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Analysis of American Dream (150 words)
The concept of the American dream
Critical analysis of the death of a salesman
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Recommended: Analysis of American Dream (150 words)
It has been said the “Death of a Salesman” is a harsh criticism of the American Dream. The idea of the American dream is seen as a chance to go to a country with an empty frontier to be explored, where a man could be whatever he wanted, rather than having to do what his father did. Salesman challenges the effects of the American dream.
One of the central themes of the story is the struggle of each character's pursuit of the American Dream. This can be seen by each of the Loman men following their own versions of that dream.
In the play "Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller creates Willy Loman, the protagonist, to be a salesman. To Willy the American Dream is the ability to achieve success through the appeal of the people. Willy believes that personality is the key to success, and because of this his career begins to collapse as his abilities as a salesman fail to increase. Then when he uses “personality” to get a raise, he gets fired instead. As you can see, Willy’s version of the American Dream never pans out.
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This idea is presented when ben says, “William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!”
Willy is covetous of his brother’s success. Ben’s character signifies that a few people can achieve the “rags to riches” version of the American Dream. This could be what influences Willy’s idea of the American Dream. Willy never saw the amount of work that Ben put in to go from “rags to riches”, thus he just assumes it related to the personality of his brother, and not the hard work and dedication it had.
Biff, Willy’s son, is pulled by two different dreams. One dream is brought forth by the pressure his father puts on him to become part of the business and sales world. Whereas, the other dream involves nature and working with your hands, which is what Biff would really rather
After seeing both his father and brother find success, Willy attempts to prove himself to his family by chasing after his own version of the American dream. Willy grows up in the “wild prosperity of the 1920’s” when rags-to-riches tales inspire everybody, making them believe that “achieving material success [is] God’s intention for humankind (Abbotson, Criticism by Bloom). Willy’s father, a “very great” and “wildhearted man,” made a living traveling and selling flutes, making “more in a week than a man like [Willy] could make in a lifetime” (Miller 34). Even though Willy barely knew his dad, he built him u...
Tensions between Willy and his sons grew stronger after the truth was known about Willy’s actions. Willy is also unable to accept the truth and the reality of the world. He cannot accept Biff not being the magnificent son that Willy hopes to be one day. Willy’s interpretation of the ‘American Dream,’ being that the true reason for success and greatness stems from a well-liked personality and popularity, is also something that he has a misconception about. Likewise, Willy is not able to find the same success at his older age as he did back in his prime.
Miller’s use of personification and symbolism in the book shows the situational irony that surrounds Willy. This highlights the overall message of blind faith towards the American Dream. The major case of irony in the book is Willy’s blind faith in the American Dream. This belief is that if one is well-liked, they will become successful. The truth is actually completely opposite. The real belief is that if one works hard, with no regard to how well liked they are, they will be successful. This relationship is shown between Willy and his neighbor Charley. While Willy believes likability is the only way to success, Charley works hard and does not care how people think of him. Through his hard work, Charley started his own business, and is now very successful. Willy, however, ends up getti...
Willy desires to be a successful salesman, believing it will give him a sense of purpose in life, and he desires the same for his two sons. “I see great things for you kids. I think your troubles are over. But remember, start big and you’ll end big” (Death of a Salesman). Willy’s obsession with his version of the American Dream translates directly to the relationship he has with his children. He believes that if Biff and Happy are ambitious salesman they will be able to attain happiness through money and success. However, Willy’s extreme passion has serious consequences in his relationships. “What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I know who I am!” (Death of a Salesman). Biff’s entire life has been dedicated to living out his father’s version of the American Dream, not his own. When he proclaims to Willy that this is not the life he desires to live, Willy realizes his own failures. As hard as he worked in his life to amount to something, he discovers the small impact he has actually made. “I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground” (Death of a Salesman). Too late in his life did Willy realize all of his hard work would not allow him to achieve his
Most of the story takes place in flashbacks that Willy experiences. Willy believed that he would’ve been able to achieve the American dream, which to him was to become a salesman, specifically similar to Dave Singleman, that could easily sell anything to anybody, if he worked hard enough for it. In the end this proved to not be a successful endeavor, and he dwells on the idea that if in the past he went with his brother to Alaska, he may have come out as successful and rich as he supposedly had. As stated in Cardullo’s reproduction of an essay written by David Mamet, some of Willy’s flashbacks may be inaccurate accounts of the past, as Willy seems to contradict himself, even immediately following something that he says, "I'm very well liked in Hartford. You know, the trouble is, people don't seem to take to me" (Cardullo). This demonstrates that perhaps Willy had no chance of ever reaching the American dream, as he may not have ever had the opportunity to go with his brother, he just thinks that he did.
