The American Dream

             We would all like to one day live a life of easy success and wealth. In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream, but he never achieves it. In Arthur Miller's eyes, the American Dream is said to be fulfilled when people have the right to a decent place to live, a fair reward for hard work, and a recognition of their worth as human beings. Willy Lowman is an insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman who constantly fails at achieving the American Dream throughout the story. Death of a Salesman unfolds as Willy's sons do not fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. Willy's desperate quest for the American Dream effects his realistic appraisal of life and ultimately leads to his untimely death.
             Willy believes unconditionally in what he considers the promise of the American
             Dream. He believes that a well liked and personally attractive man in business will indubitably and deservedly aquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. Willy Lowman's obsession with the superficial qualities of good looks and likeability is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work without complaint, as the key to success. Arthur Miller writes,And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want. 'Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty to thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many
             Willy fathoms having people remember and love him as the ultimate satisfaction, because such warmth from business contacts validate him in a way his family's love does not.
             Despite his desperate searching through his past, Willy does not achieve the self-realization or self-knowledge typical of the tragic hero
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The American Dream. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:51, April 20, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/15038.html