Failure of An American Dream in Arthur Miller 's Death of a Salesman (1949). Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller takes place in New York and Boston. The play kicks off in the home of Willy Loman, an aging salesman who has just recently returned from a road trip. Mr. Loman is married to Linda and they both have two sons Biff and Happy. Throughout the play, the family breathes ' and exists in denial as they face a challenge to keep up with reality to reach their goal of obtaining the American dream.
The second is the Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Through these plays, people can live and understand the reality of what is perceived to be the American Dream. Walter Lee is one of the main characters from A Raisin in the Sun. His goal was to be able to make enough money to provide for his entire family. This includes his wife, Ruth, son, Travis, sister, Beneatha, and mother, Lena.
Unwilling to make a sacrifice proves to bring more animosity in a family as shown in A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry through conflict involving money and how the characters handle their actions. Walter’s dream is to use the money to open up his own business even if it goes against his family’s wishes. Walter: “Anybody who talks to me has got to be a good-for-nothing loudmouth, ain’t he? And what you know about who is just a good-for-nothing loudmouth? Charlie Atkins was just a "good-for-nothing loudmouth" too, wasn’t he!
In the play, Death of a Salesman, Willy mentions that Bernard is not well-liked by others and that his sons, Happy and Biff, will be successful when they are older because people will like them. Later in life Willy’s sons are not very successful with Biff just bouncing around being unable to keep a job and Happy has stayed in New York and worked as a salesman, but his name is not well known yet. Bernard on the other hand graduated high school and most likely went to college. He is now a successful lawyer. This is demonstrated when Willy stops into Charley’s office and observes Bernard as he is getting ready to head out to the Supreme Court.
Although Gatsby seemed to be living the dream with his extravagant parties and his luxurious possessions, he was actually not even happy. He had pined over Daisy, a woman whom he was in love with and he lost touch with, and made it his mission in life to win her over – eventually failing. Gatsby was always stuck in the past and always believed that “...in her heart she never loved any one except me!” (Fitzgerald 130) Jay Gatsby looks as if he was living the American Dream on paper, but in reality, he never even achieved the one thing he desired the most:
Investing in a property blindly Many investors make the mistake of buying properties based on bad advice. They have little education to make the decision on their own. As a result, they fail to make right investment decisions and invest in wrong properties that don’t prove much profitable in the future. So, if you want to become a successful investor, you should spend enough time on educating yourself so that you can make the decision confidently. Thus, you will be able to gain high profit with comparatively less
He attributes his lack of job prospects to racism, a claim that may be partially true but that is also a crutch. Over the course of the play, his understanding of his dream of gaining material wealth evolves, and by play’s end, it is no longer his top
The play Death of a salesman is set in late 1940s in America. This play’s main theme is ‘American Dream’ which Willy is trying hopelessly to grasp believing that if he is well liked and personally attractive he will succeed in business in American society. This le but it also has several different themes such as betrayal, abandon, reality and delusion. These themes appear every time Willy drifts back to the past throughout the play. Willy Loman, a 60-year-old salesman with two sons, lives in his dream believing that his sons would be successful like him and is certain that a good salesman has to have a well liked personality just like Willy himself.
When someone is sad, it is seen as a bad thing; however, if we do not experience negative emotions, we will never be able to appreciate the happiness life brings. Overly positive emotions make us unaware to how we are affect others and how we are truly doing in life. In an article from TIME magazine, it states that “Happy people don't just accumulate fortune; they invent things— the lightbulb, the telegraph...” (Whitaker 26). Happy people do not become happy from nothing but positive emotions. In order to be happy, one must experience negative emotions to know what happiness even is.
Throughout the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller we see first hand what the thought of the American dream can do to a hard working man such as Willy Loman. Craig L. Thomas once said that “You stuff someone into the American Dream, and it becomes a prison.” What he means is that sometimes when people work hard and stay determined they don’t always end up on the wealthy side, and Death of a Salesman displays just that. Willy worked hard all his life and was determined to provide for his family. After a few years of working hard however, he starts to run into some economic struggles. In the beginning of the play wee see Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy, on the same path as their father.