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

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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 …show more content…

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

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(Garland). I do think that Willie's interactions played a part in shaping him into what he became. Self-Control Theory states that criminality comes from adding together a lack of self-control and opportunity. That could explain why Willie decided to murder the man on the train without a second thought. He simply saw the chance and he took

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His brother became rich and famous because of all of their actions. For Willie, he was different. He calls himself a weak and a simpleton but for a different reason. It continues to the fact that he was going through a different pace than his brothers. the next line he describe his life in a corner, not noticeable he has visions of

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“The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead” (33). In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller uses foil characters to elucidate Willy’s flaws that ultimately prevent him and his family from succeeding. The contrast between Charley and Willy and Bernard and Biff serves to highlight how Willy’s obsession with achieving his version of the American Dream impacts both his life and his children’s. His poor values are passed on to his children producing even more failures. ¬¬¬¬Both Charley and Willy work as salesmen, however Charley represents what Willy desired to become – successful.

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He wanted to be successful so badly, that when he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When Willy was younger, he had great connections in the areas he would sell. The people respected him and he took great pride in the fact that his name held value with those people. However, as he aged, so did the people he used to sell to. When he isn’t able to make the amount of sales he used to, he doesn’t know

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This showed me that the feeling of wanting revenge made him act this way, hurting the ones around him. He knew that it could've been the only time that his kids could have had the opportunity to experience seeing a white man . In conclusion all the scenes where Willie was being rude to his wife were letting me know that the feeling of anger as a result of something bad that was done to a person can lead that person to want revenge and not letting it see that such a feeling can be hurtful to the ones

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The American Dream is the opportunity to become successful with hard work and initiative. Gatsby himself achieves the American dream of success just to impress the love of his life, Daisy

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While Linda enabled him, Willy could not help himself too keep ruining the good opportunities he had and turning them into some factious reality. At Willy`s funeral Biff comes to the realization that his father had all the wrong dreams and visions of success. Willy`s only dream was the fake “American Dream” that people believe will happen overnight. Willy`s failed attempts and happiness bonded into one and played a part into him creating this false reality and persona that he was the best salesman and that he was well loved by everyone around him.

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The ‘American Dream’ is the idea that an one is able to achieve whatever he or she dreams of by living and working in the United States. The idea has spread to be known worldwide. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the many themes is this concept of the American Dream. In addition to Gatsby’s love story, the book can be seen as a satire of the privileged and wealthy. Although the book contains parts that support the American Dream, a lot of it can portrayed to come off to support the reasons why the American Dream is not a realistic and is merely a delusion.

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The play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is known by many Americans as an epitaph for the American dream. It is about the life of Willy Loman, an aging and failing salesman, chasing after his ambitions to become the most popular and successful individual in his field of work. Surprisingly, the story set behind the curtains also mirrors the lives of many modern Americans today. The play, performed in the 1940s, dealt with how people’s expectations for perfection were insubstantial and impractical, and how these expectations bred dissatisfaction and doubt. Unfortunately, this mentality still persists in the current American society.

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In ‘Death off a Salesman’, it is clear from the start of Act 1 that Willie is ashamed of the way his life turned out and ultimately how he ends up treating his family poorly from his own shame. The shame that Willie experiences is ultimately the cause of his death, he is ashamed of himself for not being as successful

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The Great Gatsby is not simply a story of Jay Gatsby’s undying and misguided love for a Daisy Buchanan. The novel, The Great Gatsby, encompasses a number of themes, the most significant one is the disillusionment and corruption of the American dream. The ability to obtain prosperity such as happiness, or a car is what comprises of the American dream. It is a belief that anyone who is self-sufficient, or who is a hard worker can obtain this dream regardless of their social standing. In the book, the facade of a dream appears to be at the tips of Gatsby and Myrtle’s fingers but this “pursuit of happiness” sentiment is in actuality impossible.

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In order to show this, I will analyse two fostering aspects which play a big part in his development and setbacks, these include punishment as well as encouragement. We get to know characters through scenes and descriptions, as well as speech and actions. We get to follow Willies mental state as well as his physical development through these aspects. Willie is the protagonist of the story; he is the main character the plot is addressing. His mother in London is depicted as the antagonist who causes him pain as she believes he needs to be punished for his many sins, which consequently seems to relate to her own mental issues.

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A big sign of failure was written in willy 's life after losing his job because without a job he wouldn’t have any money to pay his insurance and neither the last payment of his house. Another example for willy 's failure is when he is starting to realize that people don 't actually take willy serious. After he got fired he noticed that he was losing popularity and the idea of success was betraying him. Willy needed money so he went to ask an old friend for money to pay his insurance. He got the money but also had a job offer but because he didn’t want to admit his failure he decided to say no.

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In the play Death of a Salesman, Miller introduces us to the protagonist, Willy Loman, whose last name is a play on words. Loman is someone from humble beginnings and upbringings who is constantly trying to achieve the “American Dream”. Loman is inevitably destroyed by his actions, created by his lack of awareness of reality and his flawed dream. Through his self-destruction,

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In his seminal work, Death of A Salesman, Arthur Miller portrays wretched conditions inflicting the lives of lower class people amid class-struggle in 1940s America. Miller sets the story during the great financial depression in the US , in between times after World War I and around World War II, though his characters hardly speak about the trauma of two World Wars. Miller earns an enormous success by putting an ordinary salesman as the protagonist in his play instead of putting a man of social nobility. In the play, Miller depicts his central character, Willy Loman as a destitute salesman struggling to rise up the social ladder in a capitalist society, who remains deluded by a 'dream of success ' and takes on a relentless pursuit of happiness that eventually brings his tragic demise. Though some critics speak in favor of the popular account of the cause of his death being his excessive obsession with so called the American dream and the 'capitalist oppression ' ; however, many still refuse to ascribe the cause of his death to capitalist oppression, which I will use synonymously with American dream here.

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