Elusive American Dream in Miller's Death of a Salesman and Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath

If there was a favorable circumstance under which one could endeavour all their hopes and visions, wouldn’t one pursue it? The American Dream was introduced as an interpretation to cause the people of America in the early twentieth century to work tougher. The American Dream is the opportunity to reach the goals one sets for themselves. It is about having your dream job and life one has always fantasized about. The dream is also about having freedom and equality. In the novel, “Of Mice & Men”, John Steinbeck uses symbols and motifs such as the vicious slaughtering of virtuous animals, Crooks’ rubbish bunkhouse and Lennie and George’s deception of an ideal farm to exhibit the perception that materialistic success results in happiness is a major flaw in our thinking about the American dream, and it is this thinking which makes the dream unattainable for many.

Willy’s biggest issue with his son is that he let him down by not being any more successful than him. He feels like Biff is failing on purpose just to make him look bad. Although, he has no decent job and is single; Biff has become disoriented about life. Earlier in the play Biff tells Happy, “I tell ya Hap, I don't know what the future is. I don't know - what I'm supposed to want” (Miller266). Biff once looked up to his father as a role model, but lost all faith in him once finding out that he was having an affair. Ever since he has rejected Willy’s commitment of being a husband and also a father. To add to his ruins are Willy’s ideas of how Biff should get ahead in life. Willy taught Biff that popularity was the right way to get to the top, rather than hard-work and dedication. Trying to live by his dad’s standards caused Biff to fail high school and become unable to put forth the effort to become

Working hard is the key to success. This struggle for success is most commonly called the “American Dream.” The aspect of the American Dream has been around forever and is often the underlying theme in many pieces of American literature. The theme of the American is especially presented in Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Two Kinds writer by Amy Tan, and in “Sophistication” by Sherwood Anderson.

In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald published what is considered to be his most popular novel, The Great Gatsby. Almost thirty years later, Arthur Miller released his play Death of a Salesman in 1949. One of the greatest similarities between these seemingly different works is how their authors portray the American Dream. The American dream, according to author and historian James Truslow Adams, is “…that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” In Death of a Salesman and The Great Gatsby, Miller and Fitzgerald create a critic of the American Dream through the protagonist’s dreams, lies, and their fascination with the past, factors that led to their demise, and then use their protagonists to create a critic on modern day American society.

Willy foolishly pursues the wrong dream and constantly lives in an unreal world blinded from reality. Despite his dream Willy constantly attempts to live in an artificial world and claims “If old Wagner was alive I’d be in charge of New York by now” (Miller 14). As a result, Willy often ignores his troubles and denies any financial trouble when he says “business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me of course” (Miller 51). Another false segment of Willy’s dream includes the success of his two sons Happy and Biff. Biff was a high school football star who never cared about academics and now that he needs a job says “screw the business world” (Miller 61). Ironically, Willy suggests that Biff go west an “be a carpenter, or a cowboy, enjoy yourself!”, an idea that perhaps Willy should have pursued. Constantly advising his boys of the importance of being well liked, Willy fails to stress academics as an important part of life (Miller 40). Furthermore, Willy dies an unexpected death that reveals important causes of the failure to achieve the American dream. At the funeral Linda cries “I made the last payment on the house today... and there’ll be nobody home” to say that she misses Willy but in essence his death freed the Lomans from debt and the hopes and expectations Willy placed on his family (Miller 139). Very few people attend

The struggle for financial security and success has always been prominent in the American culture. The idea of the American dream captures the hearts of so many, yet leaves almost all of them enslaved in the endless economic struggle to achieve high status, wealth, and a house with a white picket fence. In Arthur Miller's, Death of a Salesman, we see how difficult it is for Willy Loman and his sons to achieve this so called American dream. In Lorraine Hansberry's, A Raisin in the Sun, she examines an African-American family's struggle to break out of the poverty that is preventing them from achieving some sort of financial stability, or in other words the American dream. Both plays explore the desire for wealth, driving forces that

The Great Depression broke down security and belief in American society during the early 20th century and brought out hidden prejudices. The once optimistic mood during the Roaring 20’s turned to pain. The dire economic situation caused Americans to return to past social stigmas where certain groups of people were seen as inferior; as a result, the American Dream, where everyone could seek their ideal of success, was reduced to merely a dream. John Steinbeck observed these changes in social behavior and witnessed the plight of many Americans during the Great Depression. Like in his later work, The Grapes of Wrath, he was inspired by his environment to expose the lives of people during the Great Depression using Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck observed these changes in social behavior and witnessed the plight of many Americans during the Great Depression. Steinbeck demonstrates in Of Mice and Men through the characters that the American Dream was naturally discriminatory towards certain groups of people because of common perceptions held during that period.

