Salesman American Dream

1348 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Character of Willy Loman in Death of Salesman

What is true meaning to be successful? In America, many people see success in earning good money and fulfilling their dreams, while many others defined happiness in their lives as a success. Everybody has dream to have opulent comfort of limonene, but it is not easy to chase for a high standard American dream and achieved it. There is more in life than earning money and being well-known. It is about being happy, proud, and secure about oneself. Like many other writers, Arthur Miller successfully represented the theme of the American dream in his play “death of a salesman”. In this play, Miller shows how ambitions of average family to achieve higher dreams. Throughout the play, there is major thought difference between two characters, Biff and …show more content…

Throughout his life, Biff values the truth and compelled the truth about himself. When Happy insists Biff to tell lies about Oliver’s meeting, he said “listen, will you let me out of it, will you let me out of it. I can’t talk to him” (Miller 634). He cannot go against the truth and he tries to tell the truth about what actually happened at Oliver’s place. Even though Happy tries to hold him back from not telling the truth, he finally reveals the truth and tell how he feels about it to Willy Loman. When Willy asked why he went there, he said “why did I go? Why did I go? Look at you! Look what’s become of you!” (Miller 635). Furthermore, Biff is the only member who bring the truth of whole family at the end of the play. He said “And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That’s whose fault it is!” (Miller 640). He told his father that his failure is ultimately related to him and he is the one only one who raised him with falsie disillusion. Neither Willy nor anyone else face the facts until the last 24 hours of Willy’s life. The truth had a devastating effect on Loman’s family (Campo

Show More
Related

  • Willy Pride Quotes

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    “BIFF [crying, broken]: Will you let me go for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?” By saying this Biff tries to address his family on the giant rift between Willy’s dreams for him and reality. He tries to explain that all he wants is for Willy to let go of those dreams and high standards he has set for him so he can create his own reality rather than fulfill his father's dream. Willy's dreams for Biff were very unrealistic for the reality of his situation,which caused him to fill unsuccessful and push himself away from his father. The reason Willy wanted his children to do so well and had such big dreams for them was because he wasn't able to achieve the dream and had a fear he had failed and so he wanted to force his dream to be fulfilled by his children. Therefore, due to Willy’s wildly unrealistic amount of pride, causing him to make poor decisions, betray his family by having a mistress and finally his unrealistic dreams for his sons, he paved his way towards his failure and his deep fear of isolation and

    Read More

  • Themes In All My Miller's Death Of A Salesman?

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Biff Loman is flawed, he cannot hold down a job, he steals from all of his employers, and he even went to jail for three mouths. The deal with Biff is that he is Willy 's oldest son and the one whom Willy seems to be more concerned with than Happy. Biff caught his dad cheating on his mom this seems to be the thing that cause him to become a wonder working on ranches in the West. Happy Loman is Biff’s younger brother who is almost an exact copy of his father Willy Loman. Though Happy is relatively successful in his job, he has his dad 's very unrealistic self-confidence and his imposing dreams about getting rich quick. Happy always-felt second best has more of a desire to please his father. Despite his respectable accomplishments in business and the numerous women, he had slept with in his life like his bosses’ wife he did it three times to other people that are above him. Happy is extremely lonely because he wants to settle down with a good woman. . Just as the melancholiest

    Read More

  • Self Deception In Willy Loman

    1601 Words  | 4 Pages

    Biff never kept a steady job during his young adult life, and did not possess a healthy relationship with anyone that was in his life. As the play progresses the reader sees how much Biff becomes more self- aware. An online source states, “Unlike the other members of his family, Biff grows to recognize that he and his family members consistently deceive themselves, and he fights to escape the vicious cycles of lies.” When Biff returns home it becomes a struggle to keep a healthy relationship with his parents. Once Willy and Biff decide together that Biff will go and ask Bill Oliver for a loan is when the differences between the two characters are truly seen. Biff accepts reality for the first time in his life, and realizes how ridiculous it is to ask Bill Oliver for a loan, when he barely knows the man and worked for him about ten years ago. When Biff meets up with Willy after the ‘meeting’ Biff is talking to his Father and says, “Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!” This quote reveals that Biff recently has just experienced an epiphany, and realizes that what he was doing was making no sense. Biff is escaping the self- deception he was caught in with the rest of his

    Read More

  • Biff Loman Analytical Essay

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    He realized what he was doing was for value, and not happiness. Biff realized he dug himself too big of a hole to get out of, and his hope was lost. Biff admits to his father Willy, telling him, “Pop, I’m nothing! I’m nothing, Pop. There's no spite in it anymore. I’m just what I am, that's all.” (132-133) As this was said, it came to the reader’s eyes that Biff finally realized all of the mistakes he has been making and that had accepted his failure in life, calling himself a, “nothing.” Not only did Biff accept himself as a failure, he always destroyed his confidence as he admits that he is just average and nothing special. Biff knew he was just an ordinary man, who would never achieve, the true, American Dream. Biff explains to Willy stating, “Pop! I’m a dime a dozen...!” (132), Biff also explains to Willy that, “I am not a leader of men.... I tried seven state's and couldn't raise it. A buck an hour!” (132) Biff completely demoralizes himself as a human and accepts that he is just average, and he can no longer change

