THE AMERICAN DREAM AND DEATH OF A SALESMAN

“Death of a Salesman tells nearly in poetic terms and way, the tragic story of a common man

Willy Loman who is much similar to Miller's father, and he is a travelling salesman who

devoted his life to the search for success and happiness. His wrong philosophy is the reason

for the bad situation of his family. In a series of scenes, brightly dramatized by the dramatist,

willy Loman relives his experiences. At the end he commits suicide because of the falseness

of American Dream, the dream of success.”...............Ronald

“The American Dream” is a national belief of the United States. The term was first coined by

historian James Turslow Adams in his “The Epic Of America”(1931). James Adams defined

the “American Dream” as the pursuit “of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens

of every rank which is the greatest contribution we have as yet made to the thought and

welfare of the world.” According to the American Dream America is a land of endless

opportunity and anyone, irrespective of his colour, cast, or creed can attain their own level of

success. The American Dream requires hard work, determination and risk taking. This vision

evinced from the values demonstrated in Thomas Jefferson's “The Declaration of

Independence”(1776) which proclaims that “all men are created equal” and that they are

“endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights” including “Life, Liberty and the

pursuit of happiness.” So Americans were looking for renewing their lives and establishing a

better future. However, after the Second World War this national belief led to extreme focus

on materialism, perfection and fantasy on the expense of humanitarian and realistic value. The

materialism that sprung from the post-war economy, blurred the original notion of the

American Dream. It became a symbol of individual financial success and independence.

Arthur Miller's “Death of a Salesman” provides a vivid commentary on the American Dream.

In this play, Miller criticizes the American materialism, and the self delusion with which people
are afflicted with. Miller tries to draw a line between illusion and reality in the American

Dream. However, Miller's critique is not directed at the American Dream as such; rather it

targets the deformed version of American Dream that some people have. This is essentially

provided through the character of Willy Loman, whose downfall was mainly because of his

illusion and quest for perfection.

The play revolves around Willy Loman, a salesman in his sixties, works on commission who

fails to adapt to the changing atmosphere of business after the world war. According to willy,

the American Dream is the ability to become rich, prosperous, and well-known by outward

lustre. Before “Death of a Salesman” was written, American society was marked by

individualism. As Jim Cullen says: “The American society celebrated people who, with

nothing but pluck and ingenuity, created financial empires that towered over the national

imagination.” But after the war there was a considerable shift from individualism to social

conformity. Willy is a kind of person who, rather than coping with these changes, sticks to the

conventional model of businessman represented in his father. He believes that it is charisma

and personality, not hard work and innovation is the key to success. Time and again, he has put

considerable amount of importance on the looks and personality of his sons. When Biff fails in

Maths, he shouts at Linda and says “I don't want my sons to be bookworms.” Of course Willy's

version of American Dream does not pan out. As we see in the play that Willy gets instantly

fired when he tries to use “personality” to ask his boss Howard for a raise. He wanted his elder

son Biff to be a New Man of America as he was a good athlete in his school days. But after all

these years, Biff is kind of up in the air. Willy's blind faith in the stunted version of American

Dream eventually leads to his rapid psychological disorder when he is unable to accept the

disparity between the original American Dream and his own deformed version of American

Dream. Brook Atkinson in a review in The New York Times talks about Willy that: “Willy has

always believed in something that is unsound. He has assumed that success comes to those
who are well-liked as he puts it. He does not seem to be much concerned about the quality

of the product he is selling. His customers buy, he thinks, because they like him. Because he

is hale and hearty and a good man with jokes.”

Brook also states that Willy's quest for the American Dream led to his failure because

throughout his life , he pursues the illusion of the American Dream and not the reality of it.

The result of his blind faith towards the American Dream leads to his psychological decline

and suicide. He is unable to accept the gap between the American Dream and his own successes

in life.

