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Comparing The American Dream In Willy Loman And Death Of A Salesman

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Both Miller and O’Neill explore the changing values of American society as depicted through the attitudes towards the American Dream. Both the protagonists have different perspectives on the American Dream and so this reflects the change in values within American society. Loman is idealistic and enamoured with the American dream. Whereas Hans is an immigrant who is not as invested in the dream because his life is at a turning point and the dream is far too vulnerable, similarly to New York post 9/11, for him to depend on. As critic Barclay Bates states, “Death of a Salesman is about triumph of the present over the past” this is particularly prominent when Willy returns from his monotonous job as a salesman, he tells his wife, “I’m tired to death. (The flute has faded away,)” The short declarative sentence depicts that his job is becoming strenuous for him and that he finds it harrowing, however there is no indication that he will stop, it suggests that he will continue like he always does. Miller uses the motif of the flute to symbolise the sombre tone of the play. Also, by placing this in the first scene Miler’s intention is to depict that the American society is oppressing Willy and men like Willy as he is a symbol of the common man, leading them to their “death”. Miller portrays Willy’s strife to depict that although post Great-depression resulted in hope and change, therefore people had do evolve with the times and shape their lives and business to fit in the with the
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Hook: The American Dream is often seen as representing the nation’s unchanging ideals, but in reality, as older generations fade to sleep, those that follow wake up anew with their own new versions. American Dream mention: James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream in his book The Epic of America as “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability” (quoted in “In Search of The American Dream”), but this was far from the last word. Context: One version of this American Dream can be seen through the eyes of a rich but shady magnate, who chases his American Dream through the pursuit of wealth. Another version of this dream, however, by contract, occurs

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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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Both stories battle society’s toxic and oppressive ideals of the american dream. The families in both stories became victims of the corrupt belief that this so-called American dream was actually tangible. In Death of a Salesman, the visions of living the American dream brainwash the protagonist into making

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In Arthur Miller’s Play, Death of a Salesman, through his character Linda Loman, the author implies that all people deserve respect no matter what. Is this true though do all people deserve respect? Whether they are good or bad do they get respect Miller states his thoughts “Linda- Either he’s your father and you pay him that respect, or else you’re not to come here” (39). Here, Miller suggested that even if you do not like someone they deserve respect such as biff hates Willy but Linda acknowledges the fact that everybody needs respect and scolds Biff much like society “scolds” someone for being disrespectful to a person.

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Ben is Willly Lomans brother and has already passed when the play begins. Willy uses Ben as a standard with his son and looks up to his brother. He believed his brother knew what he wanted and went out and took it. Ben has achieved success without putting in hard work; Ben found diamons in Africa and becomes instantly wealthy. While Ben wants Willy to take after him and risk coming to work outdoors, Willy is held back by his vision of the American dream and remains at home, with his family.

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In “Death of a Salesman” & “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by Arthur Miller, the character Willy Loman on the modern america, in the 1940’s as cars and appliances ar be made willy is constantly to maintain the best in family as he slowly starts to lose his mind in the world it’s clear that willy only cares about one thing is that it’s keeping up with the people around him. In the book Death of a Salesman Willy hallucinates about his brother and about his family in the past when they were doing so good with money. Willy Loman has a hard time between reality and illusion, so does lady macbeth’s husband.

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Miller uses the contrast of Linda to Willy to focus on the downfalls within him. In both dramas, the tragic hero's are martyrs of their fantasy versus the reality of their situation which goes to additionally characterize them. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman believes that a successful man is one who is profitable and well-liked in the business

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In history, there have been an innumerable amount of plays written, but none so flawlessly encapsulate the realities of achieving the American dream than Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun by Arthur Miller and Lorraine Hansberry respectively. Although the two plays are very different, the characters and the issues they face, at its core, parallel each other because they both deal with the failure of dreams. Both set in the 1940s, Death of a Salesman deals with a white family’s unrealized dreams while in Brooklyn, New York, whereas A Raisin in the Sun concerns the turmoil of an African American family living in the southside of Chicago about agreeing on the same dream. As Terrence Smith and Mike Miller wrote, “The purpose of drama is not to define thought but to provoke it,” essentially stating that drama is not merely meant to entertain and instruct the viewer what to think, but to pose as a form of expression to inspire people to reevaluate rigid opinions and make society examine itself in a mirror.

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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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Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman takes place in the post-World War II era. Miller does a phenomenal job of incorporating the elements of social commentary and realism. Social commentary and realism involves portraying current and realistic social issues. These issues give characters real world problems and makes it easier for the audience to relate to them. In this case, Miller successfully uses the social ideals of 1949 to develop his character’s motives.

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