Willy Loman And His Failure To Achieve The American Dream

The Death Of A Willy Loman and his Failure to Achieve the American Dream.

The Death Of A Salesman by Arthur Miller is a play about “the tragedy of a man who gave his life, or sold it” (Arthur Miller) in pursuit of the great American dream, the events that follow throughout the story verify that wealth, success, and ease are to be obtained by facing head-on - tough and challenging situations instead of idealizing imaginary dreams. The American dream is not about dreaming about success like Willy Loman but rather about the fact that everyone, if smart and lucky enough, has the ability to be successful in the United States.

The origins of the American dream go as far back as the 13 founding colonies of the future to be United States, when those

That is what the American dream is about: innovation. According to James Truslow’s definition of the American dream, he stated that “each according to ability or achievement.” Willy Loman had the ability or achievement to be a fantastic salesman, in fact, he was a fine salesman before the second world war and different cultural standards from those in which the story is told. However, towards a shift into a new cultural era after the war, Willy Loman made a grave mistake that cost him the American dream of success he salivated for. Rather than adapting to new societal principles, new sales models, and styles; he believed that the traditional sales model was more effective at sales, which it was not, being the reason he was fired from the company he worked for. He thought that sales were all about" [needing] to be likable," looking good, making unfunny jokes, and most importantly being fake; people can smell that from a mile away and you won’t even sell candy bars effectively that way. Willy Loman failed to reach the “American dream” as he failed to see beyond where his illusions begin and when they end far in the horizon of his

The American Dream commonly associated with nineteen-fifties America could be a house maybe a dog. Though that is one idea of the American Dream and is a shallow analysis that can very well go further. Arthur Miller uses his play The Death of a Salesman into just that and succeeds in doing so. Willy’s American Dream was to leave his thumbprint on the world through his oldest son Biff. Willy was unable to succeed in doing so through a lifelong career as a salesman living under the impression and ideology that being well-liked was extremely more important than studying and making a living that way through education. Willy thrusted this view into Biff's mind so far that Biff did not put the effort into school that would have enabled him to pass math and graduate high school allowing him to go to the university of virginia. Willy says “Because 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. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. “Willy Loman is here!” That’s all they have to know, and I go right through.” Someone according to Willy who can create a personal interest will get ahead regardless of intelligence just as long as the buyers are excited when he walks through the door which is his view of the American Dream, however, it is not Biff’s idea of the American