The American dream in Death of a Salesman

The American dream is a major theme in the play and Miller explains the perceptions and expectations of the people using various characters. Miller brings the idea that one can become successful despite having started at nothing. The American dream is thus presented through a salesman who starts with nothing but ends up being successful in the field of business. Since the concept of the American dream is a visualization that is outdated, Miller uses the character Willy and his relentless pursuit for the ideal American dream as a symbol with the aim of showing that the false illusions of the American dream could lead someone down the destructive path of self-destruction, suicide, and abandonment of their family. In the play, Miller gives the audience an opportunity to distinguish between reality and what is not real regarding the American dream.

According to Brook Atkinson, "Willy has always believed in something that is unsound. He has assumed that success comes to those who are "well liked" as he puts it. He does not seem to be much concerned about the quality of the product he is selling. His customers buy, he thinks, because they like him. Because he is hale and hearty and a good man with jokes" (qt in Bentley 730). According to Willy, achieving this status in life is a desire and a goal that he focuses on and hopes to accomplish as he leads his life as a salesman. Miller also uses Willy's brother Ben as a symbol of the success that Willy would want to achieve in life. When Willy talks to Happy about Ben, he says, "The men knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he's rich!!"(1.

based on this statement, it is clear that this is the kind of an achievement that would make Willy feel that he has achieved the American dream. Since Ben was rich, Willy felt that he had succeeded in life and he was also determined to get to his level of achievement. All this happens because Willy has a wrong perception of the American dream and he feels that being liked is one of the ways to succeeding in the dream and at the end, Bill does not help Biff. Willy, therefore, commits suicide because he fails to accomplish some of his goals in the American dream. Willy commits suicide because he believes that his money and other assets will assist Biff in becoming successful in life and in achieving the American dream.

Willy has two sides of the American dream where he sees it through success in business and in the rural areas where being liked by people would also contribute to its achievement. Rodham in regards to this states that "The strongest emphasis on the pursuit of dreams is in Death of a Salesman which is a play about dreams … For the success dream, Willy's models are Dave Singleman (the perfect ex-salesman), Charley (the friendly neighbor), and Uncle Ben… Even Howard (Willy's boss), whom he single-minded pursuit of ‘success' he turned into a monster, is Willy's ideal. n. p. Youtube, 7 Mai. web. Sept. Web. Sept 2018. Thompson, Terry W. All I Want Is Out There": The Wild West Subtext in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.  The Midwest Quarterly 59.