Willy does not have any pragmatic approach in his life; rather he lives in an illusory world. His

dream is personified by two characters in the play. One is Dave Singleman, a mythic salesman

who could travel anywhere and place order by his phone and when he died at the age of 84,

people from all over the world came to his funeral. Dave Singleman presents the epitome of

success as well as the embodiment of the American Dream. He had a sort of personality that

inspired Willy and Willy pursued the job of salesman for this. Willy's illusory world kept

crashing with the world of reality. He wanted to have his own business. He once told his sons

“Tell you a secret boys. Don't breathe it to a soul. Someday I'll have my own business.” But

he is unable to achieve his dream as it is indicated by his speech to Linda: “ My god, if business

don't pick up I don't know what I am gonna do.” There is an abundance of peer pressure in

the play. Willy wanted to be liked by everyone, and as a result of that, he was miserable when

he discovered his lack of friends. He felt that an important part of being successful was to be

surrounded by people and to have everyone love you. He thought that if he was unpopular, he

was a failure in life. All of the pressure that society was continuously piling up on Willy to be

liked contributed to his downfall. Death of a Salesman also projects the false image of

happiness. Society tries to teach that if people are rich and well-liked, they will be happy.

Because of this, Willy thought that money would make him happy. He never bothered to try to
be happy with what he had, he just tried to get more things to make him feel happy. If he had

realized other opportunities, like the job offer from Charley, he might have been happy.

However, he saw the image of happiness that society was trying to portray, and he continued

to work for that, and only that. Willy thought that material things would make him happy,

because that is what society wanted him to think. This is in sharp contrast to the American

Dream’s notion of a society which is free to pursue its own form of happiness and God given

rights.

In this regard the play provides two models of success-Willy's brother Ben and Willy's

neighbour Charlie. Ben is an embodiment of the American Dream. What is most peculiar about

Ben is that his character combines past values as well as manifestations of modern tendencies.

Ben's understanding of futility in rejecting modern requirements is reflected in his advice to

Biff as he says “Never fight with a stranger boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way.”

But willy never understands this point. He sticks to his notion of individualism and quick

success. On the other hand Charlie is a symbol of reason and logic. He continuously advices

Willy for the betterment of him and his children. But Willy is so obstinate and Willy's rejection

of those advices comes to him as a part of a competition that he feels between them. In the

words of Gardener : “Willy’s acceptance would have been tantamount to admitting that

Charlie's philosophy had proved to be the right one, and Willy simply isn't big enough a man

to make such admission.”

CONCLUSION

It should be noted that Miller's criticism of the American Dream comes as a part of his larger

commentary on social changes. He shows how technology, advancement and capitalism may

change human values. The American Dream is a part of this values that has been changed

because of these social changes. In a nutshell, Miller's critique is not directed to the American
Dream; rather Miller directs his criticism at the dehumanization of people. He goes against the

idea that social changes, change human values. He also goes against greed. Actually it is greed

that marked the doomsday of Willy' life. If he had a better dream, he could have been

succeeded. Ultimately Miller is trying to say that problem is not with the American Dream,

rather it is the deformed version of it that we try to apply in our life.

REFERANCE

 MILLER, ARTHUR, DEATH OF A SALESMAN (FINGERPRINT CLASSICS)

 MILLER, ARTHUR, TRAGEDY AND COMMON MAN

 “AMERICAN DREAM” – THEN AND NOW

(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sutori.com/stor

y/the-american-dream-then-and-now--

dC8DvpqfA9jdKTmgVjF3nF8F&ved=2ahUKEwinnK6NvbblAhUZfH0KHcusBDwQFj

AAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw0oPjoZnm4QM0NyfK_hlOVc)

 AMERICAN DREAM – ILLUSION, PROMISE, OR REALITY

(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.achieve.org/file

s/American_Dream__Reality__Promise_or_Illusion_.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjl1aCOvrblAh

Ux6XMBHVsCCgMQFjAPegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw0RnVTpJGYq2NGmwDbEp3NP

&cshid=1571974858106)

 MAJOR THEMES IN DEATH OF A SALESMAN

(https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.cliffsnotes.com/

literature/d/death-of-a-salesman/critical-essays/major-themes-in-death-of-a-

salesman&ved=2ahUKEwi36sbfv7blAhUVQH0KHQlbA40QFjACegQIEBAM&usg=A

OvVaw2BUtg-J8gGovHKhi_joSyV)
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