Death of a Salesman the New Millennium

Death of a Salesman

The new millennium has brought with it new and interesting challenges. Our values and ideals have evolved along with the changing times. This is also true of business and the things that constitute success. For these reasons, many have questioned the relevance of literature created during the previous century to the world as it appears today. Such questions have also been raised about Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, which appeared in the period after World War II, during which the United States as superpower attempted to sell the benefits of capitalism as such to its citizens (Siegel, 2012). In a New York Times review, Siegel makes the claim that the only meaning the play has for today's audiences is to give them a sense of superiority over rather than identification with Willy Loman. However, perhaps the play still has more depth to offer, even to today's sophisticated citizens. Today, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman offers its audiences meaning in terms of the ideal of the American dream and the theme of material success.

Willy Loman's concept of the American dream is very specific; however, this does not mean a failure to apply to any other concepts of the same term. For Willy, the American dream concept conforms to the ideal of his time; to be successful, one must be popular. To be successful, one must have things like expensive refrigerators in one's home and children who are at least as successful and popular as oneself. Willy has given his entire life to this ideal of the dream. When it fails, he cannot face the reality of the failure and enters into a type of twilight of denial, where even he believes manufactured "truths" such as that he met the Mayor of Providence, that he was the most popular salesman, or even the best in the industry. He resents all who would open his eyes to the reality of things or even those who would try to help. He gruffly pushes aside Charley's job offer because he cannot face the reality that he needs it. Willy will rather continue living the lie than face the realities and ruin his family faces. This leads not only to his family's breakdown, but ultimately also to his own demise (Cassel, 2006). To apply this to today, the American dream still exists as a concept for many. It may take different forms; for some it is material success, for others it means obtaining a college degree or physical healing from long-term illness. Whatever the dream is, Willy's lesson for us today is not to be crushed when the initial form of the dream fails. It is important to face the reality, start again, and rebuild the dream without letting it crush the dreamer and his loved ones.