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The american dream in american literature
The american dream in american literature
The american dream in american literature
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Fourthly, Willy and his son Biff love for America may seem “crazy”, because they are failures. Willy absolutely missed series of opportunities and failed to make the drive to his business appointment. His boss fired him and no job willing to hire him. This unable him to make any money for his family. Willy shows that he loves the American dream, because he inspire his son Biff to ascend to achieve something. Willy wants Biff to do much better than. He’s tried of him collecting his briefcase when he arrives home. Willy ruminates Biff as a wealthy man, but Biff does not perceive it. Biff tendency of American dream is entirely different than Willy perception.
A white picket fence surrounds the tangible icons of the American Dreams in the middle 1900's: a mortgage, an automobile, a kitchen appliance paid for on the monthly - installment - plan, and a silver trophy representative of high school football triumph. A pathetic tale examining the consequences of man's harmartias, Arthur Miller's "Death of A Salesman" satisfies many, but not all, of the essential elements of a tragedy. Reality peels away the thin layers of Willy Loman's American Dream; a dream built on a lifetime of poor choices and false values.
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.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman focuses on the American Dream, or at least Willie Loman’s version of it. *Willie is a salesman who is down on his luck. He "bought into" the belief in the American Dream, and much of the hardship in his life was a result. *Many people believe in the American Dream and its role in shaping people’s success. Willy could have been successful, but something went wrong. He raised his sons to believe in the American Dream, and neither of them turned out to be successful either.
The United States of America is perceived to be the nation where everyone has the chance to succeed, an ethos which has been dubbed the American Dream. The Dream, which is truly a dream, is that every man, woman, and child can succeed if they work hard enough. Yet, in Death of a Salesman the American Dream is dead. The debate as to whether or not the American Dream is functioning has always been based on the perspective of whoever is judging it. In essence, a person’s social, political, and economic situation shapes their decisions as to whether or not it is alive and well. First premiered in 1949 , Death of a Salesman negatively demonstrates the illusive American Dream, its affects on society, and how it can mislead and destroy an individual.
“Death of a Salesman” Arthur Miller is an incredible but yet sad story of a family who suffers from the downfall of the American dream. Throughout the play we see everything from a depressed family to a happy hopeful household dreaming of success. Now when we think of peoples actions when times are hard there can be some desperate things that individuals do. So let’s dig a little deeper into the perceptions and thoughts of the individuals involved in this play. Let’s take a look into the behaviors and motivations of the struggling family as they try to live the “American Dream”.
Miller uses the misapplication and failure of the "American Dream" to captivate the audience and make them feel sorrow for both Willy and Biff Loman. It is heart breaking to see this sixty-year-old man finally come to the realization that he is really not who he thought he was. In addition to that, the fact is pointed out by his own son, who turns out to be wiser than him. Unlike Willy, Biff finds out who he is, and that the American Dream is not for everyone.
The pursuit of the American dream can inspire ambition. It can transform a person and cause him to become motivated and hard-working, with high standards and morals. Or, it can tear a person down, to the point of near insanity that results from the wild, hopeless chase after the dream. This is what occurs to Biff, Happy, and Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's book Death of a Salesman. In the play, Willy Loman is a traveling salesman whose main ambition in life is wealth and success, neither of which he achieves. Corrupted by their father, Biff and Happy also can not attain success. Biff fails to find a steady, high-paying job even though he's 30, and he hates the business world, preferring instead to live on a farm in California. Happy, on the other hand, has a fairly well-paying, steady job, but still suffers from emptiness and a sense of being lost, a void which he fills by sleeping around with many women, some of whom are even married or engaged. Thus, Miller uses motifs, such as deception, theft, and hallucination, to show the pathology that all three of these characters experience in the wake of the American dream.
Willy and Linda try to build their own version of the American dream with their family. In high school, Biff was the all-American boy as the captain of the football team. True to the myth of the all-American boy, girls and admiring friends surrounded him. Willy and Linda's lives are full of monthly payments on possessions that symbolize that dream: a car, a home, and household appliances. The proliferation of monthly payments allowed families with modest incomes to h...
What specific ills does Miller diagnose in the America Dream? Discuss with reference to “Death of a Salesman”.
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.
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
The American Dream in today’s society is a concept that differs for each individual. For some, it is to be rich and to have a financially stable career. For others, it may be to start a family that will carry on a legacy for generations. Even though for each this may be personalized, a constant connection that the American Dream has for all is the search for happiness. In the play Death of a Salesman written by Arthur Miller, the American Dream is a theme that’s interpretation varies from character to character. Thus, the life paths of Willy, Biff, and Bernard are all a result of their differences in opinions towards how to achieve the American Dream.
The American dream described in the play can be achievable, but Willy’s ways of achieving that American dream leads him to a failure. According to an article published by the South Atlantic Modern Language Association, the play builds the idea of American dream that it is harmful and immoral as long as it is based on selfishness and greediness. However, the dream us described realistic when it is achieved on values that ar...
In today’s society the term “American Dream” is perceived as being successful and usually that’s associated with being rich or financially sound. People follow this idea their entire life and usually never stop to think if they are happy on this road to success. Most will live through thick and thin with this idealization of the “American Dream” usually leading to unhappiness, depression and even suicide. The individual is confused by society’s portrayal of the individuals who have supposedly reached the nirvana of the “American Dream”. In the play “Death of a Salesman” Willy thinks that if a person has the right personality and he is well liked it’s easy to achieve success rather than hard work and innovation. This is seen when Willy is only concerned how Biff’s class mates reacted to his joke of the teachers lisp. Willy’s dream of success for his son Biff who was very well liked in High School never actually became anything. Biff turned into a drifter and a ranch worker. In the play “Seize the Day” Tommy who is financially unstable also pursues the idea of getting to the “American Dream” and becoming wealthy. He foolishly invests his last seven hundred dollars and eventually loses it leaving him broke and out of work. In both plays following the American Dream is followed in different characters and in both the characters are far away from it leaving them broke and forgotten by almost everyone.
Willy is a salesman. Willy believes that success comes from being well liked and popular and has tried desperately to instill his notions to his two boys Happy and Biff, Willy's biggest aspirations in life. His wife Linda is extremely supportive and is Willy's only connection to reality. While raising his boys and trying to instill his "American Dream", he fails to teach them any sense of morality, leading them down to what he feels is the wrong path. At one point, he defended Biff for stealing just because he was an amazing football player.