...In the past the American Dream was an inspiration to many, young and old. To live out the American Dream was what once was on the minds of many Americans, however soon afterward those same dreams were twisted with corruption. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was presented as a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live. The idea that the American Dream was about the wealth and the possessions one had been ingrained, somehow, into the minds of Americans during the 1920’s. As a result of the distortion of the American Dream, the characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby along with many others, lived life fully believing in the American Dream, becoming completely immersed in it and in the end suffered great tragedies. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the story of the failure of a salesman, Willy Loman. Although not all Americans are salesmen, most of us share Willy’s dream of success. We are all partners in the American Dream and parties to the conspiracy of silence surrounding the fact that failures must outnumber successes. Miller amalgamates the archetypal tragic hero with the mundane American citizen. The result is the anti-hero, Willy Loman. He is a simple salesman who constantly aspires to become 'great'. Nevertheless, Willy has a waning career as a salesman and is an aging man who considers himself to be a failure but is incapable of consciously admitting it. As a result, the drama of the play lies not so...
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...Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman follows the family of the Lomans, in their small home in Brooklyn surrounded by high-rise apartments. Willy Loman, a 63 year old salesman has arrived back home exhausted from his recent business trip. He is greeted by his loving wife, Linda, and she encourages him to ask his boss, Howard Wagner, to allow him to work within the city. Their two sons, Biff and Happy, are visiting and staying at the Loman house. Biff, thirty-four years old, is caged by his father’s expectations. Despite being believed by Willy of having great potential as a child, Biff remains unsettled but dreams of working on a ranch in the outdoors. In contrast, Willy remains situated in the city in hopes of finding success in the American dream like his deceased brother Ben, who unexpectedly found a diamond mine in Africa. Happy Loman, despite being two years younger than Biff, is considerably...
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...Willy Loman: Victim of the American Dream Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the tale of Willy Loman, a man who falls from the top of the capitalism system in a resonant crash. Being controlled by his fears of the future, and stuck in his memories of the past, Willy fully contributes to his self-victimization by putting little blame on his own mistakes. Although Willy is perceived as selfish, it is important to see that he is misguided. His character is one of a common man, he has never been anything special, but he chose to follow the American Dream and continue the “destiny” it gave him. However, in my reading of the play, I feel it was not an unlucky destiny that pushed Willy to damage his own life and the lives of his family, but rather the flawed source of dreams given for a good life. Willy, a man so consumed with the hopeful vision of a better life, is clearly a victim to the deterioration of the American Dream. The historical context for Death of a Salesman is set in post- World War II America, so one may expect the country to be in a state of mourning. However, America did not suffer as horribly as Europe did, and Miller comments on this in his piece, Timebends. “There was a smell in the air of a new American Empire in the making, if only because, as I had witnessed, Europe was dying or dead, and I wanted to set before the new captains and the so smugly confident kings the corpse of a believer.” In this case, Willy Loman is the believer, and Miller is...
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...Death of the American Dream What is the “American Dream”? Does everybody have the same dream; does everybody want the same thing? Does everyone who tries for his or her dream achieve it? This unit we have read and discussed different literature that has dealt with aspects of the “American Dream”. Two of those texts that have had the most impact on me personally and my vision of my dream were “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller and “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These two pieces of literature deal with aspects of each of the main characters pursuit of what they feel is their “American Dream”. It’s safe to say that both of these depictions end in a sorrowful way; with both of the main characters realizing that their dream won’t be fulfilled. Both of these authors show how the typical American Dream of having wealth and glory won’t bring one true contentment; it is this aspect of the “American Dream” that both of the main characters of the stories strive to attain. It seems that with every greedy aspiration for the “American Dream” comes unfulfilled lives and missed experiences; for this is what happens to Dexter Green in “Winter Dreams” and Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman”. The two texts portray the false determinations and unrealistic visions that can plague a man or woman with a strong thirst for the “American Dream” and end up leading a person to the edge of destruction. This thirst for the “American Dream” can blind someone from recognizing...
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...Andrew Fishman American Prison Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, wants to live the American dream. He is consumed with his own misguided beliefs regarding success, which causes his life to be similar what Wyoming Senator Craig L. Thomas said about the American Dream: “You stuff Someone into the American dream, and it becomes a prison.” Willy’s obsession with the American Dream, believing that being well liked equates with success, keeps both he and his sons in a state of emotional immaturity. These beliefs causes the American Dream to be a prison. The Loman family’s American Dream becomes their prison, constructed of deception and false pride. They cannot escape their immature behavior of manipulating, lying, and bragging, never realizing that this behavior prevents them from success. The Loman Family is so caught up on the American Dream that they give up happiness for the business world, they do this even though the do not like to be in business. Throughout the book Willy is so concentrated on teaching his kids the American Dream that he and his kids fails to recognize their aspirations which causes them to continually be stuck in their American Dream prison. As Willy and Happy are locked up in the prison Biff realizes that he is not a business guy and that allows him to be happy. Willy is too stuck in the idea of the American Dream and the narrow minded approach of success to do what he wants. One example of this...
