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Failed American Dream In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

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The award-winning play, The Death of a Salesman was written in the year 1949 by Arthur Miller, a famous American playwright who is responsible for other plays such as, The Crucible and All My sons. The play tackles the theme of a failed American dream, through its main character, Willy Loman leads a miserable life because he has a rather mediocre job and the dreams he had as a young man have not come true. Through Willy, the audience gets a clearer picture of a failed American dream as well as a successful one. This paper gives detailed illustration of the importance of Willy Loman's character to the play Death of a Salesman. Willy Loman is truly a "Low man" as he chooses to focus on his fantasies instead of his reality as it is. In the first act of the play, Willy is getting home from a business trip. The audience learns that Willy had crashed his car on his way home, and from his wife Linda, it is apparent that it is not the first time that …show more content…

Firstly, Willy is a boastful man who constantly brags to the people near him. Willy Loman is clearly not a successful man; however, this fact does not stop him from constantly bragging about things he had hoped to achieve or things he feels he should have . A mature man is humble and less voluble about his successes. Secondly, Loman, despite his age and experience, believes that success is a matter of luck, popularity and chance, not hard work. He idolizes his older brother, Ben, who had been lucky enough to stumble into his diamond fortune in Africa. He also instils in his sons the notion that if one is liked, they have achieved success . The audience definitely expects more from Loman as he is an experienced old man who should be able to know the truth about success. However, Loman imparts values that are not only immature but also idiotic in his sons. This makes the three of them constantly lose at the game of

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Living The Reality Rather Than Chasing The Impossible Willy Loman ultimate dream was to achieve perfection By Turki Al-Al-Suwailem Rational Throughout my report I have chosen to illustrate how Willy Loman in the story of Death of a salesman has lived by all his life by searching for perfection rather than reality. Willy lived to chase his unachievable dream rather than living the reality. His unrealistic connection between his reality and what he dreams to be has led him to death. His wrong judgments’ that are based on materialism and capitalism are a symbol of Willy’s dream to become a wealthy person.

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Willy was too scared to change, because that meant he had to own up to his own problems. The refusal to change put a big weight on him and his family. Greed is an excessive desire for more, typically Money. Willy Loman was a very greedy man. He went as far as cheating in order to gain more clients, which is his way of making money.

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Willy Loman is the definition of tragic. His father abandoned him as a child. This event created the desire within Willy to be liked by everyone. After observing Dave Singleman’s funeral, and the hundreds of people that attended, he knew he must become a salesman. Then everyone would know and love him.

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Miller depicts Willy as a tragic character in his willingness to preserve his dignity. Additionally, Willy’s dignity is tainted in the story because of his flawed philosophy of the American Dream. This along with unjust comparisons leads to Willy’s death. Based on how Willy Loman evaluates himself unjustly, he is a tragic hero because he must do anything to preserve his dignity, and his false impression of the American Dream, which leads to his downfall.

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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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