Death Of A Salesman American Dream Essay

One of Arthur Miller’s intentions by writing Death Of A Salesman was to criticize how society defines the American dream and the dream itself. Miller does this through the characterization of Ben Loman. Ben is an entrepreneur who is viewed as a trailblazer and one of “the most compelling images of success” by Willy (Jacobson 249). He signifies one of the few people who can achieve “the rags to riches” version of the dream. “When I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich” (Miller 48). Yet, this doesn’t give Willy an answer to how Ben became wealthy, much less how anyone might. This leads Willy to search for other ways. He has an imaginary conversation with Ben contemplating killing
Willy still looks up to him as a symbol of success and instills these values upon Biff and Happy. “Willy excuses Biff’s stealing a football by arguing, ‘Sure, he’s gotta practice with a regulation ball, doesn’t he?’” (Cardullo 587) However, these shouldn’t be the values that society acknowledge and follow. Miller criticizes society’s decay in their moral system and how the dream forces people to compromise these principles. Ben also didn’t achieve success through a world of love, aid, and loyalty. Rather he was “indifferent to social relationships, he needed neither the human warmth of the family nor society’s positive response.” (Jacobson 250) Although Ben is successful, he is all alone. There is no mention of Ben’s family in the play and so one can only infer he lived a lonely life without family or any love. Despite his considerable wealth, he winds up dead in the end, showing the impracticality of the American dream. Even though Ben may be considered a minor character in Death of a Salesman, “he speaks like nothing but a symbol.” (Cardullo 585) His minor actions and quotes give true insight to who he is, and Arthur Miller’s messages and