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.”

The striving for being rich and have a wealthy life has always been present in the American society. Often living in a capitalistic society leads people to become greedy, and as a result many become too materialistic. This may happen because of the challenge to pursue the American dream where most of Americans are trying to fulfill it. Unfortunately, for most of people it is very difficult to acquire this high status and to secure a spot in the upper-class society. Arthur Miller's, Death of a Salesman, and Lorraine Hansberry's, A Raisin the Sun, are two plays that reveal two main characters: Willy Loman and Walter Lee Young, characters that reflect typical features of the people who struggles to achieve the American Dream. Although they may have common characteristics and share similarities, they also have numerous issues and are very different, setting them apart from other families and even each other. Therefore, the main focus of this paper will be to compare and put in contrast these two great characters.

The American Dream in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Willy bestows this theory of his onto his sons Biff and Happy during their teenage years. During Biffs High School years he attains the captain position for the school’s football team which gave Willy another reason to believe that he and his son were on track to achieving the American Dream. Willy is more than convinced at this point that they are both heading down the same path: to be known, to achieve success and to be liked.

For example, when Willy cannot fulfill the American Dream in the business world, he places the pressure on Biff to fulfill it for him. At the beginning of Act I, Willy points out, “The trouble is he’s [Biff] lazy, goddammit” (1265)! Willy’s use of the word “lazy” symbolizes his inability of persuading Biff to pursue a career in the business field. Even though Willy believes that the business field would make Biff feel “well-liked”, he fails to interpret Biff’s American Dream. Examining Biff’s American Dream, we are reminded that “with a ranch I could do the work I like and still be something” (1271). Biff’s plan to work on the ranch depicts the freedom of choice. He represents the opposite side of Willy, who chooses a career based on his passions and not based on others’ opinions.

Throughout Arthur Miller’s novel, Death of a Salesman, many topics and themes emerge. However, the American Dream seems to hold each piece together. The American Dream in it’s earliest days was to work hard and make more money this year than the previous. Then, it became the dream of success in an instant; the type of success that isn’t worked for. Although this may have worked for those who lucked out, the characters in Death of a Salesman were not able to achieve such luck. Through multiple conflicts and defining character’s backgrounds, Arthur Miller develops the theme of you reap what you sow, and presents it as a reason behind every action that is taken.

The prospect of the American Dream destroying an individual rests upon the definition and action of that same individual. What one individual may see as a success in their pursuit of happiness may very well be seen as a failure in another’s. Some believe that the “law which says that a failure in society and in business has no right to live. Unlike the law against incest, the law of success is not administered by stature or church, but is nearly as powerful in its grip upon men” (Benziman, 32). This definition of failure being unacceptable within a society was one that Miller’s father adhered to, as he was never able to overcome his failure in his business. Ironically, it is also the definition that the society of Death of a Salesman believes in as well. Though such a definition should not be used as the only way to determine the components of the American Dream, it is nonetheless one that has mistakenly been characterized as the more acceptable one; that a man is of no worth if he can’t succeed in his goals.

The American Dream, the ultimate ideal of gaining a higher social class and becoming someone significant, is a goal Americans have strived for since the birth of the country. John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men displays the sinister nature of this goal through a multitude of the characters’ desperate attempts to achieve their dreams. Set during the Great Depression, this novella follows George and Lennie, two migrant workers, in their endeavour to fulfill their lifelong dream of owning their own property and “[living] off the fatta the land” (Steinbeck 242). The two men get jobs at a ranch in California in order to earn enough money to live their dream, but face several struggles, mainly Lennie’s disabilities. In the end of the story, George kills Lennie and, in doing so, kills their dream portraying the eventual failure of the American Dream. Through the struggles of George, Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Crooks, John Steinbeck portrays how the American Dream destroys their lives and their hope for their futures.