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Willy Loman's American Dream In Death Of A Salesman By Arthur Miller

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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. The main character Willy had big dreams and ideas for his family future. He maybe saw himself in one of his son’s named Biff, Willy wanted him to be a great worker on the business world but after Biff failed math he believed that he had ruined his life. In Willy’s eyes biff failing …show more content…

In the play the main character willy had trouble doing his job right. Willy was in a good mood, he woke up happy to go see his boss and ask for a job where he’ll stay in one place without having to travel but there were no jobs available, willy desesperante said “i 'm talking about your father! There were promises made across this desk! You 've shouldn’t tell me you got people to see…”(60). After this big fight with his boss he losses his job. A big sign of failure was written in willy 's life after losing his job because without a job he wouldn’t have any money to pay his insurance and neither the last payment of his house. Another example for willy 's failure is when he is starting to realize that people don 't actually take willy serious. After he got fired he noticed that he was losing popularity and the idea of success was betraying him.Willy needed money so he went to ask an old friend for money to pay his insurance. He got the money but also had a job offer but because he didn’t want to admit his failure he decided to say no. This shows how willy can not admit his failure to his family. The main character Willy doesn’t want to show how deeply down he had fallen and is starting to lose hope on his

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From the failed of Willy, his tragedy is mainly due to the error in the value of life and stubborn to pursuit the dream. He and all Americans believe that their

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Willy Loman was a troubled man who didn't have respect for his wife and degraded his children every chance he got when it came to their failures, especially with his son Biff. He only cared about achieving the American dream which he did not succeed because of all his problems that stood in his way. His constant obsession with achieving the American dream only made his family distance themselves from him more only due to the fact that he believed that achieving this would lead him to happiness and success. This also leads to the other major theme which is resilience. Willy came from a poor socioeconomic background and he is making all the efforts to pull himself out of his current situation through whatever he can do in hopes for something better that will make him feel like he's achieved his

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He wanted to be successful so badly, that when he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When Willy was younger, he had great connections in the areas he would sell. The people respected him and he took great pride in the fact that his name held value with those people. However, as he aged, so did the people he used to sell to. When he isn’t able to make the amount of sales he used to, he doesn’t know

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We learn that Willy is a salesman, who is has only had minor success. Willy blames this on the fact that he is not well liked. In the beginning of the play Willy has had a car accident and his wife Linda wants him to ask his boss if he can work only in New York instead of having to travel. When we see Willy in a flashback he appears to be happy and affectionate with his sons, who seem to return the affection.

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Willy tries to make himself feel better by lying to himself. Although Willy’s death is unfortunate, if one closely examines his pride, bad temper, and his lies, one can see that these flaws will eventually bring him to his demise. Throughout the play, Willy demonstrates his sense of pride while talking to his family and friends. In this quote one can

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Willy realizes that no one is paying him any mind and that people always looked down on him. He has to work ten times harder than the average man, just to put food on the table. People do not respect Willy and do not acknowledge him. It explains how his dreams will not ever come true and how he was never going to be successful as he hoped to

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Willy’s rejection of reality, stems from his fear of recognizing the mounting evidence of his failure to fulfill his desires and expectations. Willy’s concept of “success” is defined by the capitalist values of American society. Willy evaluates his life in terms of material success, shaped by the search of the American Dream. He adheres to the belief that if he works hard enough, he will be rewarded.

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However, pursuing this goal came with a price. Since he was highly motivated to becoming a successful salesman, he rarely stayed at home. Instead, he spent most of his time travelling around the country to conduct sales. He became a workaholic, forcing himself to make sacrifices in his family life in order to seek his own ambitions. Therefore, Willy’s perfectionistic ideals led to his demise.

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Even when his neighbour Charley offers him a job with a salary, Willy declines because he is too proud to work for Charley. He rather blames his failure on the superficiality of the business world and fixates himself on the idea that personality, not hard work, is the key to accomplishment. Perhaps, this is because Willy is living in a world where the pursuit of the American Dream is a predominant part of people’s lives, and the materialistic pressures of the superficial were beginning to permeate its actual values. Under this particular pressure, Willy has been fighting his entire life to achieve "the dream," but unfortunately, no one ever explains to him what its true values are or how to really make it. Therefore, Willy manages his life based on his overwhelming sense of pride and ambition, and in this way, Miller seems to criticize the idea of compromising happiness for success-- even though Willy truly believes that happiness is achieved through success.

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At first glance, one may read this satirically jovial skit with the impression of Willy Loman playing both antagonist and protagonist; but after reading the play several times, one may contend that Linda, Willy’s wife silently plays an antagonistic role. Willy, a 60- year old salesman whose wife Linda, continues to guise as the supportive wife, willingly or unwillingly discourages Willy from settling into the idea of the “American Dream.” As Willy consistently drifts in and out of reality, the reader follows the ideal of Willy’s “American Dream,” as well as its unrealistic shortcomings. Consciously, Willy tries to process the realistic notion of hard work, strength, sports, and popularity being the foundation for success but Linda’s constant

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For example, Charley offered Willy a great job which would have had changed his world but sadly, Willy refused and simply wanted to borrow the money. This shows how strong Willy’s spiritual recognition is and that how strongly he wants his sons to accomplish his dream. Willy puts of all of his hopes into his

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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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