Death of a Salesman

A detailed Summary of Death of a Salesman


The famous American rapper, Tupac Shakur, was once quoted as expressing the all too typical false hope many Americans possess: "Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real." Arthur Miller challenges his audience by strongly contradicting this statement through his play, Death of a Salesman. He uses models of success and failure, in his characters' lives, to show that though the American Dream is possible irregularly through luck and often though hard work, it is unrealistic, full of false hopes, and ultimately ends in utter failure when one is unable to keep things in perspective.

Ben is an example of the minute portion of the population who are successful without much work. He is therefore living the American Dream, primarily through luck. Ben started out poor and ends up acquiring a lot of money. He ends up achieving the goal Willy is striving to reach. Miller allows Ben to explain how he did this by simply saying, "when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich."(42) Ben did not achieve this in an honorable fashion like other characters. This is evident when Ben tells Biff to, "never fight fair with a stranger, bo


In Death of a Salesman, Ben, Charlie, and Bernard have the American Dream become a dream come true. For Happy, Biff, and Willy, having faith in the American dream ends up in brutal disappointment. Miller shows America is sometimes indescribably cruel and at other times very compassionate. The American Dream is just a dream and not a reality. Nevertheless, it is up to the individual, whether to work for, or against society.

Miller uses the neighbors, Charlie and Bernard, to contrast Willy and his sons' failures. Charlie is able to achieve prominence by using an entirely different approach. He is able to put things in perspective, recognize what is going on and offers Willy a job. However, Willy takes offense by responding, "don't insult me." (37) Bernard is, living proof of the effectiveness, an affirmation of the proposition that relentless application of one's talents, eve if they are small, pays off. He starts with very little but turns out to be an eminent lawyer. When Biff and Willy are finally forced to face the foul destiny of their lives, he goes to Washington to plead a case before the Supreme Court. Willy is blind to Bernard's talent and under the impression th

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 796
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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