    Read More

  • The Character of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    Willy is a multi-faceted character which Miller has portrayed a deep problem with sociological and psychological causes and done so with disturbing reality.  In another time or another place Willy might have been successful and kept his Sanity, but as he grew up, society's values changed and he was left out in the cold.  His foolish pride, bad judgment and his disloyalty are also at fault for his tragic end and the fact that he did not die the death of a salesman.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis in Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    Biff is home for a visit and is talking with his brother, Happy in their room just as they did when they were young boys. Willy has come home prematurely from a business trip and is downstairs when the boys overhear him talking to himself in a sort of quasi-reality. In the meantime, the two boys discuss the past. It is interesting here that the roles of the two boys with respect to each other seem to have reversed. Happy was the shy one growing up and Biff had all the courage and self-confidence. Now, Biff appears to have been beaten down by life and is on the brink of the se...

    Read More

  • Man vs. Himself: Betrayal and Abandonment Shown in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    Willy first experiences abandonment through the actions of his brother, Ben Loman. In the first act, Willy sees Ben in his dream, “walking away down some open road; I was going to find father in Alaska…” (Miller 1575). Willy continues a discussion with his brother in which Ben lies and jokingly admits going to Africa. Willy regrets not going with Ben to Africa, because that is where Ben became rich. Because he was not as successful as his brother, Willy views Ben’s going to Africa as a betrayal.

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman Willy Character Analysis

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    Interactions like these show the audience that Willy is perfectly comfortable with lying to anyone and everyone around him and that Biff has been taught to lie comfortably by his father. For instance, as Howard is firing Willy, who is much older than him, he says “But where am I going to put you, kid. No, but it’s a business, kid.

    Read More

  • Biff And Happy In Death Of A Salesman Research Paper

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    You phony little fake! You fake!"   During his adult life, Biff drifted from job to job. Willy sees Biff as an underachiever, whereas Biff sees himself trapped by Willy's flamboyant fantasies. After his moment of realization while waiting in Bill Oliver's office, Biff begins to realize that his life up till now has been a complete sham; he no longer wants to pretend to be something he`s not.

    Read More

  • Identity Crisis in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Willy Loman has surrendered the life of himself and his sons to a dream of success, while this dream is not particularly reprehensible, it is nevertheless unsuitable for him and can only be kept alive at the expense of his selfhood. Because Willy does not know himself, his ambitions ?are based on false conceptions of one?s talents and capacities? (Eisenger 331). He is incapable of viewing himself and the world as they truly are, and will sacrifice his existence rather than the ideal he has relied on. His dreams ?may provide a momentary respite from a harsh reality,? but are more devastating over time and result in disillusion (Abbotson 47). Willy desires to meet the demands he believes society dictates: American determination for wealth and renown??an almost virtuous pursuit? (Abbotson 48). He is torn between two contradictory lifestyles: the agrarian life that his father led and suburban city life. He genuinely cannot tolerate the latter, demonstrated in his constant dissatisfied grumbling: the apartments that restrict him??Bricks and windows, windows and bricks? (Miller 17). Not to mention the streets ?lined with cars,? the absence of fresh air, the grass that ?don?t grow any more,? and the demise of the ?two beautiful elm trees? that once grew in his back yard (Miller 17). Willy prefers to dr...

    Read More

  • Inner Conflict in Death of a Salesman

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Willy was young, he had met a man named Dave Singleman who was so well-liked that he was able to make a living simply by staying in his hotel room and telephoning buyers. When Dave Singleman died, buyers and salesmen from all over the country came to his funeral. This is what Willy has been trying to emulate his entire life. Willy's need to feel well-liked is so strong that he often makes up lies about his popularity and success. At times, Willy even believes these lies himself. At one point in the play, Willy tells his family of how well-liked he is in all of his towns and how vital he is to New England. Later, however, he tells Linda that no one remembers him and that the people laugh at him behind his back. As this demonstrates, Willy's need to feel well-liked also causes him to become intensely paranoid. When his son, Biff, for example, is trying to explain why he cannot become successful, Willy believes that Biff is just trying to spite him. Unfortunately, Willy never realizes that his values are flawed. As Biff points out at the end of the play, "he had the wrong dreams."

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman Analysis

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    Moseley, Merritt. "The American Dream in Arthur Miller 's Death of a Salesman." In Bloom, Harold, ed. The American Dream, Bloom 's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2009. Bloom 's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 30 Nov. 2015

    Read More

  • Willy Loman In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Willy is never shown as someone with good communicative skills which leads him to make many errors that make his life so tragic. Constantly remembering his past, Willy displays how he is stuck in the past and is not able to move on, as well as showing regret which causes his misery. A main reason for Willy’s death is due to his lack of confidence, that greatly affects him. These are all unfortunately, symptoms of depression and suicide. Many victims have many regrets in their life and are so stuck on the past that they don’t enjoy the present.

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman Critical Analysis

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    WILLY: [with pity and resolve.] I’ll see him in the morning; I’ll have a nice talk with him. I’ll get him a job selling. He could be big in no time. My God! (Act 1)

    Read More

  • The Devastating Impact of the American Dream In Death Of A Salesman

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

More about Salesman American Dream

Open Document