Death Of A Salesman American Dream Analysis

Although there are many themes in the play Death of a Salesman, one that particularly stands out is the idea of the American Dream. This set of ideals, which are recognized nationally in the United States, states that since America is a free land it can offer many opportunities for success. It allows people to move upward or forward on both a financial and social scale. Willy Loman genuinely believes in those ideals, but he ends up seeing them in a delusional way. To him any man who is humane, attractive, and charismatic deserves to achieve success; and therefore will (Miller). Throughout the play, many other characters actually do achieve the American Dream they had. Bernard who was considered a nerd becomes a successful lawyer, Ben discovers diamonds in Alaska and Africa, and Howard Wagner inherits his father’s company (Shmoop Editorial Team). During his lifetime, Willy Loman has difficulty of achieving the financial stability he wished through his dream. He becomes too obsessed with the promise of success that he ends up ignoring things that really matter in his life, like his family (Miller). His superficial interpretation of life leads him to have an emotional deterioration because he cannot tell
Willy want to show, through labor, his worth as an executive and a father to his children. During the nights, Willy desperately tries to grow vegetables, which shows how he is embarrassed that he cannot supply his family and is afraid of what will happen when he dies. Willy believes he is a hard worker, but does not understand why he does not move forward in live. Due to this, he feels like he is not capable to helping his children. This is especially true in relation to Biff. He sees that his formula for the American dream did not work with Biff. He went from being a high school football player to a farmer. He then feels disappointed in not being able to pass his dream on to his child ("Death of a Salesman",