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...Kennedy Nabors Mrs. Dale AP English IV 24 November 2012 The Odyssey of Realism All throughout literature and script has been used as a means to describe or make a point to an audience. In American literature, the focus of these devices has become the use of language, aesthesis, truth, expression, fiction, and affectiveness. In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller’s stylistic devices convey not only bitter deception and bleak despair, but also hopeless despondency and forlorn anguish to display the realism and iniquity of the common man. As a representative form of American realism, Death of a Salesman portrays the use of language to convey a feeling of acrimony that demonstrates the relationship between the ideas of Willy Loman and the American common man. Willy Loman as the protagonist and the antagonist of his own story creates the sense of language that develops the idea of being “liked and you never will want” stating the façade of the Willy’s society (Miller 21). While communicated to the audience through a form of realism, his language functions as the crevice between the real and non-real. As development of language continues sometimes Willy Loman’s clichés “rise to the level of pure poetry” (Roudane 369). The use of language constructs poetic symbolism and closes the gap between non-realism and realism. Throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain utilizes a poignant sense of diction reciprocating the slang the common man used in the Antebellum South...
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...individuals like Willy Loman that has propelled the American Economy to global dominance, but Arthur Miller’s classic work “Death of a Salesman” begs the question: at what cost? What does it do to a person, this desperate need to “be number one man?” Each of Willy’s sons draw a different lesson from his life and their assertions about how one should live offer a compelling choice for modern readers. A psychological need to be the best, a deep desire for being universally liked, and an irrational longing to impress strangers with wealth and status are heavy burdens to carry – especially when they are inherited from parents and internalized at a young age. Willy Loman is deeply unhappy and this largely stems from the fact that his perception of himself and what he deserves does not line up with the realities of his life. He seems to have been a moderately successful salesman over the years until things began to almost imperceptibly turn against him. His emphasis on being liked comes at the expense of being respected. He has wholly bought in to the ‘rat race’ of industrial capitalism. His view of neighborly relations is a competitive one that mirrors his workplace philosophy, he is obsessed with “keeping up with the joneses.” Willy could have been very happy doing what he was passionate about which was carpentry, home repair, and handyman style work. Instead he chose to chase the almighty dollar in pursuit of an empty and frivolous lifestyle. Willy Loman understands on...
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...Willy Loman - A Tragic Hero Is dying a way to become a tragic hero? According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is defined as a literary character who makes a judgement error that leads to his/her own destruction. Most tragic heroes hold a position that is of a noble stature. Willy Loman is the main character in the play, Death of a Salesman and displays the rise and fall of a tragic hero. Many people may not consider Willy a tragic hero because he is not of high social class and he is like the millions of other Americans trying to living the American dream. However, because he portrayed the characteristics of being a failure and making mistakes, by the end of the play the audience witnesses what Aristotle called “Hamartia” Death of a Salesman can be considered a tragedy. In the play, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, we learn about the main character, Willy Loman, the pity that Willy should receive, and the thought of the main character. Aristotle discusses the idea of hamartia, which he defines as a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero of heroin. Willy’s stubbornness and excess pride could be considered as such. Often, Willy had to borrow money to pay their bills. Linda told Biff, “When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it’s pay?”(633). Guilt and feeling like a failure not supporting his family led to Willy’s daydreaming. Willy’s inability to admit that he needs help creates worry and tension in...
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...living in Brooklyn, New York during the 1940’s. The play is a scathing critique of an American society that places emphasis on hollow materialistic values. Arthur Miller personifies the struggle between what society believes to be the “American Dream” and the middle class family trying to make that dream a reality, through the play’s protagonist Willy Loman, who is a depressed, overworked, and spiritless working man with delusions of grandeur. Originally written as a short story, Arthur Miller’s uncle (who was a salesman) inspired him to turn the story into a play. When the drama hit Broadway in 1949 it was a total hit and transformed Miller’s career, as well as gained him recognition as a gifted playwright, with the production winning the Pulitzer Prize that year and has remained a classic to this day. Chasing the “American Dream” Willy Loman is the play’s tragic hero and as the story line progresses the audience gets to learn how truly depressed Willy Loman is and how he has an unrealistic view on the world. The play starts with Willy coming home early from work because of a business trip to New England he has cut short. He tells his wife that he kept finding himself daydreaming while he was driving and drifting off the road. He appears tired, worn out and spiritless right from the beginning and his wife is worried and concerned for his well being. The character of Willy Loman symbolizes the plight of the middle class working man living in New York City and early...
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...In theatrical literature it is common to find playwrights utilizing their past experiences, especially the ones of their youth, to craft stories. Arthur Miller, the most produced American playwright of all time, is no exception. Born in 1915, Miller grew up in Harlem as the son of working class Jewish Immigrants who, like many others, faced financial struggle in pursuit of the “American Dream”. At the age of fourteen, Arthur Miller’s family lost nearly everything due to the recent Wall Street Crash of 1924. Miller experienced some of the same struggles while growing up that the Loman family deals with in his hit play Death of a Salesman. Living on paycheck to paycheck and working odd jobs to save up for college had perhaps motivated much of the material in his plays....
