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The american dream context
The concept of the American dream
Death of a salesman character analysis
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Drive through any large, upscale city and one can be certain to see the following: attractive men with gorgeous hair and “perfect bodies” wearing Louis Vuitton and Gucci, or women with that “ideal physique” and perfect “no-makeup makeup” look, flaunting themselves in Versace and Calvin Klein clothing. Subconsciously, one begins to see these standards as his idea of beauty or perfection, but society has been known to affect a lot more than the mindset of appearance. Willy Loman, of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, has constantly tried to attain society’s approval by living the American Dream. He believes that in order to be successful, one must be well-liked and never have challenges throughout life. Willy begins to feel the pressure of
the world around him and boasts about his successes, even when he cannot pay the family’s bills. These lies soon start to affect soon start Willy’s morals and after Biff, Willy’s oldest son, unexpectedly shows up at his hotel room while Willy’s mistress is present, everything spirals downward. This revealed truth causes disorder and panic in Willy’s mind about the success and likeness of him and his family. The story poses many large questions throughout its length, but the one that stands out most is how society altered Willy’s morals which lead to lying, cheating, and the idea that everyone had to achieve the American Dream to succeed.
Have you ever worked long and hard on a project, only to realize that it was effort wasted and the project was totally meaningless in the end? That is just what occurred in the play The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Willy Loman, the protagonist, spent decades in mind numbing work, only to discover that he had “built his life on shifting sand” (Nicholas). Through the course of his journey, Willy kept on the straight and narrow highway, which he thought would bring success and happiness. He often contemplated when he would draw his last breath and if he should. Willy begins to realize the futility of his journey when his son Biff Loman returned from college after he had flunked out. Willy had a prevailing hope that his son would amount to something, that he would be successful and become someone great. The cold and brutal reality was that both Biff and Willy were still living in the past. It takes until the final scenes in the play, for Biff to finally comprehend what his dad wanted for him; which was for him to go get a job in business instead of chasing his senseless dreams of being a rancher in Texas. It is in those final moments that Biff steps
Although, his narcissism exhibits the common issue with American capitalism-it leads to greediness, unhappiness, and anger. This yearning for success can also cause an obsession with appearance and the self, which is a main focus in Willy Loman’s life. He says that to get somewhere, it is good to be “built like (an) Adonis,” which he tells his sons. At one point in his life, he felt he never had to ask for anything, and that when he walked in a room, he got what he wanted because “‘Willy Loman is here!’” Eventually, Willy ages and lacks the flair that he once had, and is left with unimpressive salesman skills. Due to America’s obsession with appearance, old-age is a plague to American society. The superficiality causes those to enjoy charisma over passion. This leads to arrogance, a common American worker to be. Willy Loman is a mirror being held up to the faces of American worker-bees. He avoided risks, and continued living a monotonous, easy life. Miller is attempting to say, monotony is a dangerous habit America has. This play intends to steer readers into a direction of following their own path, rather than following the norm; the norm is nothing new, and fails to reach anything
"After all the highways, and the trains, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive," (Miller, 98). This quote was spoken by the main character of the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman. This tragedy takes place in Connecticut during the late 1940s. It is the story of a salesman, Willy Loman, and his family’s struggles with the American Dream, betrayal, and abandonment. Willy Loman is a failing salesman recently demoted to commission and unable to pay his bills. He is married to a woman by the name of Linda and has two sons, Biff and Happy. Throughout this play Willy is plagued incessantly with his and his son’s inability to succeed in life. Willy believes that any “well-liked” and “personally attractive man” should be able to rise to the top of the business world. However, despite his strong attempts at raising perfect sons and being the perfect salesman, his attempts were futile. Willy’s only consistent supporter has been his wife Linda. Although Willy continually treats her unfairly and does not pay attention to her, she displays an unceasing almost obsessive loyalty towards her husband: Even when that loyalty was not returned. This family’s discord is centered on the broken relationship between Biff and Willy. This rift began after Biff failed math class senior year and found his father cheating on Linda. This confrontation marks the start of Biff’s “failures” in Willy’s eyes and Biff’s estrangement of Willy’s lofty goals for him. This estrangement is just one of many abandonments Willy suffered throughout his tragic life. These abandonments only made Willy cling faster to his desire to mold his family into the American Dream. They began with the departure of his father leaving him and...
...hat eventually leads to him committing suicide just to acquire money for his family. This wouldn’t have been quite as bad if Howard hadn’t also hurt Willy’s pride with the way he treated the dismissal. He was reprimanding and made it seem as though Willy’s contributions to the company were meaningless.
