AMERICAN DREAM.
American Dream is term usually perceived as success associated with being
materialistically rich and financially sound. Living lives of hard and good times
with the idealization of American dream is actually leading a path of
unhappiness, displeasure and disappointment. The reason for the leading of this
path is the misconception that wealth and success are the most significance
attributes of life whereas the faults and phonies of this idealization is at the cost
of the existence of life without real essence of real feelings and bonding. The
focus in life is mostly on materialistic world.
High education good job, good salary luxurious house expensive cars is no more
the American dream. It has become a way of life in modern man’s perception
towards progressing life.
The term “American Dream” is used in a number of ways, but essentially the
American Dream is an idea, which suggests that all people can succeed through
hard work, and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives.
Many people have expanded upon or refined the definition of the American
Dream, and this concept has also been subject to a fair amount of criticism.
Many people believe that the structure of American society belies the idealistic
goal of the American Dream, pointing to examples of inequality rooted in class,
race, and ethnic origin, which suggest that the American Dream is not attainable
for all.
The idea of an American Dream is older than the United States, dating back to
the 1600s, when people began to come up with all sorts of hopes and aspirations
for the new and largely unexplored continent. Many of these dreams focused on
owning land and establishing prosperous businesses, which would theoretically
generate happiness, and some people also incorporated ideals of religious
freedom into their American Dreams. During the Great Depression, several
people wrote about an American Dream, codifying the concept and entrenching it
in American society.
For people who believe in the American dream, anything is attainable through
hard work. The concept plays on the idea that American is a classless society,
although it is obviously not, as any honest examination of the United States will
reveal. The idealistic vision of the American Dream also assumes that people are
not discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, gender, and national
origin, another thing that is unfortunately not true in the United States.
People with a more skeptical view of the American Dream sometimes say that
the American Dream represents the possibility of living better than your parents
did, and a desire among parents for their children to lead happy lives. This is
especially true in the immigrant community, as many immigrants have come from
extremely difficult circumstances.
Some one who manages to achieve his or her version of the American Dream
may be said to be “living the dream,” and everyone has a unique interpretation of
what the American Dream might be. Fundamentally, the American Dream is
about hope and the potential for change, and one could argue that people, who
enact change in some way, even a small way, are living the dream.
Critics of the American dream also point out that many versions of the dream
equate prosperity with happiness, and that happiness may not always be that
simple. These critics suggest that the American Dream may always remain
tantalizingly out of reach for some Americans, making it more like a cruel joke
than a genuine dream.
Quotes
"There are those who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man
and mind is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American Dream."
~ Archibald McLeish (May 07, 1892 - April 20, 1982)
"A great wave of oppressive tyranny isn't going to strike, but rather a slow
seepage of oppressive laws and regulations from within will sink the American
dream of liberty"
~ George Baumler
“Success is somebody else's failure. Success is the American Dream we can
keep dreaming because most people in most places, including thirty million of
ourselves, live wide awake in the terrible reality of poverty.”
Ursula K. LeGuin quotes (American Writer best known for tales of science
fiction, b.1929)
I Like this quote I dislike this quote” There are those who will say that the
liberation of humanity; the freedom of man and mind is nothing but a dream.
They are right. It is the American Dream.”
Archibald McLeish quotes (American Poet and Critic. 1892-1982)
I ask you to join in a re-United States. We need to empower our people so they
can take more responsibility for their own lives in a world that is ever smaller,
where everyone counts. We need a new spirit of community, a sense that we are
all in this together, or the American Dream will continue to wither. Our destiny is
bound up with the destiny of every other American.
~ Bill Clinton
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller was one of the leading American playwrights of the twentieth
century. He was born in October 1915 in New York City to a women's clothing
manufacturer, who lost everything in the economic collapse of the 1930s. Living
through young adulthood during the Great Depression, Miller was shaped by the
poverty that surrounded him. The Depression demonstrated to the playwright the
fragility and vulnerability of human existence in the modern era. After graduating
from high school, Miller worked in a warehouse so that he could earn enough
money to attend the University of Michigan, where he began to write plays.
