When one hears the term ‘American Dream’, a lot of things may come to mind. Perhaps one sees a white picket fence and a happy family smiling behind it, or cash spilling out of a business man’s pockets. These images of the American Dream may be deemed old-fashioned, but it is hard to argue that its role has not been a huge influence in American culture. In fact, John Shockley even states that the expectations encouraged by the American Dream “still resonate” in the 21st century, especially through the legacies left by Ronald Reagan and works like Death of a Salesman (52). While the term ‘American Dream’ means various things to different people, the American Dream has primarily taken on two different forms: the person trying to establish their …show more content…
In fact, the battle between Linda and Ben over whether or not Willy should pursue his dreams of living in the country, serves as an allegory to the fight between individual desires and the integration of the standardized form of success. fter Willy loses his job, he falls into a hallucination and asks his brother, Ben, for help in wake of his own failure (Miller 1243). In some ways, it is as if Ben serves as “Willy’s invention,” and that Ben himself is an image of what Willy always wanted to be (Cardullo 299). In fact, Ben asks Willy if he would join him up in Alaska, and instead of expressing hesitation, Willy exclaims “God, timberland!” (Miller 1243). The fact that Willy still remains excited at the prospect of heading to the country, even after all the years he has been a salesman, proves that Willy maintains his original …show more content…
That is until Linda appears in the scene, and as soon as she hears Willy is chasing what he had always wanted, Linda insists that he is “doing well enough” as a salesman (Miller 1243). Through this action alone, Linda basically convinces Willy that he should settle for the standards that society has already set up for him; thus, rendering Linda as another brainwashed victim of society’s standards. When Linda expresses her dismay at the idea of Willy abandoning the American Dream, Ben makes it a point to tell Willy that whatever is being built in the city is not something that Willy can lay his hands on (Miller 1244). Through Ben’s statement and the entire course of the aforementioned interactions, Miller effectively calls out the American Dream for its “dangers, costs, and emptiness,” especially seeing that it has completely manipulated Linda and Willy (Shockley 52). Indeed, the American Dream that Willy has been forced to follow his entire life has resulted in not only something intangible, but also something nonexistent in wake of his
Willy pleads for Ben’s advice, and is constantly trying to get his attention, even though Ben has to ‘leave’. Ben is Willy’s older brother who has died. He, unlike Willy, has experienced a lot of success in the selling world. Willy is driven by Ben, and therefore tries to extract the keys to his success. Willy feels neglected when Ben does not speak with him, even though he is merely a hallucination.
In the United States there is an idea many pursue called the American dream, which differs from person to person. The American dream according to americanradioworks.publicradio.org is “a revolutionary notion: each person has the right to pursue happiness, and the freedom to strive for a better life through hard work and fair ambition”. Yet it has been said there is no real definition of American dream, instead it merely proves that it has an unconscious influence in American mentality (Ştiuliuc 1). The American dream is different for each person because everyone yearns for things that will they hope will in return make them happy. Whatever that may be, each person goes through different struggles to obtain what they want. According to Frederic Carpenter, the American dream “has never been defined exactly, and probably never can be. It is both too various and too vague” (3). The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse depicts the different interpretations on what the American dream actually is through the opinions and actions of Hector Esperanza, Efren Mendoza and Mrs. Calhoun.
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...
An additional segment of his common human nature is Willy's self-centeredness. Although one might say that the American Dream is imposed upon him by the society, Willy himself creates his dream. Willy supports this claim when he praises Dave Singleman's career to Howard: "And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want" (Miller 81). His nostalgia for a non-existing future is also proven by the fact that no one else in his environment has a similar, impossible dream: "If he were not wearing the rose colored glasses of the myth of the American Dream, he would see that Charley and his son are successful because of lifelong hard work and not because of the illusions of social popularity and physical appearances" (Spark 11). Surely the false ego and pride predicted to come from his assured success are the bridges that prevents Willy from seeing through his fake dream, pushing him to persuade the rest of his family to worship it along with him.
