Death Of A Salesman The American Dream

While the play primarily focuses on Willy’s dream, Death of a Salesman also observes Biff and his American Dream, which may be construed as the “right” one. Compared to his father’s, Biff’s dream is a simple one: own a ranch and labor in the countryside close to nature, happy and content. And yet as his father increasingly pressures him to pursue a dream more aligned to his own, Biff experiences an identity crisis of sorts, desperately seeking to please Willy by taking a job in business but always failing in his efforts. Eventually, he realizes that he cannot be his father, and, at Willy’s funeral, contrasts his earlier statement regarding Willy’s state of mind with one regarding his own person: “I know who I am, kid” (Miller 111). Though at the start of the play it was Willy who thought Biff lost, it is now the reverse. Willy, with his aspirations for renown and major success, found himself perpetually adrift in the world, struggling to make ends meet and maintain his family ties. And yet while Willy suffered at the hands of his American Dream, Biff prospered (although not monetarily) in his “proper” American Dream, experiencing true contentment in his craft. While Willy faced constant confusion and an almost bipolar personality disorder owing to his erroneous endeavors, Biff’s main insecurities and difficulties were those brought on by his father’s notion of success. In other words, Willy’s American Dream caused nothing but suffering for him and those he loved, while Biff’s American Dream would have allowed him peace of mind had it not been for his

While Biff is in some ways desperate to impress his father, he is also conscious about the fact that Willy has failed his attempt to be successful in his career. He considers his dad’s dreams materialistic and unreachable. As a matter of fact, in the Requiem, even after his father’s death, Biff says: “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” Unlike Happy and Willy, Biff is self-aware and values facts; Willy never was a successful salesman and he never wanted to face the truth. On the other hand, Biff is conscious about his failures and the weaknesses of his personality. During an argument with his father, Biff admits that his dad made him “so arrogant as a boy” that now he just can’t handle taking

He realizes that these values are not true, and is not too concerned if he does not come out on top. He wants to be able to know who he is. Happy, on the other hand, continues to believe in Willy’s ideas, even after his father’s death, and decides that Willy’s name will succeed.

Miller uses Death of a Salesman to shed light on the American Dream “for the sham it is” claims Raine. Willy has bought into this

Biff said when realizing the type of house he grew up in. Everyone in the Loman household was unsatisfied, the family left unstable. The top of the causes for the problems in the Loman household lead to Willy. Growing up Willy never had a true support system. His father left him at a early age. And his brother went to Africa. With all this abandonment in life, Willy learns to live on the dependency of being well approved of by others, and following a dream he saw as the “American Dream”. This dream led Willy into more failure than it did success. Willy never knew when to look at reality or chase a dream. When it came to a point in life when he realized he could no longer achieve this American Dream, he tried to live it through his sons. He never held his kids accountable for their faults because they were “well liked” Willy sees how much people like you as an equivalence to a human's success in life. Linda once said, “I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.” Willy filled all his actual doings in life, with dreams and visions of a successful him or of anything to make the pain of his actual life

Biff Loman is Willy's son and it is the conflict between the two that the story of the play revolves around. Biff was a star football player in high school, with scholarships to two major universities. He flunked math his senior year and was not allowed to graduate. He was going to make the credit up during the summer but caught Willy being unfaithful to Linda. This shock changed Biff's view of his father and everything that Biff believed in. Biff then became a drifter and was lost for fifteen years. He was even jail for stealing a suit once. But now, he has come home and the problems begin.

Willy’s self- image that he portrayed to others of being successful was a lie that he had lived with for so long

To make a change in his life, Biff decides he will ask his old employer Bill Oliver for money to start a ranch. The boys then suddenly hear willy downstairs talking to himself, and attempt to sleep. Next the lights on the stage move to Willy, who is sitting in the kitchen lost in memory. Willy remembers when biff and happy were young boys and helped him wash their car. He goes on and tells the boys that when he travels he is well liked, and that soon he will open a successful business. Next the neighbors son Bernard enters wondering why Biff has not come over to study with him. After Bernard leaves Willy tells Biff that he can't be successful without being well liked. Soon a younger version of Linda appears. She asks Willy about how much money he made on his trip, at first he says he made $1,200, then drops it to $200, but then admits to it only being 70 dollars. As Willy continues talking to Linda, a laughter appears over hers. Soon, the scene shifts and Willy flirts with The Woman, a secretary for a buyer. He gives her stockings and she thanks him for