Alistair Deacon from As Time Goes By once said that, “The people in the book need to be people.” The main character in a story or in a play always has to be somewhat likeable or relatable. Who doesn’t like to feel like they can relate to their favorite character in a story? In many cases the authors of stories or books always try to make the reader feel like they are not the only ones with problems or going through a crazy situation. Wanting the reader to become engaged in the characters' conflicts is what they aim for. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, many people were gripped by Willy Loman’s, the main character, problems because they too struggle with many of the conflicts that Willy faces. Willy could not keep his life together, failing to see reality and pursuing the wrong dream, with a wrong viewpoint, ended up causing others around him and himself to hurt.
“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.” (Donald Miller). When unrealistic expectations are placed upon someone including one’s self, the pressure to find success and achievement becomes daunting to many. Certain people who have a negative opinion about themselves, are not able to see the potential which they hold inside of them. The mentality of always expecting the best from one’s self is sometimes a burden, which can control the lives of many. When applying an idea such as assuming impractical success based on the prosperity of others, it can give pressure to one’s self when expecting the best result. In the modern play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, the character of Willy Loman struggles to
In Death of a Salesman, written by American playwright Arthur Miller, focuses on Biff’s relationship towards his father Willy Loman. He plays the role that drives most of Willy’s thoughts and actions, specifically his memories. Whenever Willy is not able to accept the present, he reverts to the past where Biff is usually nearby. Before Willy’s trip to Boston, Biff admired his father. He trusted and believed his philosophy that any person can be successful, provided that he is “well-liked”. Biff never questions his father even though at times it is obvious that Willy is not following the rules himself. This results in Biff growing up believing that rules do not apply to him because Willy does not follow them nor does he expect
The play "Death of a Salesman" shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty-
Death of a Salesman deals with many timeless issues. Though these issues are portrayed through the story of Willy Loman in the nineteen forties or fifties, their presence in today's world is still very prominent. The relationships in Death of a Salesman are riddled with jealousy, hope, love, dreams, hate, disappointment, and many other very human emotions.
Laura Seng Professor Kruger ENGL 271 May 12, 2014 The American Dream and Capitalism in Death of a Salesman One major theme in Death of a Salesman is the pursuit of the American dream. Playwright Arthur Miller details main character Willy Loman’s misguided quest for this dream. Death of a Salesman was written in postwar America, when the idea of the American Dream was a way of life. The United States was flourishing economically, and the idea of wealth was the basis of the American Dream.
An American dream is a dream that can only be achieved by passion and hard work towards your goals. People are chasing their dreams of better future for themselves and their children. The author Arthur Miller in Death of a Salesman has displayed a struggle of a common man to achieve the American dream. Willy Loman the protagonist of the play has spent his whole life in chasing the American dream. He was a successful salesman who has got old and unable to travel for his work, and no one at work gives him importance anymore. He is unhappy with his sons Happy and Biff because both of them are not successful in their lives. Moreover, Biff and Happy are also not happy with their father Willy because they don’t want to live a life that Willy wants them to live. The heated discussions of Willy and his older son Biff affect the family and the family starts to fall apart. However, Willy is unable to achieve the American dream and does not want to face the reality that his decisions for himself and his family have lead him to be a failure in the society. In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the protagonist Willy Loman spends his whole life to achieve the American Dream by his own perception and denies facing the reality, just like nowadays people are selling themselves and attempting to find success in life.
One of the biggest themes of “The Death of a Salesman” is the American dream. The American dream is a concept where you are rich and powerful and you have the perfect life. This is something Willie desperately wanted and tried his very best to achieve it but by the end of the play he's dead. Oddly, his fixation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and likability is a lot more gritty, and more rewarding towards the understanding of the American dream that identifies hard work without complaining as a key to success. What is interesting to me is that even though he wanted this dream, he did not want to work for it.
The important role of “success” in Death of a Salesman is a father that had a difficult job and has to travel a lot to provide for his family. Is means that is is focuses on Willy Loman's failures in the play. And the conflicts he caused with his sons and Linda by always trying to be well liked.
It has been said the “Death of a Salesman” is a harsh criticism of the American Dream. The idea of the American dream is seen as a chance to go to a country with an empty frontier to be explored, where a man could be whatever he wanted, rather than having to do what his father did. Salesman challenges the effects of the American dream. One of the central themes of the story is the struggle of each character's pursuit of the American Dream.
Clinging to a Broken Dream The idea of having dreams is part of every culture. In other words, Dreams are taken for granted. Ever since childhood, people bomb you and hurl questions about your future around. Still, the idea of the American Dream takes dreams to a whole new level.