The United States of America is perceived to be the nation where everyone has the chance to succeed, an ethos which has been dubbed the American Dream. The Dream, which is truly a dream, is that every man, woman, and child can succeed if they work hard enough. Yet, in Death of a Salesman the American Dream is dead. The debate as to whether or not the American Dream is functioning has always been based on the perspective of whoever is judging it. In essence, a person’s social, political, and economic situation shapes their decisions as to whether or not it is alive and well. First premiered in 1949 , Death of a Salesman negatively demonstrates the illusive American Dream, its affects on society, and how it can mislead and destroy an individual.
An American dream is a dream that can only be achieved by passion and hard work towards your goals. People are chasing their dreams of better future for themselves and their children. The author Arthur Miller in Death of a Salesman has displayed a struggle of a common man to achieve the American dream. Willy Loman the protagonist of the play has spent his whole life in chasing the American dream. He was a successful salesman who has got old and unable to travel for his work, and no one at work gives him importance anymore. He is unhappy with his sons Happy and Biff because both of them are not successful in their lives. Moreover, Biff and Happy are also not happy with their father Willy because they don’t want to live a life that Willy wants them to live. The heated discussions of Willy and his older son Biff affect the family and the family starts to fall apart. However, Willy is unable to achieve the American dream and does not want to face the reality that his decisions for himself and his family have lead him to be a failure in the society. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the protagonist Willy Loman spends his whole life to achieve the American Dream by his own perception and denies facing the reality, just like nowadays people are selling themselves and attempting to find success in life.
...y he is so obsessed with trying to attain it. He is the product of his own illusions and of a society that believe that with hard work everything is possible. The reader can understand that Willy’s skewed perspective of the “American Dream” is due to his distortion of his life and the dream that he thinks he lives in everyday.
The first component of the American dream, in Willy’s eyes, is a successful career. Always the dreamer, he attempts to make his mark as a salesman because “selling [is] the greatest career a man [can] want” (1492; Act 2). But when he falls short of his goals, he blames the superficiality of the business world, as evidenced in his thoughts about Bernard. Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you’re going to be five times ahead of him. That’s a good idea.
Willy's goal throughout life was to climb out of his social class. As a salesman, Willy was a failure and he tried desperately to make his sons never end up like him. As a result, he loses his mind and his grasp on reality. Throughout the story, Willy often has flashbacks of the conversations that he and his brother Ben once had and the author intertwines them in past and present very nicely.
The pursuit of the American dream can inspire ambition. It can transform a person and cause him to become motivated and hard-working, with high standards and morals. Or, it can tear a person down, to the point of near insanity that results from the wild, hopeless chase after the dream. This is what occurs to Biff, Happy, and Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's book Death of a Salesman. In the play, Willy Loman is a traveling salesman whose main ambition in life is wealth and success, neither of which he achieves.
Willy Loman equates success as a human being with success in the business world. When Willy was a young man, he heard of a salesman who could "pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, make his living." (81) This salesman is Willy's inspiration; someday to be so respected and so well known that he can still provide for his family, even at an old age. Of course, Willy is no good at being a salesman because his heart isn't in it. The only time Willy puts his heart into anything is when he works with his hands, and his son, Biff, comes to realize this. "There's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made." (138) Willy never comes to the realization that it is not being a salesman that he cares about, but rather being well known and, perhaps more importan...
One major theme in Death of a Salesman is the pursuit of the American dream. Playwright Arthur Miller details main character Willy Loman’s misguided quest of this dream. Death of a Salesman was written in postwar America, when the idea of the American Dream was a way of life. The United States was flourishing economically, and the idea of wealth was the base of the American Dream. Capitalism was alive and well, and by living in a capitalist society, everyone in America was supposed to have a chance to become rich and successful. Miller makes the reader realize this dream is a falsehood, because it doesn’t always work for everyone as planned. In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a prime example of someone trying desperately, yet unsuccessfully, to pursue the false hope of the American Dream, directly resulting from capitalism’s effects.
America has long been known as a land of opportunity. Out of that thinking comes the "American Dream," the idea that anyone can ultimately achieve success, even if he or she began with nothing. In "The Death of a Salesman", Arthur Miller uses the characterization of Willy Loman to represent the failure of his ideal of the American Dream. Willy’s quest for the American Dream leads to his failure because throughout his life he pursues the illusion of the American Dream and not the reality of it. His mindset on perfection, obsession with success, and his constant reminiscence of the past and predictions of the future, all contribute to his defeat in the end.
In the play “Death of a Salesman” the “American Dream” can be seen in almost all of the male characters. The protagonist Willy works his whole life trying to be a salesman although he is good with his hands. Willy believes that if he has charisma he will become prosperous. When he goes to ask for a raise he ironically gets fired. Even th...