Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller

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

Throughout history, authors and playwrights have used their writings as a way to add social commentary. Voltaire and Kurt Vonnegut wrote scathing satires; Harper Lee and George Orwell wrote detailed accounts about both the nuances and overt sides of social injustice. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller continues the tradition and gives his two cents about capitalism and the American Dream through the life of Willy Loman, the story’s protagonist. Traditionally, the American Dream is the ideal that every US citizen has an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.

Every respectable parent wants what is best for their children, even if that means putting their personal dreams on hold. Unfortunately, parents can negatively affect their children through, not only their actions, but also their beliefs onto how to achieve their dreams. The damaging effects of parents chasing unrealistic dreams, such as the American Dream, can be seen through their children and how they chase their own dreams. Biff Loman of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Walter Younger of A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry watch their parents fight for their dreams only to become a failure, Biff is pulled into his father’s delusional dreams of success and Walter lacks the proper role models to shape his dreams around,

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

The American Dream is a sought after idea sold to Americans and immigrants alike. It promises the opportunity to create a better future for oneself. So long as said individual works hard it promises a happy ending. Arthur Miller reveals the reality of the American Dream in his play Death of a Salesman through the life of Willy Loman and his family. Willy represents the primary target audience as a working class man providing for his family. His pride causes him to be two steps behind in his life-long quest to achieve the American Dream and his family inherit his failures in their own individual quests.

Husbands and wives assume a vow of support for one another as they embark on a lifelong journey together through the ups and the downs. In Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman, the main character, Willy Loman, is an aged and failing salesman attempting to provide for his family without asking for help from anyone. His wife, Linda Loman, is one of the most intelligent and levelheaded characters in the play. Although her husband treats her poorly at times, she ceaselessly supports him and does everything in her power to ensure his happiness. Linda understands Willy’s declining mental health and knows that he is becoming less stable each day. Through her continued support of Willy and his unrealistic aspirations, Linda allows Willy’s mental decline to continue without attempting to keep him in check with reality. By ignoring Willy’s mistakes, failures, and blatant suicide attempts, Linda permits Willy’s disconnect from reality to continue until she is freed by his eventual death.

The tragic fall of an individual is brought about by a tragic flaw. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is seen as a densely flawed human being. Ironically, the flaws that Willy lives off of are what ultimately leads to his demise. The major faults that contribute to his downfall are his compulsive lying, his selfishness, and his unrealistic expectations and perceptions.

The American Dream is the belief that if you work hard you will gain success and wealth in life. In Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller, the idea of the American dream is shown through the main character Willy Loman. Willy has a flawed perception of success and the American Dream. His desire for wealth and popularity is what eventually leads to his downfall. His obsession with his image and his desire to be someone he wasn’t overtime drives him crazy and leads to his death.

In 1949, the forlorn life of Willy Loman is introduced in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”. At this time the American Dream was something everyone craved during the peak of suburbia. The American Dream was the golden standard of living like Donna Reed, all wrapped up with a white picket fence. To Willy Loman, The American Dream was not the golden standard, but the only standard. His wife Linda dutifully greeting him as he came home from a successful day as a salesman, and sits down to dinner with his sons Biff, the former football star and now successful salesman that takes after his father, and Happy, a husband and father of three who lives a humble life. This idea infested Willy’s mind to such an extent that reality was swept away.

Willy Loman, the main character of the play, is a man trying his hardest to achieve endless wealth for himself and his family. He is ultimately unsuccessful and his failure results in a madness which would later claim his life. Willy Loman missed the bigger picture, however, Willy Loman lived during a time where his sons could work hard and try to make something of themselves. They may not have been wealthy beyond imagining but they would still be comfortable and most importantly they would have been happy, surrounded by friends and family. Willy Loman’s death is a major setback to any Loman achieving the American Dream. While we do not know the ultimate fate of Willy’s two sons we do know that they will have to live without their father who died before his time. This tragedy will serve only to bring them sadness and despair. This was not the way the American Dream was meant to be. The American Dream should be about Americans living better off and happier than the previous generation, not exceedingly richer than the whole of society. For some, like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, the American Dream is only about reaching the top. He and others like him missed true prosperity, his family and happiness, by being obsessed with gaining something which is usually unrealistic. Had Willy Loman seen beyond this, he could have lived a longer and a much happier

As though to recreate the connection in life, literature often shows the relationship between past events and a character’s present actions and values. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy is haunted by memories of his older brother, father, and salesman Dave Singleman. Willy’s character and values are constantly influenced by the memory of the three men, compounding upon his deliria throughout the play. Willy considers these men the epitome of success, thus explaining his dependency on all three. Miller’s view on society, men, and the success of the American Dream are portrayed through Willy’s interactions with the men. The American Dream is synonymous with the phrase “the world is your oyster,” but Miller uses Death of a Salesman to criticize the American Dream through Willy Loman and his interplay between the past and present.

Arthur Miller’s play titled “Death of a Salesman” offers a plethora of morals pertaining to the human condition. One moral, shown in Aesop’s fable “The Peacock and Juno”, pertains to that one should be content with that of which they are given, for one cannot be the best at everything. In Death of a Salesman there is, without a doubt, a paucity of content and happiness within the Loman family. But what does it mean to truly be content?

What is the correct definition of tragedy anyways? Many people would define tragedy as a disaster, but according to the book The Cambridge Guide to World Theatre by Martin Banham, the word tragedy is “a word whose meaning changes with time and place” (1002). In Medieval times, “tragedy came to mean the downfall of a person of high degree” (Banham 1002), but in recent times, the meaning of the word tragedy has many definitions. According to Banham, “realists refused to limit tragedy to privileged protagonists” (1002). Two famous tragic plays that I found to have a genre of tragedy are Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl. In both of these plays, the downfall was not of a person of high degree but there was a

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

The overwhelming dream of gaining materialistic success blinds Willy to a point that he fails to see his real interests. Marginalizing his actual desires which include operating with hands, he struggles to make a living with his iniquitous dreams of being a salesman. Perhaps, if he opened himself to his real desires he could have “made it big” as Biff says “there’s more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made” (103). In fact Willy longs for a simpler lifestyle as he says to Linda “you wait, kid, before it’s all over we’re gonna get a little place out in the country, and I’ll raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens” (50). Agonized by his failing in life, he blocks the reality and creates a self-aggrandizing and delusional persona of himself - whom is famous, and well-liked: “Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot!” (43). However, somewhere inside, he knows that “people laugh at him” (43). As Willy slowly realizes his failure in life, the dream of salesman dies within, hence his multiple attempts at suicide. His last hope to keep the dream alive is by proxy and as Biff refuses to become a salesman, Willy shatters inside, and down