Keywords: death of a salesman american dream, death of a salesman arthur miller

The American dream is a term that was first coined by James Adams in his book The Epic of
America written in 1931. The American dream is a dream of a land where life is better and richer
for everyone else. Where there is opportunity for each according to here ability and
achievements. It its a dream of a social order where man and woman shall be able to the
maximum stature that they are inherently capable of, to which they will be identified by others
for what they are irrespective of the accidental circumstances brought about by birth or social
position. The dream is a national ethos of America where the ideals of democracy are used as a
premise for prosperity and the idea of the dream is rooted in the second sentence of the
declaration of independence which states "all men are created equal and they are endowed by the
creator with certain alienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". This are
deemed to be the foundation of the American dream.

The dream today has become the pursuit of material prosperity that has seen many people
working two jobs to achieve this dream. But have less time to enjoy their prosperity. In America
today the dream is represented by the a ability to buy motor cars and a home(s)- seen as status
symbol that separates the middle class from the poor to which the dream is far from their grasp.
Traditionally Americans have sought to achieve the dream through hard work and saving. But in
the 19th and 20th centuries of industrialization has seen the philosophy being eroded by the
schemes of get rich quick through a variety of seductive and elusive strategies. The major
avenues to achieving the American ream today include large prized television shows, big jack pot
lotteries and compensation lawsuit. Yet to some Americans they see the dream as living a simple
fulfilling life that has less focus on financial gain and materialism.

(b) Death of a Salesman

This is a 1949 play that was written in Arthur miller. It records the life of Willy Loman the main
character who is a traveling sales man and has worked at his dead end job for thirty years without
success. It characterizes tragedy as the down fall of a great man- miller Loman (low man). The
play won the Tony award and the Pulitzer Prize for drama the play has been seen as an attack on
the American dream and it seems to criticize the notion that greatness comes from fame or
personal charm. It also signifies the importance of one knowing himself as a prerequisite to
success. This essay will analyze the meaning of the American dream; for each of the main
characters in "The Death of a Salesman".

AMERICAN DREAM IN THE "DEATH OF A SALESMAN".

