Death Of A Salesman Essay

1144 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Shattered American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Student’s Name:
Lecturer’s Name:
Course:
Date:
What does Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a salesman, suggest about family relationships and the American Dream?
Death of a Salesman is a tragedy story that narrates the struggles of a middle class family that is residing in Brooklyn, New York city in the 1940. The play attempts to criticize an American society that only focuses on empty materialistic values. Arthur has tried to personify the existing struggle of a community that believes and hopes in the American Dream and a family of a middle class that is attempting to make the dream a reality. From the play, Willy Loman is a protagonist who has been portrayed as spiritless, overworked and depressed. Loman is a working class man; however, he is being disturbed by delusions of sumptuousness. The essay aims to show what the play suggests regarding family relationships and the American Dream. …show more content…

The play begins by Loman coming back from work due to a business trip to England. He informs his wife that he has been daydreaming while he was drifting and driving off the road. From the start, he appears spiritless, worn out and tired and his wife appears to be concerned and worried about this situation. Loman’s character symbolizes the plight of middle class, especially, one who is working in the New York City. His life experience evokes the feelings of sadness and pity from the audience. The audience is likely to sympathize with him because he has been portrayed as a good guy who has been caught up in a cycle, where he is only trying to keep up with a society that embraces modern culture of capitalism. As the story line proceeds, it is obvious that Willy is not a good guy and we are able to see that he is rather a selfish guy, who is not able to account for his own actions which eventually lead into his

Show More
Related

  • Death Of A Salesman And The Piano Lesson Essay

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    The phenomenon of the American Dream has been engraved into the American culture since perhaps the beginning of post-revolutionary America itself. The classic belief that if you work hard, you would be able to reap the material benefits of what you sowed, at least enough to live comfortably is a myth that has been propagated in many literary works, deconstructed in many American literary works as a mere myth. And in Arthur Miller’s The Death of a Salesman and August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, we see such deconstruction of the American Dream take place through both plays’ showcasing of the many complexities of the American life, complexities that are not taken into consideration with the black-and-white narrowing of the American Dream. While hard work does make up a part of the equation, it does not make up the entire equation of a comfortable lifestyle. That manifestation of the many facets of the American Dream is shown in both Miller’s The Death of a Salesman and Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The American dream is, in part, responsible for a great deal of crime and violence because people feel that the country owes them not only a living but a good living.” Said David Abrahansen. This is true and appropriate in the case of Willy Loman, and his son Biff Loman. Both are eager to obtain their American dream, even though both have completely different views of what that dream should be. The play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller shows the typical lives of typical Americans in the 1940’s. Miller’s choice of a salesman to be the main character in this play was not a coincidence, since it represents the typical middle-class working American, some of which have no technical skills what so ever. Miller’s play gives us insides on the daily lives of many Americans, this through the eyes of Willy and Biff Loman, he also shows what kind of personalities, what dreams they have, and their different points of view of what the American dream means.

    Read More

  • Death of a Salesman Character Development Essay

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    Foremost, Willy has a problem with his inability to grasp reality. As he grows older his mind is starting to slip. For example, when he talks to the woman and his brother Ben. Throughout the story, Willy dreams of talking to the woman, because the woman is a person that he was dating in when he went to Boston. He was cheating behind his wife’s back. Willy basically uses her as a scapegoat when he’s hallucinating about her. He blames all of his problems on the woman. For instance Willy says, “ Cause you do… There’s so much I want to make for.” (38) This is the evidence right here. Also he dreams about his brother Ben. Willy wishes could be more like his brother who has just passed away a couple of months previously to the story. He also wishes he didn’t have to work and could be rich like Ben. He respects Ben for not really working and making a lot of money. Another example of Willy’s hallucinations are when he says,“ How are you all?” (45) This occurs when Willy is talking with Charley and he starts thinking about Ben. Willy’s inability to grasp reality never changed throughout the story.

    Read More

  • Willy Loman's American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Arthur Miller provides us with a character who is both pathetic and tragic. Willy Loman spent his life chasing a false dream. His failure to live the "true" American Dream was what brought about his own downfall.**

    Read More

  • Theme Of Social Class And Family In Death Of A Salesman

    1679 Words  | 4 Pages

    Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, portrays the cost of selling oneself to the American Dream. Willy Loman, the central character, is madly determined to achieve affluence that he overlooks the value of his family and himself in the process. He instills in his sons, Biff and Happy Loman, that being charismatic will hand them a prosperous lifestyle. Happy trusts in his father’s ideology while Biff’s beliefs contradict them. Biff deems that success is a product of happiness and contentment, not a paycheck. Out of all the sociological theories, social conflict best emphasizes the author’s perspective of how conflict, through class and family, can deteriorate the American dream. By analyzing the play’s themes- social class and family- through the sociological perspectives: structural-functional, social conflict, and symbolic interactionist, we can predict what drives these characters to behave and perceive things the way they do.

