The American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Throughout Death of a Salesman the males of the Loman family cannot distinguish between the reality of the American Dream and the illusion of it. Willy cannot see who Happy and Biff actually are as individuals or himself for that matter. Therefore, Willy and his sons believe that they all know and have what it takes to be a success in life and in business. In actuality the success of both falls very far from the ideal American Dream of their time. In the entirety of this play Willy Loman fights back and forth with reality about his two sons and himself, being how he thinks they should be. He thinks that being well liked by having personal attractiveness is the key to prosperity. Towards the beginning of the play, Willy falls back in time to a place where Biff and Happy were perfect sons. Biff is playing football like Willy wanted him too and Happy trying hard to acquire Willy’s attention at all costs. Willy tends to center himself on Biff and all the potential that he thinks he has. Happy seems to just to get washed out during the play by the constant focus on Biff. In the very beginning of the play where it is set in the present Willy says, “Biff is a lazy bum!” (Miller 1938). Then changing his mind by saying that Biff is lost but is a hard worker and “he’s not lazy” (1938). Willy cannot seem to hold on to the reality that Biff cannot achieve success in his life and forget the illusion that he will fulfill his dreams. Biff states the reality clearly here, “Pop, I’m a dime a dozen and so are you” (2000). Willy cannot seem to turn his life into his dream and comes to terms in the end by taking his life. During the play Biff and Happy talk day after day about their American dream but never quite start the steps to achieve it. They both struggle all their young lives. Biff tries to rebel against Willy in the beginning by failing math and moving out west. Happy, on the other hand tries so very hard to gain the attention of his father for example, by exclaiming, “I’m losing weight, you notice, Pop?” (1947).
Willy, Linda, Biff and Happy are all characters that use self- deception as a way to mentally escape the terrible reality of their lives. As the play progresses, and ends Biff is truly the one and only character that becomes self- aware. At the end of the play Biff accepts the lies his family and him have been living in for years. Biff makes huge changes mentally at the end of the play, which cannot be said for the rest of the Loman family.
The key difference is that Biff is more aware of it than Willy is. Biff realizes that he is not made to work in an office 50 weeks a year to get 2 weeks of vacation; he would prefer to work outside. Also, Willy believes that success is achieved by being well-liked: “Be liked and you will never want” (Miller 33). This is the image Willy wants to teach to his sons. However, no matter how important it is to be well-liked and known in the business world, Willy forgets to take into account the importance of hard-working (Amiro). By doing so, he heads himself, and therefore his sons, to their loss. A simple comparison can be made between Biff and Bernard to illustrate this point. In High School, Biff failed his mathematics class. His first reaction is to go see his teacher to ask him for the missing grades, while Bernard has told him earlier in the school year that he must work harder to pass the course. Maybe that if he has listened to Bernard, he would have been successful. Once on the work place, this hypothesis is confirmed because Bernard his much closer to success than Biff, and even then Willy. Finally, Willy believes that it is important to own a house. The mortgage, as well as the house itself, have a special place in the play. A house reflects one’s attainment, and paying down the mortgage is like an evidence of one’s absolute accomplishment and apogee of success. But the play shows that what
Everyone has a dream. Some choose not to pursue them and some do. Those who do not, tend to be regretful. Those who do seem to always be hardworking and well rounded. In Walt Whitman’s poem, “I can hear America singing”, he wrote how he heard joyful working Americans and noticed the similarities of their personalities and their jobs. In “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck’s writing portrayed his idea of how the workers, George and Lennie’s American dream did not work out for them. His characters are examples of American workers who are not happy with their jobs and unfortunately could not pursue their dreams. Arthur Miller wrote “Death of a Salesman”, to illustrate the hardship, frustration, and depression that go and hand in hand with unfulfilled
Miller's use of lies throughout the book reveals the madness that results from the pursuit of the American dream. Happy habitually lies to others and to himself because he cannot face reality and wants to seem better than he is. When he is at a restaurant with Biff, Happy tries to impress a girl, saying that "at West Point, [people] called [him] Happy" and that he sells champagne (Miller 102). He tries to grab her attention by talking about money and he hopes that he will be more appealing if he claims that he is rich and successful. The American dream is all about money, which Happy lacks, so he pursues the dream in his own way -- by pretending that he is wealthy because he knows that he will never be. When Willy comes into the restaurant, excited to hear about Biff's meeting with Oliver, Happy encourages his brother to lie, saying "[Biff] told [Oliver] my Florida idea" (108). Once again, Happy believes that he will be worthless to his father without money. Therefore, he tries to mask his and Biff's failure with deception, in order to disguise the fact that he has not achieved wealth. Happy learns this behavior when he is a young boy from Willy, who urges Happy to "be careful with those girls, don't make any promises" (27).
