The American Dream

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The American Dream, an individual’s opportunity to achieve success, wealth and prosperity. Every person hopes to achieve this lifestyle but unfortunately for many, the American Dream has become a nightmare. This is clearly evident for Willy Loman, the main character in the play, who profoundly believes that the American Dream is attainable for himself solely based on his ability to be well-liked and respected. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman focuses on loss of identity and a man’s failure to accept social change, which inevitably blinds him from the truth he is seeking. Marxist theorists can clearly view the negative aspects that capitalism can cause, with the main example being Willy. He has become consumed with the capitalistic ideals …show more content…
CHARLEY: It was a very nice funeral. LINDA: But where are all the people he knew? Maybe they blame him.” (Miller 137). Linda could not understand why no one came to her husband’s funeral. She held her husband in such high esteem and always believed that he was very well respected amongst his peers, when in reality Willy was not a respectable man at all. He was not honest with his wife and at one point had an affair with another woman behind her back. The devotion Linda showed her husband was one of the main reasons why they were never able to escape their proletarian lifestyles. Willy received lots of positive reinforcement from her and that reassured that his way of thinking and the way he behaves in life was not wrong. If Willy had been more sincere with his wife, she may have had a better understanding of the struggles he was dealing with and not supported his obsession for capitalist ideals. Instead he “kept her in the dark” about his problems and his eventual suicide took a massive toll on …show more content…
Biff understands that his father’s thought process is wrong and he knows that adhering to it will only further oppress his life. Biff feels as though he must seek the truth about himself, he acknowledges his failures and eventually confronts them, something his father could never do. “BIFF: Well, I spent six or seven years after high school trying to work myself up. Shipping clerk, salesman, business of one kind or another. And it’s a measly manner of existence. To get on that subway on the hot mornings in summer. To devote your whole life to keeping stock, or making phone calls, or selling or buying. To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two week vacation, when all you really desire is to be outdoors with your shirt off. And always to have to get ahead of the next fella. And still—that’s how you build a future.” (Miller 22). Biff struggles with the immense competition and pressure of achieving the American Dream, but he still holds it as a truth that he must take a path that may be difficult for him, to find success. He greatly desires a life that is more basic, a working class way of life that his dad sees as not good enough for him. Willy does not approve of Biff’s desires as he still whole-heartedly believes in his distorted perception of reality
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