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What Is Willy Loman's Idea Of The American Dream

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The American Dream is something that all Americans have heard of before. Many people seek out the American Dream, some are successful, but many people fail. In Arthur Miller’s play, Death of A Salesman, Willy Loman, the main character of the play, struggles to complete his own form of the American Dream. Throughout the play, Miller shows Willy Loman’s idea of what the American Dream really is. The playwright also displays Willy’s attempts to attain his American Dream. Furthermore, at the end of the play, Arthur Miller shows through Willy’s unfortunate death how Willy’s quest to achieve his version of the American Dream is really destined to end. The theme of the American Dream is used by Arthur Miller throughout the play to show Willy Loman’s …show more content…

Willy Loman’s version of the American Dream is based on the few success stories he knew, such as Uncle Ben’s success in the jungle and Dave Singleman’s success as a salesman. Willy’s idea of the American Dream is portrayed as what he said in Act One, he says “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want.” (Miller, ). This is what Willy Loman thinks it takes to be successful, Willy’s American Dream is being a liked character who has the ability to make contacts and be charming. He talks about these traits as being most important in order to achieve success in America. Miller implements this quote into the play in order to show what Willy’s version of the dream is. Willy also thinks there is a key or a formula to success, as when he sees Uncle Ben, he asks “Oh, Ben, how did you do it? What is the answer?”. (Miller, ). Willy asks Ben, the one successful person that he is close to how he became so successful. Willy believes that if he follows the advice from lucrative people like Ben, he too will become successful and complete his American Dream, however this is not the case. This is what Willy’s version of the American Dream is, but throughout the play, Willy takes action in order to try and achieve his own version of the American

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The American dream, hereby, is what Willy believed that is the perfect dream to be lived and should be his life chasing dream. As a result, Willy was always judging himself and all people around him, in addition to his family, by their money gathering, as is ordered by capitalism. Hence the society in which Willy lives will not permit him to live the American Dream but rather than always remind him of his reality. Willy is captivated by gathering things. His aspirations for goods make him want stuff that he neither required nor could manage to pay for.

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However, any honor and certainty he had has diminished because of his decietful idealism and illusions. And so, he takes the wrong approach to trying to restore it- because he is still subject to his false idealism. As previously mentioned, the American dream was a prominent mindset for Americans in the mid 1900’s. Willy Loman was just one of many to fall victim to its expectations and in turn developed a distorted view of his life to meet its ideals. He believed that he was well known, made a lot of money in his younger years and was “the New England man”(act 1).

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This “false” American Dream made him have issues in his life and didn’t have strong enough support to sustain in his life. He depended on his family to support him but they didn’t. As they always say, it comes down to family support when one struggling, but in this case, he didn’t get any support hence Willy’s

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For Willy Loman, it is the situation of possessing material goods—such as, “the refrigerator, the car, and the house.” Also, Willy Loman desires to educate his son, but he was not able to fulfill his aim. It is written, “Willy Loman has a son, Biff, who is a promising high school football player with hopes of attending the University of Virginia. He never makes it” (Walton 57-58). Huck, however, show this idea of the American Dream when he was trying to free Jim.

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Education is also a central belief associated with the American Dream. This includes the idea that anyone can access and receive a quality education, which can lead to better job opportunities and a higher standard of living. Overall, the American Dream represents a set of beliefs that emphasize the possibility of upward mobility, prosperity, and individual freedom through hard work, determination, and equal opportunity. Willy Loman, a character in Arthur Miller’s play called The Death of a Salesman, has a life that is very similar to what the American Dream could look like. Willy is a follower of this American Dream ideal as cited when he says, "Smell the stink from that Apartment House!"

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Everyone wants to live the American Dream, the ideology that everyone living in the United States should have equal opportunity to achieve success if hard work is put in. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy tries to live the American Dream but can 't achieve it. He works as an unsuccessful salesman who always looks to his past mistakes and tries to live someone else 's life rather than his own. Instead of putting in hard work to achieve success, Willy thinks that popularity is all that 's needed to achieve the American Dream. As most of the play takes place in Willy 's past memories, different motifs always introduce Willy in a scene or when Biff steals Bill Oliver 's pen, which shows that Willy has raised Biff to become a person with little moral values because of Willy 's idea that success is based on popularity.

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The world is an oyster, but you don’t crack it open on a mattress!” (Act 1, Scene 1). Willy thinks success is easy because his brother Ben had it easy. Ben influenced his brother Willy about being successful when he walked into the

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(Miller, 1912). The idea of this shows how Willy had false values. From being worn out and not having a clue on how to achieve the American Dream. The self-image that has been characterized to folks around him were lies and victimized himself with it. Although, Willy was adored when he was younger; the image he had for himself was negative, let it take over his mind and started to let others show.

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Willy’s American Dream The tragic play of Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller tells a story about an old man of 84 years old named Willy. Willy was captured by the American dream. He believed that hard work and ambitions could take him to a life of fame and popularity like the american dream was supposed to be. In Death of a salesman, the american dream reveals disappointment, failure and loss of hope. Thus showing that the american dream is not a great dream after all.

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Willy’s gradual declination of what he wants effectively showcases his tendency to undermine what he claims. Furthermore, Arthur Miller has Linda offer Willy “American-type cheese” only for Willy to immediately reject the idea of it. The American cheese symbolizes the American dream, while the Swiss cheese he wants is quite the opposite. The playwright offers critical contradicts as why would Willy not want American cheese? Willy clearly wants the American dream prior, but not all of a sudden refuses when it is right in front of him.

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Willy built his life around the dreams. He tells lies about how “well-liked” (Miller 28) he is all of his towns, and how “vital” (Miller 10) he is to New England. At times Willy even believes his own lies and becomes enthusiastic when he tells his family that he made more money than he actually did. Willy believes that his sons are very successful, well-liked and attractive young man, when in reality; they are two failures that have done nothing in their life.

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In the play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, the flaws of Willy Loman, have been trasmitted to his two sons, Biff and Happy. They are dreamers, and feel lonleiness. Arthur Miller shows “The American Dream” through Biff and Happy and their perceprion of reality. The American dream is the national ethos of the United States, every citizen should have an equal opportunity through hard work, determination, initiative and achieve success and power.

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Loman repeats this phrase to himself multiple times throughout the course of the play, it can be interpreted as one of Willy’s sources for his persevering faith in the American dream. Willy views Ben as a success story and as tangible proof of his family’s

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Apart from the American dream being an important goal of Willy’s, it has also created a strain on Willy’s mental state. “I’m the New England man. I’m vital in New England,” (8). This quote reveals that Willy has become mentally unstable due to the fact that he believes in something that is not logical. Considering his age, it would actually be an exaggeration to say that he is still useful as a salesman.

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The phrase ‘the American Dream’ was originally coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, and has since appeared in a variety of works, critiques, and forms of art. The concept is generally known as a promising ideal, but it is accepted that the reality of this idea is often less than perfect. In the play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller critiques the negative aspects of the American Dream and the individual’s obsession with this dream through the tragic character of Willy Loman. The American Dream is demonstrated through Loman’s obsession with his idea of success, which combines financial and social success and subsequently cannot separate the two ideas from each other, or from reality. However, other characters in the play, specifically Uncle

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