Miller's first play to make it to Broadway, The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944),
was a dismal failure, closing after only four performances. This early setback
almost discouraged Miller from writing completely, but he gave himself one more
try. Three years later, All My Sons won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award
as the best play of 1947, launching Miller into theatrical stardom. All My Sons, a
drama about a manufacturer of faulty war materials, was strongly influenced by
the naturalist drama of Henrik Ibsen. Along with Death of a Salesman (his most
enduring success), All My Sons and The Man Who Had All the Luck forms a
thematic trilogy of plays about love triangles involving fathers and sons. The
drama of the family is at the core of all of Miller's major plays, but nowhere is it
more prominent than in the realism of All My Sons and the impressionism of
Death of a Salesman.
Death of a Salesman (1949) secured Miller's reputation as one of the nation's
foremost playwrights. Death of a Salesman mixes the tradition of social realism
that informs most of Miller's work with a more experimental structure that
includes fluid leaps in time as the protagonist, Willy Loman, drifts into memories
of his sons as teenagers. Loman represents an American archetype, a victim of
his own delusions of grandeur and obsession with success, which haunt him with
a sense of failure.
Miller won a Tony Award for Death of a Salesman as well as a Pulitzer Prize. The
play has been frequently revived in film, television, and stage versions that have
included actors such as Dustin Hoffman, George C. Scott and, most recently,
Brian Dennehy in the part of Willy Loman.
Miller followed Death of a Salesman with his most politically significant work, The
Crucible (1953), a tale of the Salem witch trials that contains obvious analogies
to the McCarthy anti-Communist hearings in 1950s America. The highly
controversial nature of the politics of The Crucible, which lauds those who refuse
to name names, led to the play's mixed response. In later years, however, it has
become one of the most studied and performed plays of American theater.
Three years after The Crucible, in 1956, Miller found himself persecuted by the
very force that he warned against, when he was called to testify before the
House Un-American Activities Committee. Miller refused to name people he
allegedly saw at a Communist writers' meeting a decade before, and he was
convicted of contempt. He later won an appeal.
Also in 1956, Miller married actress Marilyn Monroe. The two divorced in 1961,
one year before her death. That year Monroe appeared in her last film, The
Misfits, which is based on an original screenplay by Miller. After divorcing
Monroe, Miller wed Ingeborg Morath, to whom he remained married until his
death in 2005. The pair had a son and a daughter.
Miller also wrote the plays A Memory of Two Mondays and the short A View from
the Bridge, which were both staged in 1955. His other works include After the
Fall (1964), a thinly veiled account of his marriage to Monroe, as well as The
Price (1967), The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977), and The American Clock (1980).
His most recent works include the plays The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The
Last Yankee (1993), and Broken Glass (1993), which won the Olivier Award for
Best Play.
Although Miller did not write frequently for film, he did pen an adaptation for the
1996 film version of The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder,
which garnered him an Academy Award nomination. Miller's daughter Rebecca
married Day-Lewis in 1996.
The Death of A Salesman
Arthur Miller’s The Death of a Salesman is a story of a man whose struggling
efforts to live the American dream are unsuccessful. Willy's efforts to have it all
and live the life of a salesman, like his hero David Singleman unfortunately are
not enough pushing his dreams further away from the reality. Death of a
salesman is a true story and intelligent criticism of the American dream. Willy
Loman's dreams are unattainable thus pointing out that the American Dream can
be insurable for many people.
The Loman displays of dishonesty and immortality prove that the American
Dream can often diminish any respectable values an individual may have.
Processing the finest of everything and placing great importance. The Lomans
are longing to achieve the American Dream itself.
The American Dream and the way Americans wish to live their lives can be
insurmountable for the average person.
Death of a Salesman takes place in New York and Boston. The action begins in
the home of Willy Loman, an aging salesman who has just returned from a road
trip. Willy is having difficulty remembering events, as well as distinguishing the
present from his memories of the past. His wife, Linda, suggests that he request
a job in New York rather than travel each week. Linda and Willy argue about their
oldest son Biff.
Biff and his brother, Happy, overhear Willy talking to himself. Biff learns that Willy
is usually talking to him (Biff) during these private reveries. Biff and Happy
discuss women and the future. Both are dissatisfied with their jobs: Biff is
discontent working for someone else, and Happy cannot be promoted until the
merchandise manager dies. They contemplate buying a ranch and working
together.
