“A half century after it was written, Death of a Salesman remains a powerful drama. Its indictment of fundamental American values and the American Dream of material success may seem somewhat tame in today’s age of constant national and individual self-analysis and criticism, but its challenge was quite radical for its time” –SparkNotes
American Literature has been said to be timeless and relatable with its use of “American values and the American Dream of material success.” American Literature reflects the differences between respect between the upper and lower class. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman contribute to the meaning of American literature, with the incorporation of the American dream and female characters. In the desperate chase for the American dream, one can become corrupted and egocentric. The aspects of the novel The Great Gatsby and the play Death of a Salesman demonstrate the slow emotional and social downfall of the protagonists Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman with reference to the American dream and female characters such as Daisy Buchanan and Linda Loman. Both protagonists illustrate the notion of individual sacrifice in order to pursue the American dream.
In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby works to obtain the luxurious components of life. To Gatsby, the American dream consists of financial success and an upper position in society. He spends most of his life trying to achieve the significant, upper social class. He has an outstanding house, a magnificent car, and the best parties in the town. Americans tend to respect the upper class the most because of their high education, luxurious assets, and wealth. Gatsby gained respect after he became rich and prominent in soci...
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...lities of the women.
Although some may claim that American Literature is based on the audience and setting, those two elements do not transition between times. The setting and audience of present time has evolved in a sense that there are certain expectations. It is mainly based on the future and development. The setting has changed as well in terms of geography and people. The cultural allusions of the past may be unknown to today’s audience, therefore it would not pertain significance. American literature should reproduce timeless elements such as themes and gender roles.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Print.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1986. Print.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Death of a Salesman.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 4 Feb. 2011.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8th ed.Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford, 2008. 1908-1972. Print.
Jay Gatsby, who is one of the main characters of the Great Gatsby, is a man with a mysterious background and an unknown personality. He doesn't mention too much about his past except certain fabricated highlights of his life which were designed to impress others. The strange and humorous thing is that he carries articles of evidence that back up most of his lies to prove that he isn't lying. Gatsby is also the kind of man that is used to getting what he wants no matter what the consequences are, causing him to be a very determined man that once has an idea in his mind won't let it go until he accomplishes it. The things that Jay Gatsby values the most is money, to impress others and gain acceptance and most of all, having things his own way. In a manner, these are some of the characteristics of the American Dream and what people strive for when they come to America.
It’s been ingrained into the fabric of society that to be truly happy in life, one needs to be wealthy. The characters in The Great Gatsby show this is not always the case, and that wealth is not always as important as one would believe. Society has always placed a significant importance on being rich, being wealthy. It makes one believe that being wealthy is the only true way to live a happy and fulfilling life. With this in mind, many readers are going to look at the characters in The Great Gatsby, such as Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, and fantasize about one day living the lifestyle that they live. While many characters in The Great Gatsby would appear from the outside to be living the American Dream, it what lies underneath this image of
... Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin, 1996. Print. The. Sherk, James.
A white picket fence surrounds the tangible icons of the American Dreams in the middle 1900's: a mortgage, an automobile, a kitchen appliance paid for on the monthly - installment - plan, and a silver trophy representative of high school football triumph. A pathetic tale examining the consequences of man's harmartias, Arthur Miller's "Death of A Salesman" satisfies many, but not all, of the essential elements of a tragedy. Reality peels away the thin layers of Willy Loman's American Dream; a dream built on a lifetime of poor choices and false values.
Secondly, Gatsby’s intense heroic ambition is paralleled by his high social standing, which Gatsby has worked hard to maintain. This idea is exemplified in the description of Jay Gatsby’s luxurious
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Seventh Edition. X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999
Jay Gatsby’s character is a perfect relation to that idea. Gatsby 's determination of having everything he desires leads him to achieve his childhood dreams of becoming a wealthy man of status is directly related to people back in the 1920’s that had determination of becoming someone with superiority and class. Also, Gatsby 's’ hope for achieving every aspect of the American dream by bettering everything in his life leads him to hope for his one true love to be his; which can be related back to the American dream in the 1920’s because many people hoped that by putting forth effort and time, eventually their dream would just magically come true for them. One could say that Gatsby was one of the truly lucky ones because he did end up making almost all aspects of his dream come true. Overall, in the end Gatsby had a better life than he had as a boy; he had a more luxurious house, a superior job, and a higher social status. But unfortunately, even at his death, he never fully obtained that strong love that would last through the
" Thus, Gatsby believes that money alone will allow him to enter the upper class. However, the unspoken truth of the "American Dream" is that class mobility requires money and the culture typical of the upper class. Gatsby becomes wealthy, but his lack of this culture prevents him from fulfilling his goal of social mobility. Writer Andrew B. Trigg discusses Gatsby's inability to climb the social ladder: "culture provides a barrier to entering the top echelons of the leisure class" (Trigg.)
In conclusion, The Great Gatsby reveals the carelessness and shallowness of the characters in the upper class. Society is totally corrupted and the character’s lives revolve around the money and extravagant lifestyles. All of the characters are surrounded with expensive and unnecessary itms, which in turn, dulls their dream of actual success. Scott F. Fitzgerald provides a powerful and everlasting message of a corrupt, materialistic society and the effects that it has on the idea of the American dream.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Seventh Edition. X.J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999. 1636-1707.
Miller, Arthur. “Death of a Salesman.” The Norton Introduction to Literature 10. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 495-506.
Murphy, Brenda and Susan C. W. Abbotson. Understanding Death of a Salesman: A Student Handbook to Cases, Issues and Historical Documents. The Greenwood Press “Literature in Context” series, Claudia Durst Johnson, series editor. Westwood, CT, London: 1999.
Miller, Arthur, and Gerald Weales. Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman: Text and Criticism. New York: Viking Press, 1971.
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