Interpreting the American Dream: A Literary Perspective

The American Dream The American Dream. A dream that no matter what, if you work hard enough, you can become rich and life will be good. “In 1931, James Truslow Adams first defined the “American Dream” by writing that “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” regardless of social status or birth circumstance” (Schoenherr). This dream to some can be silly but to others is the way the world is supposed to work. In “The Death of a Salesman” one of our main characters, Willy, is an adamant believer in the American Dream. Despite working as hard as possible and believing that everything will be ok, he falls short of what he believes to be “a good life”

In “The Death of a Salesman” the main

In the story, several examples are used that call out the American Dream being fake. Many examples are used that depict Willy as a man that has worked his whole life and has nothing to show for it. The story has Willy angry with his wife, sons, and at the world. “Willy: How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life? A farmhand? In the beginning, when he was young, I thought, well, a young man, it’s good for him to tramp around, take a lot of different jobs. But it’s more than ten years now and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!” (Miller 7). In this quote, Willy makes fun of Biff’s (Willy’s son) way of life and compares it to his own. Since Biff is not making enough money and not doing things the way Willy would like, he considers him a failure. From Biff’s perspective, he describes his own happiness on several farms across different states. This causes Biff to be happy even though he is not making a large amount of money. The American Dream in Biff’s case, is more of a way to gauge happiness instead of income and having a good