Miller's American Dream
Arthur Miller shows his ideas of the American dream and the downfall of it through his play The Death of a Salesman. Death of a Salesman is a tragedy whose theme is the tarnishing of the American Dream. We, as Americans, have been conditioned to believe that beauty and charisma make up the necessary virtues rather than traits, and that appearances guarantee success. But most of us will go through our lives being ordinary and that's perfectly okay according to most views. It is not okay, however, for Willy Loman, the aging salesman who is the protagonist of Miller's play. Willy wants to have it all and then some. For Willy Loman, morality is not important; material success is personal attractiveness is, and chutzpah equally so. Willy strives to obtain the American Dream by becoming successful in the businesss world. Willy envies people like Ben and Howard who have, in his mind, achieved this American Dream of being successful and wealthy and "well liked" (speech 270). Willy also wants to have a successful family life as a father and husband. Willy Shows this explicitly in a conversation that he remembers having between himself and Biff, where he tells biff how much more of a success h
However the idea of the American Dream from willy's point of view is tarnished in this play. The Idea of being comfortable and contempt with what one has is overwhelmed by Willy's endeavor in becoming rich and well liked wherever he goes and striving to become more like the ideal salesman of Dave Singleman, who at eighty-four years old drummed merchandise thirty-one states by going to his hotel room, putting on his green slippers, pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without everleaving his room made his living... And when (he) saw that (he) realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. (Speech 138) In this play, Miller shows that it is impossible for the average man such as Willly Loman to fulfill the American Dream of having a fulfilling life if all his dreams are overshadowed by his attempts in trying to reach his goals of having everything. Something will always seep through the cracks. In Willy's case he tried to hard to become a success as a salesman and therefore let his wife and children, as well as himself, suffer in the end. Biff said at his funeral "He had all the wrong dreams" (Speech 16) and this is very true. If Willy had paid more attention to what really mattered in life, instead of consuming himself with idealizing a false hope of being lucky lik
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 875
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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