Willy Loman And His Misconception Of The American Dream

Willy and his misconception of the “American Dream” Willy is an traditional man who illustrates the traditional American values of accomplishment. He isn’t getting younger and has reached the age where he can no longer contend success in his chosen career, that is an traveling salesman. Due to him being terminated from his job, he starts to examine his past life to determine its value. In this main point in Willy’s existence, Biff who his Willy’s son returns home for a visit, and Willy’s old fascination for his son to be a traditional success in life is revived . The old tensions between the two are also restored as well. Once again, Willy’s greatest obstacle is Biff rejecting Willy’s values and desires to be successful.

The “American Dream”

When Willy was younger and still around with his brother, they were both trying to look for their father, in the process he met Dave Singleman. Dave is a “eight four year old salesman who had drummed merchandise in thirty-one states and who could now simply go into his hotel room, call the buyers, and make his living in his green velvet slippers” (Stanton 131). This view of a cool and successful career, made Willy reconsider his decision on going to Alaska, and helped him being a salesman. Willy saw Dave as a big impact in his live and saw him as a “father figure” than just a friend or associate. So he followed the same path, hoping he would get the same big grand future and same success in the field. Thirty five years later, after devoting his life into the career, he hasn’t accomplished the same success that Dave have achieved, but “he possessed too much snobbery to admit that his own destiny was in a simple career as a carpenter” (Death of a Salesman). Willy obviously wanted more in life, and since he saw himself not achieving anything, he taught his kids in his way of seeing life, hoping they would have gone the same path and get the dream he had for himself. When Biff came home, he realized that Willy was disappointed in Biff, he “resolves to reform his life for the sake of his father, and act 1 closes with the familiar denial of old wounds and Biff’s promise to make a business deal in New York” (Death of a Salesman). Willy’s confusion about the real “American Dream” makes him teach his sons wrong, and his failure because he never understood what was “really needed to succeed insisting to the end that ‘personality wins the day’” (Murphy and Abboston