Death Of A Salesman Achieving The American Dream

Barack Obama made history by being elected President of the United States, twice. This is just one more example that the American Dream is without a doubt achievable. Its pursuit is not easy; it requires undeniable hard work, modesty and optimism. Armed with these characteristics, seekers of this lifestyle will undeniably succeed. Success, though, is an interesting concept, for it can entail many superficial qualities. Willy Loman, the tragic hero of the play Death of a Salesman, sees only the superficial qualities of this dream. He views success solely as likeability (linked with attractiveness), and wealth. Ignoring all methods to honorably achieve these, Arthur Miller demonstrates how Willy’s search for the superficial qualities of the

In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller’s character, Willy Loman, is desperately trying to achieve the unattainable American Dream. Throughout the play, Willy encounters many challenges that have derailed his course and his perseverance drives him and his family insane.

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

Over time the American Dream has been changed fundamentally with the introduction of new ideology and values. Death of a Salesman illustrates how Willy Loman has been shaped by society. It conveys the impact of this ideology on his children, raising them to believe in quantifiable values being benchmarks of success. Throughout the play his mental health takes a downward spiral as he encounters various failures in his life and his sons’. This can be attributed to the conflict between the shifting values of the time. The values of hard work and individualism are no longer important. Miller utilizes Willy Loman’s inability to succeed and address his own failures to convey the corruption of the American Dream with values such as capitalism, personal attractiveness, and entitlement to success.

In playwright Arthur Miller 's story, Death of a Salesman, written in 1949, the protagonist, Willy Loman, wants nothing more than to live the American Dream. His insatiable hunger for wealth causes him to prioritize making money above all his other responsibilities. When Willy gets fired from his job he becomes disillusioned with the concept of the American Dream. When he realizes

The United States in the mid-twentieth century was a time of change. In the 1960’s the civil rights and women’s rights were in their embryonic stages. All of these ideas coming together created the illusion of The American Dream. Back then; the American dream was equated with freedom and material prosperity, two concepts that ring true today. The definition of the American dream changes as society in the United States changes, and the connotation and reality of the American Dream is disheartening. Two literary compositions give a realistic outlook on what the American Dream really is. In Death of a Salesman and The American Dream, Arthur Miller and Edward Albee masterfully relay the true nature and ideologies of The American Dream.

In the Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller reflects Willy Loman striving for his family’s higher identity with pursuing the American Dream. Through Willy Loman’s dreamlike mind, Miller shows how denial casts blindness to the reality of his life, family, and loss of identity. Thus, this play shows how social achievement and economic success affects the truly important aspects of life; family and love.

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the story of the failure of a salesman, Willy Loman. Although not all Americans are salesmen, most of us share Willy’s dream of success. We are all partners in the American Dream and parties to the conspiracy of silence surrounding the fact that failures must outnumber successes.(Samantaray, 2014)

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.

The American Dream is one of the most sought-after things in the United States, even though it is rarely, if ever, achieved. According to historian Matthew Warshauer, the vision of the American Dream has changed dramatically over time. In his 2003 essay “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Changing Conceptions of the American Dream”, Warshauer claims that the American Dream had gone from becoming wealthy by working hard and earning money, to getting rich quickly and easily. He attributes this change to television game shows, state lotteries, and compensation lawsuits. He also argues that most Americans are more concerned with easy money than hard-earned money, and that Americans care mostly about material goods such as consumer products, big

Willy Loman is a man on a mission. His purpose in life is to achieve a false sense of the "American Dream," but is this what Willy Loman really wants? In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller analyzes the American Dream by portraying to us a few days in the life of a washed up salesman named Willy Loman. The American Dream is a definite goal of many people, meaning something different to everyone. Willy's version is different from most people though; his is based more on being well-liked and achieving monetary successes rather than achieving something that will make him happy. Willy never becomes part of the "American Dream" because he never follows his true dreams and

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the tale of Willy Loman, a man who falls from the top of the capitalism system in a resonant crash. Being controlled by his fears of the future, and stuck in his memories of the past, Willy fully contributes to his self-victimization by putting little blame on his own mistakes. Although Willy is perceived as selfish, it is important to see that he is misguided. His character is one of a common man, he has never been anything special, but he chose to follow the American Dream and continue the “destiny” it gave him. However, in my reading of the play, I feel it was not an unlucky destiny that pushed Willy to damage his own life and the lives of his family,

The play Death of a Salesman greatly portrays a specific ideology in regards to values, dreams, goals, and success in our consumer-driven society. It helps showcase the American dream that society tends to strive for even in the early 1900’s (the play is set in the 1940’s). That dream of being a successful business person or vendor. As well as the theory that image and physical attributes are most important to gaining fruition. Willy Loman plays a man in his sixties who has strived for this American dream for over 30 years but realistically has failed miserably on his goal in life – a wealthy salesman like his idol Dave Singleman (a fellow who could make a fortune selling without even leaving his hotel room). He spends his entire life in

The American dream is an ideal for all Americans to get the best out of life. It stands for an easy and comfortable life, which makes you independent and your own boss. Historically, the American dream meant a promise of freedom and opportunity, offering the chance of riches even to those who start with nothing. This is something that Arthur Miller conveys in his play Death of a Salesman. Before the Depression, an optimistic America offered the alluring promise of success and riches.