The American Dream In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

Submitted By timothypork
Words: 301
Pages: 2

Dreams are what people spend their entire lives trying to reach, different people have different dreams but in the end, everyone is trying to reach one thing, success. The American Dream, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, has been an important goal for many Americans. In the story, Death of a Salesmen, by Arthur Miller , Willy Loman strives to reach the American dream by becoming a successful salesman. But Willy comes off as a very ignorant and rash person. He believes that everything that he does is the right way to do it and that his method of reaching success is the best. Because of his bad personality, it effects the choices that Willy makes later on contributes to his death. Willy’s definition is success is defined by how much people like you, not by the work ethic or ability you possess. As said in pg. 33 “Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, is the man who creates personal interest is the man who gets ahead.” Willy, like any other father, is the role model to his family. He constantly tells Biff and Happy that they need to be liked by people in order for them to be successful, this leads to another problem, with Biff. Biff is also trying to reach success but in the football world, he is going to go to the University of Virginia to play football but he is struggling in his math class. Biff needs to pass his math class by going to summer school but his dad brings up the fact that he