Willy’s idea that success comes from popularity and wealth is something he just can’t achieve, and he has been lying to himself for so long that he has become delusional. Willy’s dreams of success are inspired by the life of his deceased brother Ben who quickly became a very wealthy man in life. Ben being his hero, bringing Willy to build his own twisted definition to success that is closely related to the classic “American dream”. To Willy, success means wealth, a happy family, big house, popularity, and to be praised. For example, Willy tells his sons “Be liked and you will never want.”-pg 33. It shows that Willy has an obsession with popularity and being considered superior. This shows up in his perception of success. Though despite his best efforts, Willy’s dream has not brought him any good nor happiness, in fact it has made him a monster. He no longer has any sense of reality, and essentially lies his ways through life. In the scene where Happy and Biff take Willy out to dinner, Willy tells them “I was fired, and I’m looking for a little good news to tell your mother, because the woman has waited and the woman has suffered. The gist of it is that I haven’t got a story left in my head Biff. So don’t give me a lecture about facts and aspects. I am not interested. Now what’ve you got to say to me?”-pg 107. This clearly shows that Willy is not only lying to his wife, but also to himself. It seems that despite all the bad experiences he has while trying to chase his dreams,...
In fact, either Ben leaves out the part of the story where he worked tirelessly for four years in the jungle to make his fortune or this is another example of Willy nurturing his fantasies in his own idealized hallucination of Ben. Either way, Willy cannot wake up from the dream world his head is in involving the seemingly effortless success that comes about his brother Ben, nor can he realize that, at least in his world, success is based on more than projecting a good, confident appearance and being well-liked: it involves hard work and effort. And, while he idealizes Ben and raises him to the point of symbolic greatness, he idolizes Dave Singlman (single-man), who, at the age of eight-four, can “go into any city, pick up the phone, and… [make] his living,” because he represents the only solid example of success under Willy’s principle – and even then, Singleman is alone.
Both, ‘Netherland’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ employ male characters who are enamoured by the American Dream. Both Chuck and Willy try to attain their dreams, they are both not content with their lives at present time. Willy seeks the refuge of his past to guide him on how to become a successful businessman and so repetitively reminisces about his successful brother. Whereas, Chuck is driven by passion and determination which is why he dreams vividly of what he can achieve in the future. . Miller is depicting the ‘Everyman’ who has been oppressed by the society he is in; he portrays the false consciousness of a working class man in capitalist society.
In Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman and Edward Albee’s The American Dream, Willy Lowman and Mommy possess the trait of superficiality. Their priorities are to look good and be liked, and this contributes to their misguided paths to reach success. This attribute is one of many societal criticisms pointed out by both authors. Arthur Miller criticizes society for perceiving success as being liked and having good looks. He illustrates society’s perception through Willy, who thinks the keys to success are being popular and attractive. Willy transmits this philosophy to his sons by ignoring their education and personal growth and setting an example that popularity is most important. Edward Albee criticizes society for the same thing. He points out the wrong priorities in life such as emphasizing good looks and the wish to be liked at the expense of deeper ethics and morals. Through Mommy’s incident with the hat, which showed she wanted to be liked, and her problems with her own son’s physical and mental faults, which showed she cared too much for good looks, Albee shows how society is misguided in its methods to achieve success.
...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.
He no longer has a salary, but works on commission. He also has an incorrect view on the American Dream that he won’t let go of. He believes that in order for a man to be successful, he has to earn tons of money. Since he doesn’t earn anything anymore this affects his mentality. Willy is fixated on his incorrect dream and is definite that it is right.
He believes that his sons have to go behind him and they have to work as a salesman because for him being a salesman and being a well-liked is the most important things in the world. He thinks that if you work hard as being a salesman you can achieve all your dreams and you can be a rich man. Although Willy works hard, his dream never comes true and this situation shows that American dream is dead in this play because success is based on
The American Dream, when you hear this, what is the first thing that pops into your mind? Is it the idea of success, money, family, etc.? In Death of a Salesman, we see a definition of the American Dream, we also can compare that definition to that of Miller’s and today’s society. As we compare these two we can see that Willy is indeed a victim of the American Dream.
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.
Willy’s character alone has many flaws which bring about his tragic ending, most of which can be attributed to society. Here, society has created and nurtured Willy’s character, passing its values, morals and dreams onto him. Miller has described society as ‘the condition which suppresses man, perverts the flowing out of his love and creative instinct’, although it is a crucial factor in this tragedy. It is because of this society and environment Willy has been surrounded by that he embodies the ideals of the American Dream. The false ideas of success and happiness that Willy has adopted have been readily handed to him by the materialistic and superficial environment he lives in, works in and fails in. Another perception that Willy had acquired from society is its shallowness, which leads to his infidelity and also losing the trust of his older son, Biff.
They don’t know me anymore.” (Act 2) Willy overpraises the idea of being remembered and is overthinking that even the clients who he sells to have abandoned him. He's absolutely terrified that ultimately he's really alone. Through out the story it is obvious that the salesman has a part of him that clings on to the past. His wife Linda explains to their son about accepting him.