"Dreams are the touchstones of our characters." This quote from Thoreau basically states that the dreams of a character define his or her life, whether it be their characteristics or their lifestyle. This statement is prevalent in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. This inspiring novel and play express this lens through the literary elements of theme and characterization.
             While each member of the Loman family is living in denial in one way or another. However, Willy Loman's situation is most disturbing. Willy is incapable of accepting the fact that he is a mediocre salesman. Instead, Willy strives for his version of the American Dream, a main theme in Miller's play. Willy's version of the American Dream revolves around success and popularity, even if he is forced to deny reality in order to achieve it. Instead of acknowledging that he is not a well-known success, Willy retreats into the past and chooses to relive past memories and events in which he is perceived as successful. For example, Willy's favorite memory is of Biff's last football game because Biff vows to make a touchdown just for him. In this scene in the past, Willy can hardly wait to tell the story to his buyers. He considers himself famous as a result of his son's pride in him. This fulfills a great need in his life. According to him, his son has made him well known, and this makes him happy since being popular and well liked is his dream. The success Willie yearns for leads to the denial of his personal failure. Since it is Willie's dream to be successful, he puts on a front to make others believe that he is. This unfortunately makes Willie somewhat believe it as well.
             Willy's dream to be a success also relates the character to the lens using the element of characterization. Since Miller has the salesman dreaming of success but failing, Willy begins to lose his grasp on his dream, the most important thing he has i...