At this point, Willy relives several scenes from his past, including the time when,
during high school, Biff admits to stealing a football and promises to throw a pass
for Willy during the game. Willy also remembers his old dream of the boys visiting
him in Boston during a road trip. Finally in his reverie, he relives the time that
Bernard, son of the next-door neighbor Charley, informs Willy that Biff is failing
math and will not graduate unless his scores improve. In this last scene, Willy
listens but dismisses the important news because Biff is "well-liked," and Bernard
is not.
Willy remembers a conversation with Linda in which he inflates his earnings but
is then forced to admit he exaggerated when Linda calculates his commission.
Willy recalls complaining about his appearance and remembers Linda assuring
him that he is attractive. At this point, Willy's memories begin to blend together.
While he is reliving his conversation with Linda, he begins to remember his
conversation with the Woman (a woman with whom he had an affair). He is
unable to separate memories of Linda from the Woman.
The play continues in the present with his neighbor Charley coming over to play
cards. However, Uncle Ben appears to Willy while he is playing cards with
Charley, and Willy relives an old conversation with Ben while simultaneously
talking with Charley. As a result, Willy becomes confused by the two different
"discussions" he is having — one in the present, one in the past — and he
accuses Charley of cheating. After Charley leaves, Willy relives Ben's visit and
asks Ben for advice because he feels insecure since he did not really know his
own father. Willy also remembers instructing Biff and Happy to steal some
supplies from the construction site in order to remodel the porch so that he can
impress Ben.
The play once again returns to the present, in which Biff and Happy talk with
Linda about Willy. Biff and Happy learn that Willy is on straight commission and
has been borrowing money from Charley in order to pay bills. Linda criticizes her
sons for abandoning their father in order to pursue their own selfish desires, and
she gives Biff a choice: Respect your father or do not come home. Biff decides to
stay in New York, but he reminds Linda that Willy threw him out of the house. He
also tells Linda that Willy is a "fake." It is at this point that Linda informs her sons
that Willy is suicidal.
Willy overhears his wife and sons talking, and he and Biff argue. When Happy
describes Biff's plan to open his own business, Willy directs Biff on what to do
during his interview with Bill Oliver. Willy remembers Biff's football games. Before
Linda and Willy go to bed, Linda questions Willy: She wants to know what Biff is
holding against him, but Willy refuses to answer. Biff removes the rubber tubing
Willy hid behind the heater.
The next morning Willy prepares to visit his boss Howard to ask him for a job in
New York. During the meeting, Howard informs Willy that there are no positions
available in New York. Willy reminds Howard that he named him, and he was a
very successful salesman when he worked for Howard's father. Howard remains
impassive and instead fires him.
Upon being fired, Willy begins freefalling into his memories of the past. Willy
recalls Ben's visit once again. This time, Willy asks for advice because things are
not going as he planned. He remembers Ben offering him a job in Alaska. He
accepts, but Linda intervenes and reminds him of Dave Singleman. Willy shifts
from his memory of Ben to Biff's last football game. Willy recalls Charley
pretending he is unaware of Biff's game, and this infuriates Willy. Willy's
daydream ends when he arrives at Charley's office.
Bernard is waiting for Charley in his office. Willy and Bernard discuss Biff and
consider possible reasons for his lack of motivation and success. Bernard says
Biff changed right after high school when he visited Willy in Boston. Bernard
questions Willy about what happened when Biff went to visit him. Willy becomes
defensive. Bernard is on his way to present a case before the Supreme Court.
Bernard's success both pleases and upsets Willy. Charley gives Willy money for
his insurance payment and offers him a job, an offer that Willy refuses.
At a restaurant where Willy, Biff, and Happy are to meet, Happy flirts with a
young prostitute, and Biff is upset because Oliver did not remember him. Then
Biff realizes that he was never a salesman for Oliver; instead, he was a shipping
clerk. Willy tells his sons that he has been fired. Biff attempts to explain what
happened with Oliver (after seeing Oliver, Biff sneaked back into his office and
stole Oliver's pen); however, Willy is reliving the past, recalling Bernard informing
Linda that Biff has failed math and will not graduate. Willy then remembers
Bernard telling her Biff has taken a train to Boston.
