Willy has a dream that he refuses to give up even when it becomes clear that his dream is shallow, unrealistic and unattainable. The American Dream, a belief that any man can achieve material greatness and subsequent happiness if he works hard enough, if he fights for it, had a personal connotation for Miller, whose uncle was a travelling salesman, and whose father was a wealthy manufacturer before losing his wealth in the Great Depression. His family’s ongoing struggle with poverty certainly influenced this particular work, and others. Willy genuinely believes that that personal attractiveness (constant references to the importance of being “Well liked”) and hard work is enough to guarantee success. His view of success was inspired by Dave Singleman, who at the age of 84 could sell anything to anyone from his hotel room and whose funeral was attended by hundreds of people.
This image is what’s considered the “American Dream”. Miller’s character Willy Loman is the perfect dramatization of many people out there who work hard, yet never seem to quite reach the goal they set for themselves. Willy is a salesman who is convinced that “the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead.” Willy is constantly worried about how he looks and appears to others because in his mind “he is destined for success” and so “he must constantly dress the part,” (Centola 21). Willy’s brother Ben is the ideal man in Loman’s mind. He has the success, the wealth, and the notability that is everything Willy wants for himself and his family.
This leads to Willy fatal flaw in Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy – his hamartia throughout the play – his self delusion. He is obsessed with living the American Dream, with being successful, with materialistic success and being well liked – the whole American Dream. He fails to see that he is the opposite. As Fletcher says in Death of a Salesman ‘ Miller dramatically presents the complex moral world of mid-nineteenth century American values and beliefs’. Juxtaposed to this is his older brother Ben.
Thus, I came to the conclusion: Gilgamesh and Rama’s pride, determination and godly contributions helped to influence their journeys, but the results of their quests differed greatly. The endings to Gilgamesh and Rama’s epics were the only great differences in their characteristics. Rama’s tale ended with him throwing the Brahmasthra at Ravana’s heart, “…where the Brahmasthra entered and ended his career” (“Ramayana” 38), and accomplishing his goal. Even though he won, he seemed to be in a complacent mood. To the contrary, Gilgamesh failed his task.
A once seemingly righteous endeavour suffers a tragic fate, as the growing aspirations of its pursuers overcome its ability to deliver and forces this dream to be fulfilled by material success and careless lifestyles. Jay Gatsby embodies the spirit of the American Dream, yet, ultimately sees its failure because his dream to which he strives is unworthy of the effort he provides. Tom Buchanan is a man of established wealth and extensive social rapport, who aims to keep his American Dream by means of extinguishing the dreams of others. Nick Carraway is a
The wise men Thomas speaks of refuse to resign to their fates as dead men because they have not yet accomplished what they set out to do. Thomas's "lightening" is a representative metaphor of the goals set forth by the strong that serve as motivation to continue living robustly. By idolizing these wise men, Thomas implicates that he desires his father to emulate them; to press on toward anything that may at least give him some purpose besides waiting
Through out the whole movie, Christof is given this, somewhat god like analogy, which merely shows how much control he has. Marlon (Truman’s best friend) is perceived as an injudicious man with an awful job to raise Truman’s self esteem, and keep him on the set. Christof at the end of the movie, speaks to Truman through the clouds as they glow a bright white, to try and convince Truman to stay, simply showing how god like Christof is. Truman’s world is simply the ‘American Dream’. White picket fences, beautifully aligned houses, and the perfect neighborhoods.
An example of this is the scene where Wally is celebrating his son’s likeability, popularity, and athleticism in a flashback to Biff’s high school days. Willy openly scoffs at Bernard’s seemingly nerdy and introverted manner, although most would argue that intelligence and hard work are the best markers for future achievement. However, when we meet Bernard in the present day, he is the definition of success. Wally’s value system is a shallow one, where honesty and intellectual talent are second string to beauty and popularity. This juxtaposition of a boy who was formerly Willy’s definition of the opposite of success, finding success, while his own formerly popular, good-looking son did not was hard for Wally to stomach.
As we know everything in our life depends on freak of chance, but old Anthony thinks that money can decide all problems of his life. Old Anthony is a wealth tycoon of Rockwell’s Eureka Soap. He is very fond and proud of his son Richard. Old Anthony is absolutely sure that money is omnipotent and he tries to convince his son that money can do everything. From one side we can see Anthony and his wealth (his views about real feelings, about love) and from another side we see Richard and his feelings.
Willy drifts fluidly in between reality and fantasy fluidly sometimes having two conversations at once. Willy’s dementia is an important part of this role and attributes to his obsession with success and popularity and especially his denial of failure. Willy has passed on his denial of failure to his sons Biff and Happy who both deceive their parents and themselves about their place in the world. Biff is the only person in the family who has the self-awareness to realize he’s failed. This is a hard realization for anyone to make but especially coming from a success oriented family such as the Lomans where his father emphasized the traits of the businessman.