Comparing The American Dream In The Great Gatsby And Death Of A Salesman

The American Dream is the belief that any person can follow their own dream. This concept has always been one of the driving forces behind American society and is unique to every person. The American Dream is very popular in American culture, especially literature such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. The Great Gatsby tells the story of Jay Gatsby from the viewpoint of his friend and neighbor, Nick Carraway. It shows how Gatsby’s seemingly perfect and wealthy lifestyle during the roaring 1920’s is all a part of his dream to attain the “love” of his life, Daisy. Death of a Salesman tells the story of Willie Loman, a lower middle class father and salesman in the 1960’s suffering through mental illness while still trying to win love and respect from those around him. The American Dream is a difficult thing to attain due to the unrealistic expectations attached to the idea as shown in The Great Gatsby

Willie has spent his whole life trying to attain success and the love of those around him. He does this so that he will be remembered when he is gone like other salesmen around him such as Dave Singleman who had hundreds of buyers and salesmen at his funeral (Miller, 81). Through his pursuit of this idea he starts to push the same dream upon his kids, especially his son, Biff and becomes obsessed with the idea. Willie ultimately fails by not only Biff not living up to his expectations but when he dies, no one except his family and a few friends attend his funeral (Miller, 137). Though Willie was driven enough to attain the expectations he had in life, they were very unrealistic in a sense due to his position in life. Willie failed to realize that he was just a salesman and truly believed he was more than that which is really a beautiful yet dangerous thing that eventually led to his