Willy Loman And The American Dream

American Dream

Willy Loman is a man on a mission. His purpose in life is to achieve a false sense of the "American Dream," but is this what Willy Loman really wants? In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller analyzes the American Dream by portraying to us a few days in the life of a washed up salesman named Willy Loman. The American Dream is a definite goal of many people, meaning something different to everyone. Willy's version is different from most people though; his is based more on being well-liked and achieving monetary successes rather than achieving something that will make him happy. Willy never becomes part of the "American Dream" because he never follows his true dreams and aspirations. He chooses a career that will make him money,
Willy believes that the only things that are important in life are the successes that he achieved and the amount of friends that he made. This is easily illustrated when Willy says " It's who you know and the smile on your face! ... and that's the wonder, the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked!" (Movie). Success is an important part of the American dream, but Willy puts too much importance on the need to achieve success. He neglects the needs of his family and chooses to remain in the mindset that as long as he is well liked he will achieve success. Although he has lost his ability to sell, Willy continues to believe that as long as he works hard good things will happen to him and his family. Willy's wife Linda realizes this and conveys these thoughts to her sons when she says "He drives seven hundred miles, and when he gets there no one knows him anymore… what goes through a man's mind, driving seven hundred miles home without earning a cent?" (Movie). Willy has delusional ideas about the American Dream. Even in the end Willy still believes that the only thing Biff needs to be successful is some money to start a business. We learn this when Willy says "Can you imagine that magnificence [Biff] with twenty thousand dollars in his pocket?" (Movie). Willy thinks that as long as Biff has some money to start out with he will find it easy to become successful. Biff
Willy is not a salesman at heart, he is happiest when he is working with his hands and Willy never realizes this. After Willy dies, Biff realizes that his father should have worked out in the open, where he could truly be free. We learn this when Biff says, "He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong," and furthermore when Biff says, "He never knew who he was." (Movie). Willy thinks that since he can still conceivably work when he becomes eighty years old that a salesman job is the best vocation he could ever want. Throughout the play, we learn that Willy has obviously made a wrong decision about his career and the fact that he never realizes this is the tragedy in the story. Willy does not think about what he himself wants to do, he thinks more about what others have done and then wants to achieve the same heights they have. Willy is never content with just being himself; he always has to be something better. This is evident when Linda tells Willy "be happy right here, right now. Why must everybody conquer the world? You're well liked, and the boys love you" (Movie). Willy never listens to his heart and because of this, he follows the wrong