Comparing The American Dream In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

The roots of prosperity in America can be found by a dream of starting at the bottom and working your way to the top. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman works his entire life to achieve the prosperity gained from the American Dream, but there are many versions of this dream including being important socially, politically, and economically. Willy's version of the dream involves him getting rich and well-known. He tries to obtain this by working for a company for a long time and through his kids, but this all fails when he kills himself after realizing that he and his kids are failures and the dream was unworthy. All throughout the text, Willy brags about how everyone in the new England area knows his name and will be at his funeral when he dies. This is because “His business dreams are based on the idea of being "well liked." In part he insists on this because of his own self-doubts” (Mosely “The American”). Because of that, he often wishes in vain that he went with his brother Ben to Alaska to obtain riches in what can be assumed as a dishonorable means. Even though he had that chance so long ago, he still has flashbacks to that moment which makes him regret his salesman job.

Will states that "Biff Loman is lost. In the Greatest country in the world... gets lost. And such a hard worker" (Miller 47). This astounds Willy because in his American Dream, someone who works hard should be immensely rewarded. He should have realized that his American Dream was flawed at this point. Consequently, when Willy gets fired he shouts "I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can't pay my insurance!" (Miller 127). Working hard did not get his sons anywhere and working hard at the same company for a while did not get him anywhere