Willy relives the time when Biff finds out about Willy's affair with the Woman: Biff
comes to Willy's hotel room in Boston to tell Willy that he will not graduate unless
Willy can convince Mr. Birnbaum to pass him. Willy recalls his own desperate
attempts to hide the Woman in the bathroom. When the Woman comes out of the
bathroom with Biff in the room, Willy's plan to conceal the affair is ruined. Willy's
final memory is of Biff calling him a "fake" before walking out the door.
The play continues in the present when Stanley reappears, and Willy realizes he
is actually still in the restaurant. Willy returns home and begins building a garden,
even though it is night. Linda throws Happy and Biff out of the house. Ben
appears to Willy while he is planting seeds. At this point, Willy does not
remember a previous conversation with Ben, as he does several times earlier in
the play. Instead, he and Ben discuss his plan to commit suicide. Willy and Ben
converse in the present, but they are talking about the future. Ben warns Willy
that the insurance company might refuse to pay a settlement and Biff might never
forgive him.
Biff approaches Willy in the garden to tell him he is leaving home for good. Biff
and Willy argue, and Biff confronts Willy with the rubber hose, saying he will not
pity him if he commits suicide. According to Biff, the Lomans have never been
truthful with one another or themselves. Biff believes that he and Willy are
ordinary people who can easily be replaced. Biff and Willy reconcile. Ben
reappears to Willy and reminds him of the insurance policy. Willy drives away.
The Lomans, Charley, and Bernard gather at Willy's grave.
Willy Loman
Willly Loman is an elderly salesman lost in false hopes and illusions. The sales
firm he works for no longer pays him salary. Working on straight commission,
Willy cannot bring home enough money to pay his bills. After thirty-four years
with the firm, they have spent his energy and discarded him.
Willy's sons, Biff and Hap, are also failures, but Willy doesn't want to believe this.
He wants his sons, especially Biff, to succeed where he has not. He believes his
boys are great and cannot understand why they are not successful. This is a
major source of conflict throughout the play.
As Willy has grown older, he has trouble distinguishing between the past and
present - between illusion and reality - and is often lost in flashbacks where much
of the story is told. These flashbacks are generally during the summer after Biff's
senior year of high school when all of the family problems began.
Willy has had an affair with a woman he meets on sales trips and once caught by
Biff. Now, Biff does not respect Willy and they do not get along. Willy eventually
commits suicide so that Biff can have the insurance money to become successful
with.
Throughout the play the Lomans in general cannot distinguish between reality
and illusion, particularly Willy. This is a major theme and source of conflict in the
play. Willy cannot see who he and his sons are. He believes that they are great
men who have what it takes to be successful and beat the business world.
Unfortunately, he is mistaken. In reality, Willy and sons are not, and cannot, be
successful.
The Tragedy
Death of a Salesman cannot be considered a tragedy in the ‘truest’ sense of the
word, because of its disregard for the outward forms of the genre.
To come to a true conclusion as to whether Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
can be considered a tragedy in the truest sense of the word, it must first be
understood what this sense is. In ‘The Poetics’, which is the earliest work of
dramatic theory on record, Aristotle shows his belief that tragedy relies on the
relationship between plot, audience and character. The key ideas of this are that
for a tragedy to be a tragedy, there must be a tragic hero, a ‘man who enjoys
prosperity and a high reputation’. This hero would often be someone of noble
birth; for example a king, or someone who has the potential to achieve
greatness. The tragedy would then be centered on the heroes ‘fall from his initial
high status, in a reversal of fortune’. Aristotle named this term Peripatetic. This
fall from grace would be brought about by the heroes’ fatal flaw. This fatal flaw
led to the series of events in which the hero’s demise would occur called
Hamartia. The hero of the play eventually suffers a moment of insight, where he
‘realizes what he has done and gains a new perspective on the truths of human
existence’. This moment of enlightenment is called Anagnorisis. This, is then by
Aristotle’s terms, supposed to give the effect of ‘a purging of the emotions that
draws out feelings of pity and fear’ in the audience. Aristotle termed this
Catharsis, and this moment of purging usually occurred at the end of the play. As
this is considered the truest sense of the term ‘tragedy’, it is arguable whether
Death of a Salesman really fits these parameters.
