Discussion on the Choice of Genre

Willy Loman’s search for identity is an attempt to be the man according to the backward frontier tradition: the role a man is the supporter and that of the wife is one who keeps the home. His failure to achieve that dream fed his madness. Willy pursues his narrowed perception of the American Dream. He is emblematic of the failing modern American; he embodies the issues of those whom are consumed with dream over reality—taking shortcuts and failing to ad hear to personal sacrifice is what’s wrong with society, for we are manacled to the wrong values. Willy values intangible characteristics, such as personality and appearance over actual achievements and talent. He believes that

In Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman’s life seems to be slowly deteriorating. It is clear that Willy’s predicament is of his own doing, and that his own foolish pride and ignorance lead to his downfall. Willy’s self-destruction involved the uniting of several aspects of his life and his lack of grasping reality in each, consisting of, his relationship with his wife, his relationship and manner in which he brought up his children, Biff and Happy, and lastly his inability to productively earn a living and in doing so, failure to achieve his “American Dream”.

In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is an example of a failure as a good father. He did not discipline his sons well by not punishing them. He did not set a good example to his sons by not admitting his faults. He did not make his family his number one priority. Instead, it was his work, coming before his family, his friends, and even himself. Not only is Willy Loman not a good father and husband, but he was a failure by not becoming successful, not achieving the American Dream.

Willy Loman is a senile salesman who lives a dull life with a depleting career. He has an estranged relationship with his family and believes in the American Dream of effortless success and affluence, but in no way accomplishes it. Feeling like the aim of life is to be favored by others and gaining a materialistic fortune, Willy lives in a world of delusion where

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

Willy Loman, the central character in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, is a man whose fall from the top of the capitalistic totem pole results in a resounding crash, both literally and metaphorically. As a man immersed in the memories of the past and controlled by his fears of the future, Willy Loman views himself as a victim of bad luck, bearing little blame for his interminable pitfalls. However, it was not an ill-fated destiny that drove Willy to devastate his own life as well as the lives of those he loved; it was his distorted set of values.

For Willy Loman, the salesman, the American Dream is more than a passing phrase. The salesman does not merely subscribe to the American dream; he is its personification. Indeed, only a capitalistic society obsessed with commercialism can spawn his profession, for the salesman does not produce anything; rather, his job, like gilded metal, often places a premium on appearance instead of value, a principle that Willy tries to embrace in both his professional and personal life, as reflected in his choice of the refrigerator that is perpetually breaking down but has “the biggest ads of any of them!” (Miller 35). That inability to distinguish between his sales pitches and personal life leads to the point later when he is no longer able to separate his illusions of an idyllic past from reality. Even in those flashbacks, he is literally trying to sell himself to his sons, regaling them with his supposed exploits as a way to convince them of his worth. Willy tries to reinforce that worth as a parent, according to Thomas Adler, through material objects, seeking to prove his love with punching bags and

Mr. Loman was in desperate search of the American Dream, which lead to his demise. Just like other men who seek this dream, he didn't succeed so he pushed his dream on his oldest son Biff. Willy paid much attention to Biff,

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.

Death of a Salesman In the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy Loman, is depicted as a tragic hero. Willy reached his peak in the beginning of the story and then slowly reached his dramatic downfall. Though he was not a great man, Willy Loman’s tragic flaw led to the downfall of both himself and his sons due to his high expectations. Willy Loman was considered to be the perfect husband and father by his family.

To Willy Loman the main protagonist,his version of the American Dream is to become successful on being well liked alone.Willy believes being well liked is the key to success opposed to being productive.Throughout Willy’s life he is forced to deny reality in order to achieve it. Instead of acknowledging that he is not a well-known success, Willy retreats into the past and chooses to relive

Aristotle once described a tragedy as the tying of a knot and the unloosing of it. Who would have ever thought that tragedy and misfortune could be found in the concept of the American Dream, which to most would be a beacon of hope and success? Arthur Miller wrote the play Death of a Salesman in which he sparked this thought in many readers through the tragic end of the main character Willy Loman. The play itself is set in 20th century New York, and is unraveled in two different moments of time, some scenes being in the present and others flashbacks occurring in the mind of Willy. Throughout his life Willy works relentlessly to achieve his skewed interpretation of the American dream, just to be met with despair. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller depicts the tragedy of the American Dream

Willy Loman is a victim of the “fabled” American Dream, and is shown through Miller’s description of Willy’s home. Every appliance in their kitchen falls apart, symbolising Willy’s rapidly failing attempts at achieving the American Dream. The self-proclaimed successful salesman in his youth, Willy is a far cry from that as his proudest moments in life are numbered on his hand. Willy keeps a “silver athletic trophy above [his] bed,” –belonging to Biff– which is one of the select few achievements that he can cling to (Abbotson 37). This further shows that Willy was at one point successful, but he has resolved to “[exaggerating] his earning potential” due to the changing markets in an effort to prioritize “efficiency, [and] productivity” (Abbotson 43).

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