Willy Loman was 'caught-up' in this American Dream. It causes business to develop in the world. Capitalism and also the profit motive and competitive instinct, makes Willy have a weakness in his personality. This weakness was caused by a combination of business pressures. Willy wants to prove himself through successes a salesman, but as he fails, his own life destroys him.
The significance of this scene is the fact that now there are no lies and his children and wife can see for themselves, how weighed down he really was by the American Dream. The American dream offered people a chance to achieve riches even if they had started penniless. Becoming wealthy in all aspects required characteristics of charisma, masculinity and competitiveness, having these meant you were on the right road to success. This could be an indication to the audience, showing us that these are the main reasons why Willy pressurizes his sons to be more successful with their personalities than their education as this is his way of living, and his way of learning how to grow up to be successful forces Willy to live his façade. “Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead.
Poverty becomes un-American because the mythology of the day decrees, that in America you become wealthy if you are enterprising, and you work hard enough, and anybody that does not manage to bring themselves out of poverty is of a lesser pedigree. This idea begins to
Gatsby says, “I can’t say anything in his house, old sport” (?). Gatsby does have money, but it isn’t the kind that allows him into Daisy’s world. Tom knows that his wealth gives him a lot of power and influence and this is what lures Daisy into marrying him. In describing Tom’s wealth Nick says,” His family was enormously wealthy- even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach” (6). This wealth and power makes him believe he should get whomever he chooses.
This reveals the tragic side of the American Dream, where it does not bring anticipation, but affliction. In contrary to this, the play also demonstrates the prosperous version of the American Dream, through Willy’s brother, Ben, whose wealth is an example of tangible success.Ben is not alive and is a figment of Willy’s troubled imagination. He gloats and says, ‘Why, boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God, I was rich!’ The material wealth and pervasiveness of capitalism in American society drives Ben into giving up his intention of looking for his father, and instead, flourishing economically. Willy associates Ben with qualities that he himself severely lacks Realtiyvs Illusion Willy has dreams of material success, notoriety and has a misguided notion of the American Dream.
Being Well Liked Motif Willy is at the bottom of the totem pole in a capitalistic world. He owns nothing, and he makes nothing, so he has no sense of accomplishment. Robbed of this, he develops the theory that if a person is well liked and has a great deal of personal attractiveness, then all doors will automatically be opened for him. Willy built his life around these dreams. However, for Willy to live by his ideals necessitates building or telling many lies, and these illusions replace reality in Willy's mind.
In this essay, I am going to discuss the contrasts of Miller’s use of dream and reality throughout the Death of a Salesman. It will explore Miller’s use of various dreams against the realities of life as a function to show the downfall of the protagonist of the play, Willy Loman, as well as the effects of this on his family. The Death of a Salesman is set in post World War II America, where the great economic boom of the 1920s had made an overnight success of many people. It was a capitalist society where people of every class could hope for better equality and influence. Out of these times, rose the representation of The America Dream.
Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The American Dream Willy believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the American Dream—that a “well liked” and “personally attractive” man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Oddly, his fixation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and likeability is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work without complaint as the key to success. Willy’s interpretation of likeability is superficial—he childishly dislikes Bernard because he considers Bernard a nerd. Willy’s blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life.
In Willy’s eyes, he is already immortalized, a martyr who serves as the spokesman for a noble cause. In being well-liked and remembered, Willy is validated by the love of others through ways in which his family cannot. As a result, he overlooks the human side of Singleman, envisioning him as a happy man when in truth he may have been just as troubled as Willy himself. Ironically enough, Willy’s most coveted position of salesman is one he is
This play focuses on hopes, ambitions, dreams and the American Dream as I will discuss in the following essay. In a sense, through his main character Willy Loman, Miller examines the myth of the American Dream and the shallow promise of happiness through material wealth. During the 1920’s a euphoric period came about when people dreamed of becoming wealthy and invested heavily in the stock market. This term was dubbed The Roaring Twenties. In 1929, the Wall Street Crash brings the Roaring Twenties to an end and in 1930 came the American depression, which created mass unemployment, homelessness and starvation.