The American dream is belied propaganda that shapes people in a capitalist and nationalist way. Since the mid 1900’s, it has hinged on one being successful and prosperous. Because of such societal expectations, one would be, and still can be, shunned for being “unsuccessful”- as in not making a lot of money compared to the wealthy, not having a family, or not being well liked. For instance, Biff Loman is deprecated by his father, Willy Loman, simply because he has never made more than thirty five dollars a week. Willys false idealism fabricated by the American Dream has caused him to lose his honor and certainty, and struggle with restoring it. In other words, Willy has fallen claim to the American dream and has lost any honor and certainty …show more content…
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). Furthermore, he claimed that he “averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in the year of 1928”. However, other facts in the play contradict it. For instance, Willy's boss, Howard, tells Willy that “[he] never averaged”(pg 82) a hundred and seventy dollars a week, despite Willys absolute confidence that he had. He simply cannot deal with the fact that he is not “successful” so he inadvertently engenders lies to assuage his pain. Furthermore, he regularly hallucinates memories of the past- the past when he was happy and more successful, to hide himself from the truth of