Who Is The American Dream In Galia Benziman's Death Of A Salesman

In the article “Success, Law, and the Law of Success: Reevaluating Death of a Salesman’s Treatment of the American dream,” Galia Benziman, a professor at the Open University of Israel, claims that there are two components that define the American dream and that the play shouldn’t be read as if it criticizes the American dream, but rather as an alternative way to define what the American dream is. As such, the play discusses the indignation and degrading control of the American ethics through those that sustain and maintain it. The American Dream defined within Death of a Salesman , as Benziman points out, captures the extremity of the one side of it’s definition; the side of economic gain. However it fails to capture the immaterial and selfless ethics it also symbolizes, such as liberty and

Benizman asserts that there is two sides of Willy’s past felt within his memories; the aspect of feeling he’s done something right, and his constant inferiority, both explain Willy’s understanding of the American Dream, which is if one can’t make a decent income then they are worthless. Both sides are represent through Ben and Charley, as Ben represents the fantasy portion of Willy’s aspirations (since he is represented in memory only), while Charley, on the other hand, represents the realistic version as he is always there to aid Willy in things that he needs. However, Willy is unable to accept either person, as he believes that he will lose the fantasy of his dream, if he chose Ben, or have to face reality, if he chose Charley. Thus even though Willy’s dream was wrong, one can still learn a powerful lesson—a true meaning to an American