Willy American Dream

What is the story behind “The Death of a Salesman”? Arthur Miller first published this play in 1949, as it was first performed in this year also. Miller presents a character named Willy who is a salesman, but he has fallen on hard times, and the luxuries he had before no longer exist. For this reason, Willy has caused himself and his family heartbreak because he cannot provide any funds for them. Indeed, Willy has encountered rough patches, he and his family now live new lifestyles, and therefore Willy has lost sense of his American dream depicted by burden, guilt, and sorrow.

Surely, Willy and his family have encountered hardship, whereas this has caused Willy to have burdens. For instance, Willy says “There is more people! That’s what is

ruining this country! The population is out of control. The competition is maddening!” (Miller, Death of a Salesman, pg.

9). Certainly, Miller is suggesting the idea of the American dream, as the amount of people leads to an increase in population density, and it also shows that the competition is there, in which this is a burden to Willy presented by the American dream. In addition, Willy is an insurance salesman, and his job has created a burden in his life. To put it another way, Willy alludes to the fact that he feels alone, he states “and I get so lonely-especially when business is bad and there is nobody to talk to” (Miller, Death of a Salesman, pg. 25). To clarify this point Miller conveys to us that Willy has not only become lonely, but no one will talk to him. It is important to realize that Willy’s hours have been cut, yet he has taken it upon himself to survive in his business, whereas this continuously creates a burden on him because the

American Dream becomes unachievable. Most notably, Neil Heims illustrates dramatic irony when he says “Whether Willy's early nitration with suicide are qualitatively different from his ultimate suicide is a question at the heart of the play”. (Heims, King Lear, King Oedipus, and Willy Loman: Tragic Strategies in Death of a Salesman, pg. 63). The readers can indicate that Willy is miserable, and that he wants to kill himself, however his family has not quite gotten the memo. In general, Willy has lost his American dream, as it has thus faded, which this infers why he feels guilty.
With this in mind, the amount of guilt Willy obtains throughout the years begins to affect the family. In particular, there is a part in the play when Linda ask Willy “what Biff has against him” (Miller, Death of a Salesman, pg. 49)? Notably, Willy speaks to a woman in the play, but this woman is given no name, as it is assumed that she is his mistress. According to Fred Ribkoff “Willy is driven to commit his greatest wrong by feelings of shame that arise out of his sense of inadequacy as a man” (Ribkoff, Shame, Guilt, Empathy and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, pg. 185). This statement implies that Willy’s greatest guilt is shame, when he had an affair, he felt as if everyone was let down, but also it made his son Biff hold a grudge against him, which prompted Biff to move to Texas. How did guilt affect Willy’s American dream? Since, the incidence occurred with Willy mistress, it has affected his relationship with his wife Linda, as he cheated because he felt lonely, in which this made Biff spiteful towards Willy causing him even more guilt. In Ribkoff’s book he conveys that “Biff believes his father is good, until he finds out about his affair, where he does not expose his father’s guilt, but rather Biff experiences his own guilt (Ribkoff, Shame, Guilt, Empathy and the Search for Identity in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, pg. 187). In the event that Willy experience guilt, but also Biff experiences guilt because he knows what his father did. Generally speaking, Willy’s idea of the American dream has become crushed further, and this leads him feeling sorrowful.
To point out, Willy’s sorrow is another key point that has ceased the American dream.

Chester E. Eisinger mentions that Willy is a man of massive dreams, “but he still does not know himself” (Eisinger, Focus on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: The Wrong Dreams, pg. 95). Hence Willy is tired and fed up of his new lifestyle, which consists of him borrowing money just to pay his bills, this leads further to his feelings of sorrow. In other words, the beginning starts off with Linda asking Willy “did you smash the car, how do you feel?” as Willy replies “I am tired too death, I could not make it, I just could not make it Linda” (Miller, Death if a Salesman, pg. 5). This insinuates the idea that Willy’s sorrow has been going on for some time because he says “I am tired”, this alludes to the fact that he wants to give up because he cannot face his life anymore. Willy’s statement also foreshadows what is to happen in the last apart of the play. Miller writes “Linda lays down the flowers, kneels and sits back on her heels. All stare down at the grave” (Miller, Death of a Salesman, pg. 101). As the play comes to a halt, Willy’s sorrow has ended, but Linda’s sorrow has just begun. In fact, Willy shows his sorrow throughout the story, and his sorrow represents how sadden he has become with his role as a husband and a

father.
In conclusion, Willy and his family’s new lifestyle has caused Willy’s American dream to become a lust by his burden, guilt, and sorrow. Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman emphasizes how Willy’s struggles have become his wife and kids struggles also. Did this ruin his American dream? Yes, in fact it did ruin his dreams of being a salesman, since he no longer acquired his usual hours of work and his income had decreased. All in all, Miller shows us that even though Willy was depressed and devastated, as it was only clear to Linda in the beginning that she knew Willy reached his braking point, as his kids did not realize it until the end, ultimately this resulted in his death.