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...
Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman follows protagonist Willy Loman in his search to better his and his family’s lives. Throughout Willy Loman’s career, his mind starts to wear down, causing predicaments between his wife, two sons and close friends. Willy’s descent into insanity is slowly but surely is taking its toll on him, his job and his family. They cannot understand why the man they have trusted for support all these years is suddenly losing his mind. Along with his slope into insanity, Willy’s actions become more aggressive and odd as the play goes on. Despite Willy and Biff’s “family feud”, his two sons Happy and Biff truly worry about their father’s transformation, Happy saying: “He just wants you to make good, that’s all. I wanted to talk to you about dad for a long time, Biff. Something’s – happening to him. He – talks to himself” (Miller 21). Willy, as a father, cares about his children but he wishes they would do better. He believes Biff should have been an athlete. According to Harrington, “Even figuratively, Willy is haunted, and particularly in Biff’s failure to achieve success as a sports figure” (108). This haunting is part of what led to Willy’s slow plunge into madness. As Willy’s career in sales fails, he also fails, even failing his family. Heyen adds: “He didn’t have anything of real value to give to his family, or if he did, he didn’t know what it was” (48). His debilitating flashbacks and delusional hallucinations with Uncle Ben cement his horrifying realizations that he has let down his family. Willy Loman blames the economy for his downfall in his career. In one of his more extreme outbursts he exclaims, “There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population is getting out of control. ...
Although the characters are not of noble birth nor possess a heroic nature nor experience a reversal of fortune, many of the elements in "Death of A Salesman" fulfill the criteria of a classic tragedy. The downfall and crisis points in the play are directly linked to the Loman family's combined harmartias, or personal flaws. The Loman's have unrealistic ideas regarding the meaning of success. To Willy, the foundation of success is not education or hard work, but rather "who you know and the smile on your face." Moreover, Willy ridicules the education Bernard has earned, declaring that his sons, Biff and Hap, will get further ahead in the business world because "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked, and you will never want." Willy idolizes two men: his brother, Ben, who walked out of an African jungle a rich man, and an 84-year-old salesman who could "pick a phone in twenty or thirty cities and be remembered and loved, and finally honored by hundred of mourners at his funeral." To Linda, success is paying off a 25...
Death of a Salesman is centered around one man trying to reach the American dream and taking his family along for the ride. The Loman's lives from beginning to end is a troubling story based on trying to become successful, or at least happy. Throughout their lives they encounter many problems and the end result is a tragic death caused by stupidity and the need to succeed. During his life Willy Loman caused his wife great pain by living a life not realizing what he could and couldn't do. Linda lived sad and pathetic days supporting Willy's unreachable goals. Being brought up in this world caused his children to lose their identity and put their futures in jeopardy.
The American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Material happiness provides the ambition behind seeking the "Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman." In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman's determination to live up to his "American Dream" and to seek material happiness only takes his life. What is the "American Dream"? The "American Dream" cannot be defined. I know that my "American Dream" consists of a Porsche, a large house, and a happy family.
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.
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.
Success: Accomplishing Your Dream Completing the "American Dream" is a controversial issue. The American Dream can be defined as having a nice car, maybe two or three of them, having a beautiful, healthy family, making an impact on the world, or even just having extra spending money when the bills are paid. In the play "Death Of A Salesman," by Arthur Miller, the "American Dream" deals with prosperity, status, and being immortalized.
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.
It is evident that Happy only found happiness in pleasing Willy. Even though Willy ignored Happy, his devotion to his father was strong and this is evident because he would stand up to Biff and defend Willy. Happy states: All right, boy. I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He has a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have to come out number-one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him” (Miller, 139). This quote is said at Willy Loman’s grave and Happy says that he will continue his father’s illusions and become the next generations, Willy Loman. Willy always favoured his son Biff, and it turned out that Happy was the son who obeyed his
It is stated by Standage that, “Sandage believes Willy Loman was a success. But the message of the play, he says, is that “if you level off, you have to give up. You might as well not live”” (Baird 25). This is quite ironic because all Willy does is push to be successful and he when he can’t he puts expects his son’s to follow through so he gives up. He constantly reminds them, “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (Miller 67). This is also ironic because Willy is the man who creates personal interest in the business world, but when everyone passes away he is left with nothing but the past to remember. This false reality that Willy creates for Biff brings on the conflicts between the father and son duo due to the fact that Biff fails as a result of the way he was raised. So by the time Biff goes to interview for his first job he thinks that his success will come with no effort