What insights into the American Dream are offered through the novella Of Mice and Men and the film American Beauty? In your essay you must consider the influences of context and the importance of techniques in shaping meaning.

Through the comparative study of “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck in 1937 and “American Beauty” directed by Sam Mendes in 1999, it is apparent that the concept of the American Dream is timeless and enduring. Mendes and Steinbeck use language techniques such as dramatic foreshadowing and filmic techniques to define the American Dream’s spiritual and materialistic aspects. However, from the context of the Great Depression explored in “Of Mice and Men” to the economic boom of 1999 which provides the backdrop to “American Beauty”, society has greatly evolved. Hence, as the context changes, so does our understanding of the American Dream and its perceived values.

Since the beginning of its time, America has set a global standard for offering chances at prosperity and career opportunities for qualified adults. Its people have been implicating the idea of the “American Dream” into its culture for many years and has become widely recognized by individuals all across the world. People pack up their lives and families to travel to American soil to try at a chance of a better life, and in doing so, they too venture on a path to achieving this so commonly understood “American Dream.” Arthur Miller, a well-known literary writer in America, seems to disagree with this national phenomena, offering a different view in his play Death of a Salesman. In this play, he demonstrates through the life of an average

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

After reading the New York Times review of Death of a Salesman, I agree that “With employment continuing to lag and millions of homes in foreclosure, there are surely many men and women avoiding the mirror and its accusations, believing, like Willy, that their inability to achieve the golden ideal of financial success is somehow a personal indictment.” (Isherwood 2012). This review can be related to any point in time in society. While there is a natural flow of change society always craves the “American dream.”

How can two people watch or read the same story and yet, interpret it completely differently? Does it have to do with the author’s intentions, or maybe it has to do with the viewers’ own backgrounds and ideologies? Whatever the case may be, viewing one piece of work can lead to a wide array of opinions and critiques. It is through the diversity of such lenses that Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller has become one of the most well-known plays in modern history. There are many different ways in which a play can be criticized, however, criticisms from the approaches of a Marxist and reader-response will be utilized to further dissect Death of a Salesman. Marxist criticism sees pieces of works as a struggle between different socioeconomic classes; what better way to see Miller’s play than for what it is at face value, the struggle of a middle-class man trying to achieve the American dream (1750). On the other hand, a reader-response criticism comes from either an objective or subjective view; in this case Death of a Salesman will be viewed with a subjective lens based on Willy’s deteriorating mental health (1746).

At most times, the American Dream resembles an ideological puzzle more than a fully realizable image. Within the confines of her fantastical, theatrical world Lorraine Hansberry attempts to fit a few of these pieces together and, in the process, ends up showing exactly how everything doesn't just snap-together all nicely. The problems in her play, A Raisin In The Sun, deal primarily with the basic nature of humans and their respected struggle's to "make it" in America.

“The vaunted American dream, the idea that life will get better, that progress is inevitable if we obey the rules and work hard, that material prosperity is assured, has been replaced by a hard and bitter truth. The American dream, we now know, is a lie. We will all be sacrificed. The virus of corporate abuse - the perverted belief that only corporate profit matters…” (Hedges). Since the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Americans believed that the United States was the place for opportunity and all citizens were able to go from nothing to something. Though few people who actually obtained success, citizens held onto the fantasy through many decades. As the decades changed, so did the end goal of the American dream. At first, the American dream was to be free from an oppressive government, then at one point it changed to becoming the “number one man” and more business-minded. An explanation of the American dream can be found in the drama Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller implements various character’s American dreams and how they got to where they are in the future. This drama reveals the corruption in the process of acquiring the American dream because everyone feels the need to look superior to their peers. Therefore, in the drama, Death of a Salesman, playwright Arthur Miller utilizes dramatic irony in order to reveal that Willy employs the facade of achieving his perception of the American dream . The dramatic irony arises in his demise, his

The “American dream” is very difficult to obtain. The goal of obtaining a big home, great education, good job, and a family is something most people wish for but never truly obtain. Life brings many obstacles, both internal and external, and as they arise the handling of them determines ones success or failure with achieving the American dream. Arthur Miller portrays the pitfalls of the American dream in his play Death Of a Salesman through his characters and their development. Each of his characters has their own version of their American dream and they each try to achieve it differently. Along with different methods each character has their own flaws and here lies the pitfalls of the 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.

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

In today’s society the term “American Dream” is perceived as being successful and usually that’s associated with being rich or financially sound. People follow this idea their entire life and usually never stop to think if they are happy on this road to success. Most will live through thick and thin with this idealization of the “American Dream” usually leading to unhappiness, depression and even suicide. The individual is confused by society’s portrayal of the individuals who have supposedly reached the nirvana of the “American Dream”. In the play “Death of a Salesman” Willy thinks that if a person has the right personality and he is well liked it’s easy to achieve success rather than hard work and innovation. This is seen when Willy is

The battle for living a wealthy life and having more than enough to support your family is something that has always been tremendously significant in the American culture. The Death of a Salesman and A Raisin the Sun are two tales about this struggle. Both stories are about two American families that portray the common way of life around the 1940’s and the struggles that come with it. A Raisin in the Sun is about a black family living in Chicago, and Death of a Salesman is about a white family living in New York. Both families seem to have many problems that set the apart from others around them. Even though two different authors wrote these plays, they have much more in common than you would expect and I am going to compare and contrast them.