The Destruction of Willy Lowman's American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman

In Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman readers are introduced to Willy, an ambitious salesman who just can't seem to get a break despite his drive. Willy's life is marked by failure, and an almost stubborn attachment to the idea of striking it big. Willy's life is ended by his own hands, the result of a broken dream that lead to a broken spirit. In many senses Willy represents the idea of the "everyman", the average working class man trying to get ahead, this is reflected in his attachment to the achievement of more wealth, and his idealized vision of how to get there the "American dream." However, Willy can be seen to represent more that just the average man, and it can be argued that Willy's hamartia is the hamartia of capitalism itself. It can be seen that Willy represents the everyman by looking at and examining his dreams, and drive to attain wealth at any cost. It becomes obvious that Willy has internalized many of the problems of capitalism by looking at his weaknesses: his superficiality, his jealously, and his lost of integrity

Willy represents the everyman because he harbors dreams of wealth, of making a good life for him and his family this dream shared by many average Americans. Today in America lives are lived to get off better financially, evidence of this is the plethora and popularity of "get rich quick" schemes. You can see the presence of this dream in Willy by how he relates to his children, and defends his position when confronted by the emphasis he puts on money, "I simply asked him if he was making any money. Is that a criticism?" (Act 1 Part 1 p 5). This dream is also reflected in the way Willy clings to his wealthy brother Ben, and presses him to stay when he comes to visit. Willy's desire to achi...

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...ur modern day society. Look at the emphasis on status in the media, think about the popular mantra "keeping up with the Jones", and think about the idea that it's the "nice guys who finishes last." Indeed because of the American dream our society has the same problems as Willy, but hopefully not the same fate.

With Death of a Salesman Miller paints the portrait of a man who is ultimately killed by the one thing that kept him going-the will to get more. This is a lesson that should be well learned, and we should all head it. Death of a Salesman is perhaps a warning sent to us all that we must get our priorities back in line. Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. Death of A Salesman, New York: Penguin Books, 1976