Miller's work on “Death of a Salesman” is an example piece of work furthering the social protest involving totalitarianism and the American Dream. Throughout the piece, Miller uses his voice of conscience and passion for the purpose of exposing the truth about the concepts. Using the perspective of Willy, a fictional, working class citizen, Miller picks apart the myth of the American Dream, exploring topics such as abandonment, betrayal, family dynamics, and using interesting symbolism along the way. With reckless abandon, Willy believes in the idea of the American Dream. In fact, that's a bit of an understatement. Willy is a dreamer, one that continues following that until it's too late. In “13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?”, William Strauss explores and explains the baby boomer generations misunderstanding. Throughout, he describes the forces that shaped it into a reactive generation. He evidences the recessions and possibility of bankruptcy of our social security systems causing a less than fortunate retirement situation for said generation, and does so with the trends of the culture, statistics of sociological studies, and census data. It really lays out a firm foundation for an understanding of the paradigm that the generation went through. It is used well in context with Miller's Death of a Salesman due to the insight offered involving the political and social economics behind the myth of the American dream. The kind of dream that promises to deliver a successful and materialistic lifestyle for those that are hard-working, upstanding citizens. Looking a little deeper, one might find it strange to attempt a fusion of the vastly different concepts of Willy's expectations for life. His fascination and perhaps... ... middle of paper ... ...er perspective, Biff perhaps feels as though he has been betrayed since his father had been constantly trying to sell him a lifestyle of hope in the American Dream, only to find out that it was all made of lies. Works Cited Strauss, William. 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? N.p.: Vintage, 1993. CQ Researcher. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. Bowles, Samuel. Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005. N. pag. Princeton University Press. CQ Researcher. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. N.p.: Knopf, 2004. N. pag. Princeton University Press. Princeton.edu. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. Cox, Michael W., and Richard Alm. Myths of Rich & Poor: Why We're Better Off Than We Think. N.p.: Basic Books, 1999. N. pag. Print.
Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America (Vintage). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition, 2008.
In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler describes about the lives of United States citizens who live within poverty. He highlights the U.S.’s disregard for its working poor, the nature of poverty, and the causes of poverty faced by low-wage earners. Shipler performs an amazing job with describing the factors that play their parts into the lives of U.S. citizens who live are poor and within poverty.
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.
Barack Obama made history by being elected President of the United States, twice. This is just one more example that the American Dream is without a doubt achievable. Its pursuit is not easy; it requires undeniable hard work, modesty and optimism. Armed with these characteristics, seekers of this lifestyle will undeniably succeed. Success, though, is an interesting concept, for it can entail many superficial qualities. Willy Loman, the tragic hero of the play Death of a Salesman, sees only the superficial qualities of this dream. He views success solely as likeability (linked with attractiveness), and wealth. Ignoring all methods to honorably achieve these, Arthur Miller demonstrates how Willy’s search for the superficial qualities of the American Dream lead him to his own despair.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that journey is not the same for every individual. Media often leads its viewers toward a “one size fits all” version of success that may help themselves, but will rarely help the viewers. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Miller includes multiple instances of symbolism and personification to reveal to the reader the situational irony in Willy’s life, underlining the theme of self-deception in regard to the American Dream. This American Dream, fueled by money, is the main source of anxiety in Willy’s life. The anxiety of income is reflected today in the issue of minimum wage. James Sherk, a writer of the Tribune News Service, plots thoughtful points against raising the minimum wage. However, his use of over-exaggeration and odd comparisons leave his argument less than convincing.
Shipler, David K. The Working Poor : Invisible In America /n.p.: New York : Vintage Books, 2005. Print.
Shipler, David K. “The Working Poor: Invisible In America”. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a story about the dark side of the "American Dream". Willy Loman's obsession with the dream directly causes his failure in life, which, in turn, leads to his eventual suicide. The pursuit of the dream also destroys the lives of Willy's family, as well. Through the Lomans, Arthur Miller attempts to create a typical American family of the time, and, in doing so, the reader can relate to the crises that the family is faced with and realize that everyone has problems.
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.
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.
Willy's goal throughout life was to climb out of his social class. As a salesman, Willy was a failure and he tried desperately to make his sons never end up like him. As a result, he loses his mind and his grasp on reality. Throughout the story, Willy often has flashbacks of the conversations that he and his brother Ben once had and the author intertwines them in past and present very nicely.
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.
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.
“American Sociology 's Investigations of the American Dream: Retrospect and Prospect” is an article that discusses the sociology and the different views that people have on the American Dream. According to this article, sociology has developed a history of studies dealing with each person’s American way of life, and the role the American dream has played on society. Because each person has a different dream they take on different roles in society. Everybody has a different job and contributes differently to society. This article is related to Death of a Salesman because of Willy’s version of the American Dream. He says to Happy and Biff, “I’ll show you all the towns. America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of us, ‘cause one thing, boys: I have friends” (Miller 1440). Willy refers to the people as being kind hearted and having respect for anyone who appears physically attractive. Willy believed that in order to achieve success you must appear physically attractive and work in the business field. The role he played in society was a failed business man who struggled to be successful. He had a hard time fitting in with society creating a difficult lifestyle for
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.