The American Dream (Outline/Notes) American Dream Themes: To attain the American Dream‚ you must have: • Working people making pretty good livings • Steady Jobs • Rising pay • Benefits/Healthcare • Retirement payments • Can afford to buy a home + pay off the mortgage • Hope that your kids do better than you Corrupt American Dream: A corrupted American Dream involves: • Corrupt big bosses • Working people barely scraping by‚ and not making what they
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Death of A Salesman Introduction American is a capitalist society in which everyone is dispensable‚ where new is seen as being better: A place where people are valued by material things and not by their personality. The American dream rules America‚ believing that with hard work and a belief in yourself you can achieve your goals in life‚ money and many friends. Many people have tried to live the dream‚ but few have achieved it after all a dream is only a dream. Death of a Salesman is
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The American Dream can be defined as a national ethos of the United States‚ a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success‚ and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work. Willy Loman‚ the protagonist of the play Death of a Salesman‚ believes wholeheartedly in the idea that a ‘well liked’ and ‘personally attractive’ man in business will indubitably acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. This however is a skewed perspective of
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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
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The Failure of the American Dream The vision of a successful life in a perfect society was a goal for many middle class Americans in history. It was an ideal that most people of the twentieth century focused on and that they tried to attain for themselves. The controversy of the American Dream has been a prominent discussion in the eyes of many critics‚ especially when attesting to the fact on how it affects those that believe in it. Certain characters in literature develop a false sense of reality
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Death of a Salesman essay This essay explains the relevance and importance of dreams in the play; “Death of a Salesman”. There are three different types of dreams that each are very important in this play‚ these are; hopes and ambitions‚ daydreams and fantasies and the American dream. The play is based on Willy Loman who tries to achieve the American dream‚ but never accomplishes it‚ which distorts his reality‚ turning it into false fantasies. The American dream is based on being rich‚ being
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In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller‚ the playwright targets the theme of The American Dream and how it affects Willy and his family. Miller uses this time period to help develop the theme of The American Dream within the play. In 1949‚ America experienced an economic boom due to their success in WWII. Miller uses the character of Willy to demonstrate to the audience what the average individual in America was going through. Willy uses Biff as a representation of himself to reflect and
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The Death of a Salesman The American Dream can mean many different things to many different people‚ but in a nutshell they all encompass reaping the rewards of hard work and excellence. The Death of a Salesman‚ by Arthur Miller was written in 1949 and has several aspects that pertain to The American Dream. This text really stood out to me because it is an example of that no matter how hard you work‚ you might not be able to reach The American Dream‚ but can still live in peace. Willy Loman‚ the main
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pursuit of Happiness” (Rakove‚ 77). This was the birth of the American Dream. Immigrants flocked to America in search of a richer and fuller life with happiness. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman documents the downward spiral of Willie Loman’s aspirations and hopes for the American Dream which lead to his suicide. The film “revolves around the last twenty-four hours in the life of Willy Loman‚ a sixty-three-year old traveling salesman whose ideas of success conflict with the reality that he is living”
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Although Death of a Salesman is not a direct critique of the American dream‚ Arthur Miller strives to show the damaging effects of the idea on the lives of the society. Throughout his life‚ Willy Loman has created a distorted image of the American dream‚ which proved to be the cause for his downfall. The protagonist believed that being well-liked‚ as opposed to hard work and ambition‚ is the key to success. The real tragedy is that Loman became so entangled in his dream that he ignored such values
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