The Pursuit Of The American Dream
What is the American Dream? In this land of opportunity, the American Dream means something different for everyone. But no matter what the definition, each person's dream is the key to his or her own capacity to live and develop. It nurtures the excitement of limitless possibilities, helping us to plan, to work, and to ultimately believe in ourselves. This idea is expressed in the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, so what does the American Dream mean to the Loman family?
The answer depends on which character you ask.Willy Loman is supposed to represent the "everyman," and by not specifying the product, the audiences can imagine him as selling many different products, or products that pertain to their own lives. In doing this, Miller has made a connection with his viewers. To the protagonist of the play, the American Dream is the ability to become prosperous by charisma. He believes that personality, not hard work, is the key to success. As scene I progresses, he struggles to reconcile memories from the past with the events of the present.
Because he recollects such wonderful memories of order and success, these qualities should still exist for him in the present. For example, Willy believes he should be recognized and respected at work because he established the company throughout New England and named his own boss. He is not respected, however, because he lost the ability to sell merchandise efficiently. His present world is currently governed by the bottom line.
These are all part of his character. His American Dream was to be successful. He believed the being well-liked could help you charm teachers and open doors. He took the most pride in his son Biff, and still held the hope that the businessman that met Biff years ago would offer him a terrific job.Biff Loman has the potential to pursue the "right" dream -only if he could resolve his inner conflict after discovering his father's infidelity. Biff is pulled by two different dreams.
One dream is his father's world of business, sales, and capitalism. The other dream involves nature, the great outdoors and working with his hands. By the end of the play, he realizes that his father had the wrong dream. Biff understands that his father was great with his hands, but instead chose an empty life. Willy sold nameless, unidentified products as he watched his American dream fall apart.
During his father's funeral, he decides that he will not allow that to happen to himself. He ultimately turns away from Willy's dream and presumably returned to the countryside, where good, old fashioned manual labor would ultimately content his restless soul.Biff and Happy Loman represent the failure in the search of the American Dream. When the two sons make statements like, "I'm thirty-four years old, I ought to be making' my future," and, "Pop, I'm nothing!" They both know that they have not accomplished being successful and they do not have a clue on hard work of how to reach above their parents. Happy Loman is the stunted incarnation of Willy's worst traits and the embodiment of the lie of the happy American Dream. He also believes that the key to the American Dream is through his father.
He is a difficult character with whom to empathize. He is one dimensional and static throughout the play. He lived in the high expectations of his brother; there is no escape from the Dream's lies. He lacked even the tiniest of self-knowledge. He did share Willy's capacity for self-delusion, boasting himself as the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he was only an assistant to the assistant buyer.
He does not possess a hint of the thirst for knowledge that proved Biff's salvation. Happy is doomed and destined to be swallowed up by the force of blind ambition that fuels his insatiable sex drive.Linda serves as a force of reason throughout the play. Linda is probably the most complex character in Death of a Salesman. At first, Linda's search is for good family-relationships.
After the big plans are made for the sporting goods shop, her spirits seem very high because everyone in her family is getting along. She has no aspirations of being rich nor does she have it all. She views freedom as an escape from debt; her reward is the ownership of the material goods that symbolize success and stability. She is the one character that is content with what her family can or cannot accomplish.
Willy's obsession with the American Dream seems to have left her internally conflicted. Linda knows that her husband is on the verge of losing his mind, but she exhibits patience, loyalty, and an eternally submissive nature. For all of these attributes, Linda is left a widow at the end of the play.
At Willy's graveside, she explains that she cannot cry. The long, slow tragic events in her life have drained her of tears. Her husband is dead, her two sons still hold grudges, and the last payment on their house has been made.
There's no one left in their house except a lonely old woman named Linda Loman, who never really got her American Dream.Ben is Willy's adventurous and lucky older brother who is dead, appears in the play as a character in Willy's troubled imagination. He idolizes Ben because he was an adventurer who escaped the world of business and got rich by finding diamonds in the African jungle. Unlike Willy, Ben was able to take a risk and leave the fierce world of ambition and competition.
Willy interprets Ben's good fortune as proof that his dreams of making it big are realistic.The American Dream means something different to many different people. People strive and work so they can reach their dreams. This proved fatal for Willy in the end.
Each character in the play wanted something different than the other, whether it was just being happy or becoming rich and successful.
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