Willy Loman, Biff Loman and Happy Loman

He is 60 years old and he has not achieved nor fulfilled the dreams that he had for himself or his
family. They live in a small apartment in New York and his wife has seen his work go
unrewarded over the years. The sales firm that he is working for does not pay him salaries any
longer but pays him commission. Working on these straight commissions has rendered him not
able to bring home enough money to pay the bills. For thirty for years in the firm they have used
him and discarded him. This has lead to Mr. Willy taking his frustration on his family. This has
seen Lucia experiencing the torment that her husband is going through. She has to silently deal
with her husbands outburst and she shares with her husbands longings for success but she can not
bring herself to tell him that those dreams are not possible to achieve at his age. Instead, she
continuous to fan his delusions of success and greatness. The story of will loman shows what
happens when the American dream fails to materialize and subsequently dies. The denial by
Willy loman leads to suffering of himself and his family internally and externally. Willy Loman
saga indicates what happens to an individual when the American dream dies. The denial on the
part of the dreamer usually leads to internal and external suffering. Willy thinks about the missed
opportunities that he has had in his life. Like his brother he could have gone to Africa or Alaska
and come back home with riches at one time he had been offered a chance to be a partner in his
brother's firm but he refused and chose the life that he has. This signifies the modern way that the
American looks at the dream through savings and hard work to which Willy thought he could be
successful in it. Although he ha s a vehicle and a house, Willy shifts the blame on his failure to
succeed on others and himself and denies his role as to why he hasn't achieved his dream. His
lack of fulfillment is as a result of his two sons Happy and Biff who are in there mid 30s but
neither seems to have put there life in order. The death of the American dream in him is seen by
the way the sons are living. Happy a perennial ignored child has immersed himself in the
company of women. He has a steady job but keeps promising his parents that he is going to settle
down and get married bit the contrary is true. He is not going far in business and his goal seems
to be that of sleeping with as many women as possible. On the other hand, Biff was a star
football player in high school and won scholarships to two major universities. He failed in maths
in his senior year and was not allowed to graduate. An attempt to correct the fail in summer was
curtailed by his fathers in fidelity that changed his fathers view and the view of the world. He
became disillusioned and traverses the country jumping from one job to the other toiling on the
farms and trenches and was even jailed once for stealing a suit. He is more likeable than Happy
(to mean the literal happy) but whenever he returns home for a visit, he and his father end up in a
quarrel. The father wants him to make it big but bill seems incapable of taking up a white collar
job. He engages in a monologue where he tells himself that he has always made a point of not
wasting his life but every time he comes back home he inertly knows that he has wasted himself.
(pg 23). He sees himself as failure headed the same road as his father. To him the American
dream is to live a simple, quiet and fulfilling life that has less focus on financial gain and
materialism not the working in a 9-5 office job that emphasizes money, car and a house. His
coming home has resulted into problems being experienced. At the end of the play we see Biff
finally seeing the truth and the realization that he is not a "dime a dozen" nor a great leader of
men" something that infuriates the father. His father's death confirms to him the illusions that his
father was living in, but he is no longer struggling to understand what he wants in life. Both
brothers are in there mid thirties. The life of Willy Loman is full of past regrets and undying
hopes. As he is growing older, he has trouble distinguishing between the reality and illusion. He
is often lost in flashback where the story is mostly told. A clear sign that he is suffering from the
Alzheimer syndrome, to which his family was late in detecting. The flash back is generally
during the summer after Biff's senior year in school when all of the family problems started. He
has had affairs with women where he is caught with Bill during one of his sales trips. Because he
is mental sick and physically wasted, he is continuously trying to kill himself but in public he
portrays himself as a prominent sales man and brags about the cities that he has visited. On page
62 we see him shouting "Call out the name Willy Loman and see what happens! Big shot!" yet
he denies the fact that all those years he has not progressed and that everyone looks at him as a
joke. When his family piece up the attempted suicide they realize that its part of the failure on
him to realizing his dreams-the American dream. Willy Loman is a common man (low man), and
he is used by the author to show that tragedy can also befell the common person. The author has
used the book to criticize the corporate world of America that is notorious for using people and
discarding them when they have become useless. Willy Loman successful neighbor has
continuously offered him a job which he has continuously refused and despite the fact that he has
several options to choose from which can give him a new lease of life he decides to choose
suicide. Willy can not let go off his old scoured dreams. At the end of the play we see is loyal
wife sitting by his grave yard/side where she ca not comprehend why he took his life. Buit Willy
took his life so that he can provide his family with money from the insurance corporation
($20000) which they can use to start a new life. This represents one of the ways that the
American society uses to get rich quick and hence achieve the American dream- through massive
pay out of the insurance compensation lawsuits.

Linda and Charlie.

Linda is Willy's wife while Charlie is Willy's neighbor who has a successful sales firm. The two
are the voice of reason in the play as Linda is the arbiter of peace in the family as she is the
mediator between the sons and the father. The conflict between them is their failure according to
their father to find a good job, settle down (own a house and a car), and have a family. she is the
protector of Willy whom she understands as tired and at the end of his rope-life which is ringing
up a zero to her she views freedom as an escape from debt and the total ownership of the
material and wealth that symbolizes success and stability what in today in America is used to
judge ones attainment of the Americans dream. Willy's obsession on the American dream has
weighed heavily on her living her internally conflicted, she has managed to keep her emotional
stability intact. She foresees the tragic end of her husband with clarity. Charlie has on several
occasions tried to set Willy on the path to success. His successful firm indicates that he has
achieved the American dream. His assessment of Willy's situation is logical and rational. He
recognizes Willy's financial failures and offers him a job although he doesn't like him much.

Bernard and Uncle Ben.

Bernard is Charlie's good son who was a child hood friend of Biff. He was hardworking always
studied and eventually became a successful lawyer. This is another clear example of the
American dream being attained through hard work and maximization of an opportunity basing
on ones capability those results to a better life. Will finds this success difficult to deal with. We
see Bernard arguing a case at the end of the play. Uncle Ben is Willy's dead brother who went to
Africa and made it big in the diamonds mines of Africa. He was rich and successful that showed
him to have attained the American dream.

CONCLUSION

The death of a sales man is an attack on the idea of the American dream, showing that it is not
always successful i.e. it has a darker side. It also shows that common people also suffer from
downfalls which are just as steep as those of people with high status. When people live in denial
and do not realize there role in the failure of their dreams to materialize, it in most cases becomes
detrimental to themselves. Death of the sales man is an antithesis of the happy endings to the
fulfillment of the American dream.