Death of the American Dream, Essay Example

Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and the Death of the American Dream

In post-World War II America, the “American Dream” was typified by the dream of material success. A home in the suburbs, a car in the driveway, a good job, and the acquisition of al the latest and greatest consumer goods; all these were seen as necessary to happiness. Behind the façade of a homogenous, happy society lay the reality of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear attack from the Soviet Union (Warshauer, 2002). While America may have been a happy place on the surface, the reality was that not everyone could attain the financial success that was supposed to equal happiness. More importantly, Miller seemed not to believe that this materialism was the route to true happiness. In “Death of a Salesman,” Miller took aim at these conventions of happiness, through a portrait of a man who desperately wanted all those things, but didn’t know how to get them (Godfried, 2004).

The main character, Willy Loman, is a traveling salesman. As the play opens, he has just returned home from an unsuccessful sales trip. This seems to be an increasingly common state of affairs for him; we can see that he has not achieved the material success that he craves. In response to his lack of success, he disconnects from reality, and drifts off into daydreams. In one such daydream, he is younger, and just returning from a business trip. Even in his daydreams, though, he is unsuccessful; he at first tells his younger wife that his trip was a success, but eventually relents and admits that it didn’t go well. He complains that the people he met on the trip didn’t like him, and he sees being well-liked as very important.

Willy also laments that his brother (who is now deceased) achieved a measure of success that Willy himself never achieved. He takes these frustrations out on those around him, lashing out at his wife and sons. As his frustration and dissatisfaction grows, he slips further and further into his world of daydreams.

He has a brief moment of seeming happiness, as his sons discuss the possibility of going into business together. This happiness doesn’t last long, though, as he loses his job shortly after. This loss seems to send him further into his daydream world, and he appears to be losing his grip on reality.

He is increasingly lost in daydreams involving his brother, his mistress, and younger versions of himself and his children. It is as if he is haunted by all these people, people who have let him down, and people he has let down. These daydreams seem to be reminders of his failures, of all the times in his life where he could have, or should have, done things differently.

Willy becomes increasingly entangled in a maze of lies, daydreams, and delusions. He is dissatisfied with every aspect of his life. He is disappointed in his sons, his wife, his friends, and most importantly, himself. When he is cut loose from his job, that seems to be the final straw. As his disappointment grows, he descends completely into madness; in the end, he commits suicide. Miller’s story of this one man’s madness serves to reflect his views of the madness of the American Dream.

Works Cited

Godfried, Martin. Arthur Miller: His Life and Work. First . Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004. Print.

Warshauer, Matthew. “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Changing Conceptions Of The American Dream.” American Studies. N.p., 2002. Web. 25 Jun 2010. <http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/American_Dream.htm>.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Print.