Truth Behind the American Dream:

Truth Behind the American Dream:

Studying Death of a Salesman

Few plays personify the heartbreak associated with the American Dream than Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. This play reveals the hardship associated with the American Dream, exposing the fact that hard work and focus are necessary for success. Willy has the dream but he seems to lack the focus and the hard work involved to make his dream come true. No one tells him it takes more than having a dream to make it comes true. He has become a victim of a particular mindset that a dream is enough to make it in America. The Lomans live in post-war America when everything was changing, including the job market. Jobs were more specialized and Willy was not sufficiently qualified in the new, emerging labor force. Death of a Salesman represents the challenges often overlooked when pursuing the American Dream.

Willy's problem begins in his mind. Willy Loman is living in an age where the workforce is changing and, while he might not realize it, this change affects him deeply because he must learn to either grow with change or be left behind. Willy chooses to live in a fantasy rather than change his work habits or learn something new. Society is not lenient when it comes to age, either and Willy seems to think his age will have no affect on him. He is comfortable with his dream and does not want to alter his lifestyle to be successful. Willy needs to face facts but doing so can be one of the most painful things a person can do. For many, it is easier to tell oneself and everyone else lies H.C. Phelps writes, "Willy's suicide was just the last in the series of futile, misguided gestures that made up his life" (Phelps). The tragedy is that Willy did not see his dream come true and he was not what we would call a bum. He did get up and go to work each day but that was not enough and Willy could not see that. He also could not see how changing his ways or his attitude might help him. Willy believes someday, he will "knock Howard for a loop" (1070-1) and "get an advance, and I'll come home with a New York job" (Miller 1071). He also thinks things will turn around and he will never have to "get behind another wheel" (1071) again. Willy cannot change anything about himself until he accepts certain truths and he leaves those truths far behind.

Willy's life represents how the American Dream can fail through the failing of his family. Willy Fails Linda, who has been nothing but deveoted to him his entire life. Which, by the way, is more than Willy can say. Linda keeps the houehold afloat when Willy is away from home and she supports him even though she must see in what direction his life is headed. She is hoping for the dream of them sitting through the retirement years together and is holding out for that. She endures his mood swings and pipedreams but this does her no good. He keeps her in the dark about his feelings and, in the end, he cannot bear the truth of his life, so he takes it thinking nothing about what it will do to her or his kids. At his funeral, she tells her children, "First time in thirty-five years we were just about free and clear" (Requiem 1112). The dream now has no chance of ever coming true. Willy's children are another example of how this American Dream has failed. Willy passes his bad habits onto his children and the one to suffer for it most is Biff, who cannot seem to find any meaning in his life. He tells Happy he is lost despite the fact he has had "twenty or thirty different kinds of jobs" (1038). He blames his father his personal failure because he, "blew me so full of hot air I could never stand taking orders from anybody! That's whose fault it is!" (1108). Willy's failure extends beyond the workplace and spills over into his family life. This should come as no surprise since the two are closely connected when we think of the American Dream.

Willy does not want to change and this proves to be detrimental to his job, his life, and his family. At the age of 63, Willy decides not to think about change or failure. It is easier to find excuses. For example, he tells Linda, "The trouble was that three of the stores were half-closed for inventory in Boston. Otherwise, I woulda broke records" (Miller 1046). He admits "people don't seem to take to me" (1047) and he is often overlooked and "not noticed" (1047) at work. He does not ever consider changing jobs and we wonder about his practicality. It seems as though he has invested so many years into his sales job that he refuses to back out. So, he does not back out and stays in the same rut for years. He lies to himself to make things seem better but the truth is never far behind. John Gassner claims that the play bridges the "gap between a social situation and human drama" (Gassner 339). The social circumstance is the appeal of the American Dream and the human drama is Willy's failure. We see how Willy failed and we see how he pushed his twisted way of thinking onto his sons but we realize he is not an evil man. He is a failure and while this may sound harsh, we learn from Willy just how easy it is to fall into this trap. Willy believes in the ease of the American Dream, believing the country is "full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England . . . I have friends" (Miller 1044). This lie is far too easy for Willy to believe than the truth is to accept. Willy is too old to change.