The Illusion of the “American Dream”

In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the audience sees the Loman family’s internal struggle with the failure of their lives. The main antagonists are the protagonists themselves, and their failure to distinguish realistic goals from wild fantasies resulted in their downfall. Symbolizing the common household, the characters reveal to the viewers that the “American Dream” does not guarantee happiness, and that forcing one to pursue it may even lead to depression and sadness. The theme of unfulfilled dreams is prevalent throughout the play because of Willy’s failure at obtaining the American dream, Biff’s desires being restricted because of his father, and Happy’s lack of affection from his dad. Willy Loman’s fruitless yet desperate attempt

Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, wants to live the American dream. He is consumed with his own misguided beliefs regarding success, which causes his life to be similar what Wyoming Senator Craig L. Thomas said about the American Dream: “You stuff Someone into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.” Willy’s obsession with the American Dream, believing that being well liked equates with success, keeps both he and his sons in a state of emotional immaturity. These beliefs causes the American Dream to be a prison. The Loman family’s American Dream becomes their prison, constructed of deception and false pride. They cannot escape their immature behavior of

Despite his son’s popularity in high school, Biff grows up to be a drifter and a ranch-hand. Willy’s own career falters as his sales ability flat-lines. When he tries to use “personality” to ask his boss for a raise, he gets fired instead. Willy’s “definition” of the American Dream is all wrong, due to the way his own sons turned out to be.

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

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

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;

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.

Biff Loman is the son of Linda and Willy Loman. He is both attractive and well liked, but has never been successful at any job he gets because he’s a compulisive theif. He’s never been able to meet his fathers high expections with any job he’s ever done.Biff has adabted most of his fathers traits but none of his own. “I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been” (Miller Act II: 104) Later in the play Biff begins to realize his own reality, that he is nobody just like his father, and that he was not meant to fufill the American Dream. No matter how hard Biff tires to get his father to see that he is ”nothing”, Willy refuses to believe it. Willy held out so much hope for him that he even kills himself so Biff could collect his life

The American dream is something many people from not only outside of our country, but from within all want to one day obtain. The iconic American dream, where you plan on making it big while working and pursuing your goals. Finding a way to support a family and live a common western lifestyle. Death of a Salesman is centered on a man trying to reach the American dream and taking his family along the way with him. The Loman's, from the start of the story till the end have a very concerning lifestyle story. To them, or the husband at least, they are trying to become successful and happy. Throughout their lives they encounter many problems and the end result is a tragic death caused by stupidity and the need to succeed. The Standards of American dream are universal but now, the definition of American dream is totally distorted.

Arthur Miller and John Steinbeck portray the failure and hopelessness of the American dream in the play “Death of a Salesman” and in the novella “Of Mice and Men”. The American Dream is the idea that any man or woman can make his or her own fortune, despite his or her past. The principles of the American dream is hard work and determination it is believed that will ensures success. Through the creation of the main characters of the play and novella Arthur Miller and John Steinbeck show that the American dreams is fraudulent. Arthur Miller shows this through failure and hopelessness of the American dream through the protagonist Willy Loman a leader of the Loman family.

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.

The “American dream” is very difficult to obtain. The goal of obtaining a big home, great education, good job, and a family is something most people wish for but never truly obtain. Life brings many obstacles, both internal and external, and as they arise the handling of them determines ones success or failure with achieving the American dream. Arthur Miller portrays the pitfalls of the American dream in his play Death Of a Salesman through his characters and their development. Each of his characters has their own version of their American dream and they each try to achieve it differently. Along with different methods each character has their own flaws and here lies the pitfalls of the American dream.

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

The Importance of Biff's Role in "Death of a Salesman" The play "Death of a Salesman", by Arthur Miller, follows the life of Willy Loman, a self-deluded salesman who lives in utter denial, always seeking the "American Dream," and constantly falling grossly short of his mark. The member's of his immediate family, Linda, his wife, and his two sons, Biff and Happy, support his role. Of these supportive figures, Biff's character holds the most importance, as Biff lies at the center of Willy's internal conflicts and dreams , and Biff is the only one in the play who seems to achieve any growth. Biff's role is essential to the play because he generates the focus of Willy's conflict for the larger part, his own

Biff the son of Willy in “Death of a Salesman” has the opportunity to follow his dad’s footsteps and go into pursuing the “American Dream” but he has in inner conflict of his dad’s adultery. Biff is also much like his dad and is good with his hands,