    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 Lowman’s Tragic Misinterpretation of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    In brief, it is apparent that Willy’s own actions led to not only his own demise, but his children’s as well. The salesman tragically misinterpreted the American Dream for only the superficial qualities of beauty, likeability and prosperity. Perhaps if Willy had been more focused on the truth of a person’s character, rather than purely physical aspects, his family’s struggles and his own suicide could have been avoided. On the whole, Arthur Miller’s play is evidence that the search for any dream or goal is not as easy and the end result may seem. The only way to realize the objective without any despair is the opposite of Willy Loman’s methods: genuineness, perseverance and humility.

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman American Dream Essay

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the play, Arthur Miller uses characters’ inner tension and also tension with each other in order to shed light on capitalism’s misleading promises and devastating consequences for believing its promises. For many of the characters, believing in an imperfect system leads to many undesirable consequences, like disillusionment and suicide. For those that don’t throw themselves willy-nilly into the promises of capitalism and the American Dream, there is the chance of living a successful and fulfilling life. In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is a great example of someone trying desperately, yet unsuccessfully, to pursue the false hope of the American Dream, directly resulting from capitalism’s misleading nature.

    Read More

  • American Values and Success in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    Willy Loman stands in, so to speak, for every American male who defined himself as a man, husband and father with respect to his success in the workplace and his capacity for grabbing a share of the material American dream. Willy Loman is a man who has deluded himself and has judged himself more harshly than his wife or his son. His tragedy is that he comes to an understanding of this delusion too late to make any changes in his life. Whether or not we as readers or as members of the audience agree with his judgment is irrelevant. It is Willy's own failure that is important in this play.

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman American Dream Essay

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman- Overview

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Willy Loman is one of the most tragic heroes in American drama today. He has a problem differentiating reality from fantasy. No one has a perfect life. Everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these personal conflicts can differ as much as the people themselves. Some insist on ignoring the problem as long as possible, while some attack the problem to get it out of the way. In the case of Willy in Arthur Miller’s, Death of a Salesman, the way he deals with his life as a general failure leads to very severe consequences. Willy never really faced his problems in fact in stead of confronting them he just escapes into the past, whether intentionally or not, to those happier childhood times where problems were scarce. He uses this escape as if it were a narcotic, and as the play progresses, we learns that it can be as dangerous as a drug, because of its ability to addict Willy, and it’s deadliness.

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman Critical Analysis

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...self to be happy by thinking of his past, which destined him to do what every coward does when faced with problems: run. He runs from his problems, from his friends, from his family, and from himself. I think that Willy could have resolved his issues a lot easier if he had been brave enough to admit that he did have problems. Instead, he bottles them up, hides them deep inside himself, and lives vicariously through his past.

    Read More

  • Themes of Death Of A Salesman

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    The play centers on Willy Loman, an aging salesman who is beginning to lose his grip on reality. Willy places great emphasis on his supposed native charm and ability to make friends; stating that once he was known throughout New England, driving long hours but making unparalleled sales (something true only because of his philandering with secretaries), his sons Biff and Happy were the pride and joy of the neighborhood, and his wife Linda went smiling throughout the day. Unfortunately, time has passed, and now his life seems to be slipping out of control.

    Read More

  • The Collapse of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller,

    2029 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion, the play represents the collapse of the “American Dream” for a typical lower-middle class family in Brooklyn during an economic depression. The story represents “the brutality of the system toward man” (Kroll). Willy, with his illusions of living the present with the mementos of the past represents the unwanted desire to accept reality. Therefore, he decides to commit suicide in a coward way and leave the insurance money to the family. Moreover, his wife sees the whole process of Willy’s death without interference in order to not hurt his pride. His sons, Biff and Happy, always had a constant pressure to achieve luxuries and comforts of the American Dream and due to that pressure they were unable to attain it. Willy dies believing in a dream that his family did not believe because they were seeing reality a little bite closer than him.

    Read More

  • The Meaning of the Title in The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman criticizes the American Dream and the means some (i.e. Willy Loman) use to achieve the Dream through many different symbol and motifs; however, the title Miller selected for his play is an overlooked aspect of his criticism towards the Dream. He uses the title to build layers of understanding for his denunciation of the American Dream.

    Read More

More about Death Of A Salesman Essay

Open Document