Reality Vs. Illusion

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Reality vs. Illusion

In 1938 Arthur Miller began to write plays after he graduated from college. All My Sons was his first successful play that gave him recognition from critics and audiences. He then won a Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for Death of a Salesman and became a very successful playwright of the 1940s and 1950s. His plays are unique in the way his characters use ordinary dialogue and deal with ordinary family problems. Death of a Salesman is a play about the significance and value of the American dream of success. Most of us view the American dream of success as living in the country with a family and a house with a white picket fence. This is why many people came to America. They came with dreams of finding success and being able to live happily with their family and be financially secure. Willy Loman is the man character of a salesman in the Millers play. He is what most people call a tragic hero. He is an old salesman who has been unable to become successful in his life. He is very old, in a dead end job, his sons have not become successful, and he is losing touch with reality. In the end he commits suicide because he realizes that he is worth more dead than alive. Willy fails to realize the reality of his life. He believes in the illusion that he and his sons will one day achieve great success. Arthur Miller uses the theme of reality verses illusion throughout the play, Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman is blinded by the illusion that he and his boys are successful men with great potential. He fails to see the reality of his failures in life as a father and a businessman.

Willy Loman is a hard working salesman who unable to achieve success. He travels all over during the week and is barely able to make enough money to support his family. He has two sons he is very proud of and hopes that they will also be successful. Willy Loman has failed to realize that he is not a successful salesman. He has an illusion of himself as this successful businessman that everybody respects, but in reality he is not respected at all.

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