The Death of a Salesman and Elements of the American Dream - Literature review Example

American Dream in “The Death of a Salesman” I have decided to choose the theme of the American Dream/Nightmare and discuss how and why this theme is used in the play “Death of a Salesman”. To begin with we must admit that the American Dream and its obvious delusiveness are the main ideas of Arthur Miller’s masterpiece. For my character analysis I would like to choose Biff Loman and Willy Loman because as for me they are the most important characters in the play and their motives are central for understanding the whole concept of the work. On the one hand, American Dream is an illusion; it is too obvious, however, true. But that is not all. American Dream is not an illusion for those who try to achieve it desperately. For those who live or try to live according to American Dream this illusion becomes reality and in this reality, good one or bad one, they lose themselves and exchange their own desires with desires of masses. The desire for fame and prosperity is not a desire of personality, it is a desire of masses. On the other hand working with your own hands in open air in the field is a truly beautiful dream and that is why Biff’s dream was meant to be righteous, his dream went out from his heart and not from the desire to be liked like his father’s. Each main character in this brilliant and incredible social drama has his own imagination of an American dream and their belief in this dream depends on their past and present condition in life and further possibilities or opportunities for improvement and prosperity. For the father of the family, old and sore Willy Loman American Dream is identical to the powerful charisma. In other words for Willy to be liked, respected and well treated is an American dream and everything else like prosperity, success and happiness will follow those who are popular and well liked. For example, when Willy tries to get work in town instead of going on a long trips which he can’t afford because of his age and health condition he relies on his charisma and gets a fired instead of what he was asking for. Willy Loman worked hard all his life and wanted his sons to succeed where he failed even though he didn’t realize it until the end. Willy Loman’s vision of American Dream is completely wrong, and one scene in a very direct way describes his approach towards American dream. It is when Biff speaks about how he made fun of his math teacher because of his lisp and all Willy concerned about is whether kids like it or not: “BIFF: I Crossed my eyes and talked with a lisp. WILLY: (Laughing.) You did? The kids like it? BIFF: They nearly died laughing!” Biff Loman’s vision of American Dream goes in a right direction but he is not sure of himself. His happiness lies in great outdoors, working with his hands on the land, in his own ranch, farm. In other words he is in a condition between the devil and the deep blue sea. His best experience and feeling of inner calm were gained by him during his journey to the west. Another paradox and irony lies in the fact that Willy Loman honors this aspiration towards other places as a kind of promised lands as well. That is because Willy’s father succeeded in Alaska and his brother Ben became rich in Africa. Ben’s quotation about his success in pursue of the American Dream plays a huge role in clearing up true inner motives of the key characters: “BEN: William, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. When I walked out I was twenty-one. And, by God, I was rich!” Ben’s vision of American Dream is not a nightmare as Willy’s reality can seem. But it is also not a one hundred percent sure key to succes as, in my opinion, is Biff’s vision of American Dream. Ben’s succes lies in wild and ruthless struggle for what you want. Eat or be eaten says the law of the jungle, every man for himself and only strongest will survive. That means that in order to achieve such an illusion concept as American Dream one must be wild and unstoppable, doing whatever needs to be done and not taking costs in consideration. One time when Ben comes to Loman’s house he is cheating on Biff during their horsing around and that can symbolically be interpreted as Ben’s policy of the end that justifies the means. Nevertheless Willy stays in the world of business which eventually breaks him apart. It is tragic because following wrong dream Willy not only fooled himself but he also created an illusion of life for his children. Of course none of that was meant to be but this impact of different feelings is why this play is tremendously deep and both emotionally and psychologically motivated from all the perspectives. "After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive." That is very sad and tragic and it reminds me of a great quote by Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger: “When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.” Those wise words can be connected to all those who don’t know what to do and can’t decide at all. Willie has made wrong decision but realized it too late to do better. The life of Biff is still ahead of him and so the oldest son is at the crossroads of his path through this world. "The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and hes rich!" What Ben teaches is take what you want. The problem of Biff is he is not sure of himself what he want. “BIFF: There’s nothing more inspiring or – beautiful than the sight of a mare and a new colt. And it’s cool there now, see? Texas is cool now, and it’s spring. And whenever spring comes to where I am, I suddenly get the feeling, my God, I’m not getting’ anywhere! What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a week! I’m thirty-four years old. I oughta be makin’ my future. That’s when I come running home.” Death (most probably suicidal) of his father is what moves him towards making up his mind. Talking about symbols in the play we should look at the name of Willy Loman. He is called by others Willy and not William and some critics stated that it sounds similar to “will he”. ”Will he?” is a question about the possibility of Willy to change his life or at least the way he understands it. Even if his boss agreed upon his proposition of relocating Willie’s work to his hometown the problem would still remain but of course not is so sharpened way. Loman can be correlated with “low man” but of course such things are not very necessary for understanding and not all as well as not always can be comprehend through names which can be random. Way more important are the symbols like diamonds, stockings and seeds. Diamond represents Ben’s vision of the American Dream, his success and prosperity. Linda’s stockings are in a very bad condition and that reminds us that Willy gave his mistress a pair of new stockings as a gift. So the stockings represent betrayal which shocked Biff. Because he has found out his father’s lie he most probably left summer school and not succeeded as a football player. Attempts of Willy to grow vegetables are similar to his desperate attempts to provide future for his children while in reality he sees it all as a failure which is similar to his own because his father did not help him to become a successful man. “Ive got to get some seeds. Ive got to get some seeds, right away. Nothings planted. I dont have a thing in the ground.” "Before its all over were gonna get a little place out in the country, and Ill raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens..." Desperate attempts to grow something are a substitute for Willie’s failure as a father, as a husband and as man. If look closely we can see that this desperation nevertheless worked out for the better and after all the fact of worrying clarifies that Willy Loman is neither a “low man” nor a “one man army”, he is simply an average person but quotation below talks about it way better: "A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man." "I dont say hes a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. Hes not the finest character that ever lived. But hes a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. Hes not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person." The idea of Willy Loman is very similar to the concept of “ a small man” which appeared in the classic Russian literature during the period ofrRealism. Great Russian writers like Gogol or Chekhov showed us that small and ordinary, plain and simple people can feel great despair too and their lives are as much complicated and even simple day-to-day survival for them is a hard burden. Works Cited Gottfried, M. Arthur Miller: His Life and Work, 2003, Da Capo Press, New York Seneca, L. Moral letters to Lucilius, 2014, Aegitas, New York. Bradford, W. The American Dream in "Death of a Salesman. About.com. Meserve, W. Studies in Death of Salesman. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E., 1997, Merrill Publishing Company. Read More