Arthur Miller is regarded to be one of the influential American play writers in the history of American literature. He is very popular in the across theatres in America, and most of his compositions that have premiered are regarded to be classics. The famous plays titled "Death of a Salesman" is critically claimed to be a vivid depiction of the American Dream across theatres in America. According to Murphy, “the play is one of the significant and dynamic work ever witnessed in the American theatre” (p.145). Additionally, Murphy pointed some scathing attacks on some of the core values in the American culture. The American Dream is at the center stage of this play, and it thus serves as the underlying theme of the play "the Death of a Salesman."
The play is set in the late 1940s in Brooklyn, and it follows the final days in the life of unlucky and unsuccessful salesman named Willy Loman. The salesman had to go through a lot of struggles in the endeavor to achieve success. The play starts with the late night arrival of the salesman from an unsuccessful business trip. He is at the point of fatigue where he is not only able to carry on with his activities but also vacillates in between the past and the present (Murphy and Brenda p.156).
The American Dream
The overall perception of this theme, the American Dream, is aligned with the notion that, through hard work, anything and everything is easy to achieve. According to Murphy in the light of the American Dream, the dream is all about the acquisition of land where life should be perfect, more vibrant and full of opportunity for everyman (p.160). It is a challenging dream for the majority of people to interpret it adequately, and a good number of people have turned not completely to trust and believe in this dream. It is not merely a dream of expensive cars or even high salaries but a vision of social status and recognition where every human being aims at acquiring a full stature of which each is innately capable. The driving force towards this desire is the need for societal recognition without necessarily considering the fortuitous conditions of position or even birth.
The “American Dream" is a false belief that through pioneered virtues involving hard work, ingenuity, perseverance, and endurance, then one can achieve extreme happiness through tremendous wealth (Carpenter p.26) This is the aspiration of every individual as everyone wants to achieve success regardless of the means used. The idea of the American Dream as portrayed by Arthur Miller can be viewed in two different perspectives; the historical dream as well as the success of a business dream (Carpenter p.28). For instance, in the current society, the most significant achievement is perceived to be when one has the best house or when one lives with stable employment that allows one to cater for the bills as well as living a decent life. This is regarded to be a historical dream. Similarly, when one is in a position to earn more than enough to cater for a daily expense, then the achievement is regarded to be a business success. Willie Loman had accomplished the historical dream by having an adorable house, stable job, car, and a family but he is not satisfied with this success. He aspires for business success dream, and he gets that he is not doing enough to achieve this and in the process of the struggles, he breaks his family.
Willy had already achieved his historical American Dream, although his obsessions couldn't allow him to realize it. For instance, when he was opting to go together with his sibling in search of their father, he came across Dave Single man. In the process, he learned a lot about this old but successful man and this view of peacefulness and a fruitful career prompted him to reevaluate his steps (Eisinger p.87). He opted to follow the same path taken by Dave with a belief of achieving an equal success rate, and he thus decided to be a salesman. After thirty years of toiling and devotion, he realized that he had not reached the same feat (Carpenter p.122). According to Willy, the disparity between a blue-collar job as well as a white collar job had a lot of bearing on him though he did little to acquire a white-collar job. His job as a salesman provided him and the family a notable achievement that majority of the people would yearn. However, “Willy wanted more success, and he offered to teach his children his perception of seeing life with the belief that they would follow his footsteps and accomplish the business dream that he longed for” (Eisinger p.97).
In the play, Willy's comprehension of success is primarily portrayed via his actions and words. One of the typical phrases with an underlying conception of this is when he gave his opinion regarding Charley's business, “bigger than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not liked, he is liked, but he's not completely liked" (Sickels p.77). The idea of being fully regarded and liked is the underlying notion of a successful life. Willy makes another assertion in a statement that gives a clear depiction of his point of view and the concept of being admired: "because an individual who makes an impressive appearance in the business world, is the man who arouses personal interest and thus gets ahead of the others" (Sickels p.79). These phrases give a clear insight into the value of being cherished as opined by Willy. In his thoughts and mind, it is the fundamental factor towards the achievement of success.
Willy's misplaced dreams shattered the aspirations of Loma family after he lost his job and instead of opting to look for an alternative one, he chose to stay at home. He duped his family how the company highly regarded him while at that particular time he was working on commission (Sickels p.125). Willy later evaluated his years and saw that his old age couldn’t make him accomplish the business success, he thought that to reach to this success height of achieving the American Dream was via committing suicide. As his son Biff puts it, his dad saw himself to be a hero if he took his own life.
Conclusion
Nonetheless, the idea of the American Dream is not vividly expressed or highlighted in the play, Arthur Miller took great aspiration from the American community, and this is depicted via the incorporation of characters in the play. There are some renditions involving the American Dream in “Death of as a Salesman” in which “Willy Loman himself gives us the corrupt version of the American Dream” (Eisinger p.105). As a result, Arthur Miller underlines the fact that his main character Willy does not portray a tragic legend but a modern tragic legend as well as a pathetic hero in the 1940s. His quest is driven by the desire to achieve self-identity as a result of the challenging outcomes of the already commercialized world.
Work cited
Carpenter, Charles A. "A Selective, Classified International Bibliography of
Publications About the Drama and Fiction of Arthur Miller." The Arthur Miller Journal 6.1 (2011): 25-125.
Eisinger, Chester E.” Focus on Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: The Wrong
Dreams”. Critical insights: Death of a Salesman. Ed. Brenda Murphy. California: Salem Press, 2010. 85-105. Print.
Murphy, Brenda. Ed. Critical insights: Arthur Miller. California: Salem Press, 2011.
145-289.Print
Sickels, Amy. “Arthur Miller´s Death of a Salesman: History of criticism.” Critical
insights: Death of a Salesman. Ed. Brenda Murphy. California: Salem Press, 2010. 76-91. Print