Through the character of Biff Loman, Miller illustrates the survival of the American Dream. The dream is cultivated in Biff as seen in his personal happiness. Biff was becoming this person Willy wanted him to be; he was “well-liked” and a kleptomaniac because he wanted to make his father happy. He always went by what his father told him to do until when Biff walked into the affair between Willy and “The Woman.” This was Biff’s turning point; he realized that his father was a “phony liar” and didn’t want to be like him (1321). He was devastated from this event which led him to give up on going to summer school. From there, Biff left the family and began his independent life to work for “twenty or thirty different kinds of jobs.” He felt that all of them turned out the same until he began working on farms in Nebraska, North Dakota, Arizona, and Texas;

The American dream is the idea held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity.

As a salesman, Willy shows he perceives himself highly when talking to Linda about his job: “I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England” (14). One can also see Willy’s inflated sense of self-worth when he talks to his children about his job: “They know me, boys, they know me up and down New England... I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own” (31). However, even though he is extremely confident about his value as a salesman to his family, the reality of Willy’s reputation at his job is almost completely opposite: “I’m fat. I’m very—foolish to look at... they do laugh at me” (37). Although he essentially brags to his family about his expertise in business, Willy acknowledges the reality that his career is much less successful than he expects it to be. In fact, the inner turmoil inside of Willy from his unrealistic expectation of himself of being a fantastic salesman leads Willy to become mentally unhealthy, and eventually results in Willy committing suicide when he believes that he doesn’t have any self-worth anymore. Willy’s previous inflated self-worth is demonstrated yet again at his funeral, when no one shows up even though Willy thought he had a lot of friends from his job: “Why didn’t anybody come...

Biff: They nearly died laughing!” Willy’s clouded vison of becoming prosperous by charisma is the complete opposite to his brother Ben, Ben is the successful brother and the man Willy Loman is envious and, aspires to be; Ben’s American Dream is of having the ability to start from nothing and achieving greatness. The quote that helps the reader determine Bens American Dream is” William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out, I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!”

The American Dream has brought millions of immigrants to the United States with hopes of building better lives for themselves and their families. For some, better lives mean more money, fame, and fortune. For others, the American Dream may be defined simply by achieving happiness and security. A major theme in Death of a Salesman is how the American Dream is defined by the characters differently. XXXXX.

Willy Loman's dream is an adaptation of the American Dream. Willy believes that the only things that are important in life are the successes that he achieved and the amount of friends that he made. This is easily illustrated when Willy says " It's who you know and the smile on your face! ... and that's the wonder, the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked!" (Movie). Success is an important part of the American dream, but Willy puts too much importance on the need to achieve success. He neglects the needs of his family and chooses to remain in the mindset that as long as he is well liked he will achieve success. Although he has lost his ability to sell, Willy continues to believe that as long as he works hard good things will happen to him and his family. Willy's wife Linda realizes this and conveys these thoughts to her sons when she says "He drives seven hundred miles, and when he gets there no one knows him anymore… what goes through a man's mind, driving seven hundred miles home without earning a cent?" (Movie). Willy has delusional ideas about the American Dream. Even in the end Willy still believes that the only thing Biff needs to be successful is some

Willy’s perseverance to direct Biff into success has resulted to Biff’s desperate acts to earn praise from his father. However, Biff’s dishonest acts of stealing are often justified by Willy through disregard and excuse, even expressing that the “Coach will probably congratulate [Biff] for [his] initiative”. Instead of correcting his mistakes, Willy continuously expresses his belief of Biff’s predetermined success as a result of being attractive and well-liked. These acts effectively exemplifies Biff’s adherence to self-deception as he imagines himself as an important figure in other people’s lives. It can be seen that his belief of being destined for success prevents him from allowing himself recognize the destruction it brings. As a result, Biff has allowed how Willy views him become how he perceives himself. This self-deception has not only affected the actions in his childhood but as well as his decisions when finding his role in the workplace. As stated above, Willy’s consistent beliefs of his son’s predestined success results to Biff’s immense confidence in himself. However, this confidence have provided him a false perception of himself as he struggle to keep a stable job and even faces imprisonment. It can be seen that Biff’s lack of self-perception and compliance to ideals of Willy has only allowed him to restrain and prevent him from recognizing the difference between illusion and reality resulting in the lack of his