Death Of A Salesman American Dream Essay

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The play “Death of a Salesman” was written by Arthur Miller. The play is based on the life story of the Lowman family. The plot of the story is surrounding the father of the family, Willy Lowman. Willy Lowman believes in his own version of what the “American dream” should be. In the play, you will see that Willy will try and fail at fulfilling his idea of the American dream. The American dream can differ from person to person. The different goals of a persons dream might be either wealth, power, family, or social status. The main goal of people striving for the American dream entails acquiring wealth. With wealth, people also strive for power and an increase in social status. What is Willy Lowman’s American dream? Will he acquire money, power, …show more content…

Willy wanted to be like his older brother Ben, who was a very wealthy man. Willy, you could say idolized him for his great wealth, and social status. Willy aspired to have more money than his brother, so that he could say that he made it. Willy, however will never achieve this wealth, due to getting fired from his job. An article states, “To be rich for is thus to be ‘free’ in the two senses above, with the added self-confidence of being admired, a model for other.” (Shockley) People might observe that phrase reflects what Willy thought about when he thought of being wealthy. The reality is that not everyone with the American dream will feel self-confidence in being a model for others, but instead want to do it their own way. The second point of Willy’s dream was gaining social status. Social status was just as important to Willy as having wealth. Willy thought that everywhere he traveled for work everyone knew him. Willy did not realize that no one knew who he was and it was all something made up in his head. He even told his family that everyone flocked to him when he pulled up in the streets and begged to helped him right and left with his luggage. Willy believed that wealth and status go hand and hand. Therefore, social status in every town that Willy visited meant that he was achieving his own version of the American

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