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...the American Dream Family relationships, in many literary works, are often essential to the entire plot; not only is there hardship and agony, but confrontation and conflict that arise in the family. The pressures brought upon growing up a particular way, in addition to succeeding are all a reflection based off the parents themselves, and there standards. In Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” the relationship between Willy and his sons, Biff and Happy Loman can be considered -- not “typical.” It is a relationship based on success and the persistence to lead a life, that in reality, cannot be lived. Willy and his relationship with his sons is determined by parental pressure, struggles within himself, and the American Dream. During multiple father-son relationships, there are plenty of times where a father thinks he knows best, which may or may not be true. Willy however, strictly imposes his lifestyle on his two sons and will not approve of anything different; he has illustrated his values, as well as pressured them to become what he wants. Despite his desire, Willy believes that, “Biff Loman is lost. In the greatest country in the world a young man with such -- personal attractiveness, gets lost. And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff -- he’s not lazy” (1215). Willy Loman does not understand that Biff’s potential stopped short because of him; he continues to believe that Biff has not lived his dream, just to indulge himself. The consistent strain Willy put...
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...would like to be, what he is, what he is not, and yet what he must live and die with.” –John Mason Brown (Brown 207) The Two Sides of America and Willy Loman America is a madman. America became a man who fell off his rocker and is free to roam the earth to disturb the minds of those who inhabit it. The American dream is often considered a fantasy by those who criticize it. Capitalism sometimes may not be all that it is cracked up to be when you get down in the dirt and start building. Even when you begin to believe you are moving forward you can be eternally unsure of the direction you are moving. At this point, the race to the top can drive you crazy. In Arthur Miller’s play A Death of a Salesman, the central character Willy Loman embodies the American dream and he is certainly mad. In the story, Willy works as a growing salesman who is getting older and tiring from travelling for work for small returns. His hard work goes unrewarded as each paycheck goes right into the house which always needs to be serviced and mended. This house as it gets to be paid off after 25 years finally becomes owned by the family who ironically may soon not live in the house together. Willy’s family consists of his humble and caring wife, Linda, and his two handsome and able-bodied sons Happy and Biff. The story centers around the external conflict of Willy pushing Biff to be what he wants him to be and Biff’s internal conflict of what it is he would like to do with his life. Death of a Salesman is...
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...falls from high authority and often it is predetermined by fate, while the audience experiences catharsis (Bloom 2). Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman is considered to be a tragedy because this literary work has some of the main characteristics of the tragedy genre. In this play, the main character Willy Loman possesses such traits and behaviors that lead to his downfall, and the audience experiences catharsis. Willy Loman as a real tragic hero comes to the decision to commit suicide because of serious financial problems of his family (Phelps 79). This play has already been criticized by a number of literary critics who represented different opinions on the plot of the book. The major goal of this paper is to critically evaluate the play Death of a Salesman written by the well-known American writer Arthur Miller, paying special attention to the play’s characteristics of a tragedy. In the play Death of a Salesman, the author investigates human nature and represents his main character as a person whose dissatisfaction with his own life leads to his tragic end. The plot of this literary work is rather simple. The play consists of two acts. In the first act, Willy Loman, the main character of Miller’s play returns home from New York. It is found that his goal was to travel to Boston, but he could not achieve this goal and returned home. The author of the play states that Willy’s personal dissatisfaction is the result of the tension in interpersonal relations...
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...carefully describe each significant location to the reader. Miller’s first description portrays Brooklyn, the setting of the Loman household with a gentle flute melody playing in the background, ‘it is small and fine, telling of grass and trees and the horizon’. The house is described as being ‘small and fragile-seeming’ with ‘towering angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides’. This detailed description conveys to the reader that there is a sense of claustrophobia and inferiority, suggesting that this house is out of place in the daunting city. The opening location of Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ serves as a foil to ‘Death of a Salesman’, as it outlines the beauty of the Salinas River in rural California. There are however some links between the two introductions; the Salinas River is described as ‘twinkling over the yellow sands in the moonlight’, which directly opposes the description of Brooklyn ‘an angry glow of orange’ in scene one of ‘Death of a Salesman’. Rural California seems to be a very still and peaceful place where wildlife such as rabbits, raccoons and deer are able to thrive amongst ‘sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool’. Steinbeck then describes the Gabilan Mountains surrounding the valley, ‘strong and rocky’ which relate directly back to the ominous skyscrapers looming over the Loman household. Whereas Of...
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...Through out the history of American society, and still today, many people live their lives solely in pursuit of achieving “the american dream”. This idea of chasing the “american dream” and the belief that one will only accomplish true happiness when in the midst of a life filled with complete success, is one often held and many times praised through out cultures. However, American Beauty by Alan Ball and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller shine the “american dream” in a different light. A crucial reality is revealed through these two films, they depict that actual joy in life is not achieved by being entirely successful or obtaining all of the material things that one could want but rather being content with the small pleasures in life....
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