In some ways it can be seen that Death of a Salesman does fit some of these
‘rules’ set out by Aristotle. Willy does show a fatal flaw throughout the play: his
self-delusion. He is so obsessed with being successful; he does not understand
that he himself is the opposite. In his blindness he refuses to see that he is
working for no wage, and that in the process he is damaging his children, in that
he is deluding them as to what is needed to succeed in a capitalist community.
His self delusion leads to him being fired, acquiring the scorn of his son Biff and
his eventual death, which shows that his fatal flaw leads to his eventual
Peripatetic.
However, he can also be seen not to fit with this view, as many believe he is
merely trying to achieve the best he can for his family. Willy strives throughout
the play to secure his families place in society, wanting more than anything else
to make sure his sons is financially stable, and grow to be big successes. He
also wants to make sure his wife, Linda, who, however harshly is treated by
Willy, he really does care about is happy in life. This is shown in the play where
he says ‘ you are my foundation and my support Linda’, showing he cares more
than he lets on, and in that, how can it be viewed that trying to help ones family
along in life is a ‘flaw’?
Willy, also can be seen to fit with the idea of Peripatetic. His reversal of fortune is
evident in the fact that he ends the play dead. His fortunes are obviously
reversed as he starts the play in a position in which he still has a job, has some
respect from his family and is hoping to see his sons start a business together
and see them finally make a success of themselves. His eventual death is also
tragic, in the fact the he, the salesman, sells his life in order to make his life worth
living. He feels that in death he is worth more than in life, and so sacrifices
himself so that his sons can have a helping hand as they would inherit the money
from his insurance in event of his death.
However, it can also be viewed that Willy does not show Peripatetic. It is argued
that this is the case, as he does not have a place to fall from, or a fortune to
reverse. If the view that Aristotle’s views on tragedy were to be considered the
true form of the word then Willy’s status in society, and his lack of nobility would
mean that he does not qualify as someone capable of tragedy. His ‘fall’ is not
viewed as a fall, as he had no status to fall from and has not lost enough as to be
compared to that of a King losing his kingdom. But, Arthur Miller argues that,
‘insistence upon the rank of the tragic hero, or the so called nobility of his
character, is really but a clinging to the outwards forms of tragedy’. He effectively
states that he feels that you do not need to be of noble birth to experience
tragedy, and if we cannot accept this view then we are clinging to the past.
Catharsis is also apparent in Death of a Salesman and is shown in the requiem
at the end of the play. It is here that the audience and the characters on set
release the emotions that have built up during the course of the play and feel pity
and fear at what has befallen Willy. When the play was first aired in America, it is
noted that grown men in the audience broke out in tears, as the play was so
realistic they could relate to it in such a way, that they could see themselves in
Willys’ shoes, and could see what could possibly lay ahead for them.
Willy, however does not fit with some aspects of the poetics, such as him starting
in a position of high status, or being nobility. His social status could not in-fact, be
more dispatched from this, as he is merely a common man, struggling to make a
living in the harsh, modern world, and is not born into a life of riches, power and
influence. It can be seen however, that Miller simply thought this view of what
makes a tragic hero a tragic hero outdated, and that if he bought his own spin to
it, that he would be able to relate on a deeper level with the modern day
audience.
Willy also does not have a moment of insight within the play, or at least not one
that the audience is directly notified of. Even to the death, Willy thinks that wealth
and material possession is all that matters in life, and this can be seen in the fact
that he takes his own life to make a worth of it. He feels that in death, he is of
more worth to his family, as he can provide for them in life that which he could
not, and with the money they would receive, hope to give them the start they
needed.
It therefore may be seen that Miller was not trying to fit with the conventional,
Aristotelian view of tragedy, nor did he plan to write a play that fitted with tragedy
in its truest sense of the word, and that instead, he wanted to make a tragedy
that fitted with the views, worries and concerns of the modern proletariat. The
very name, ‘Loman’, indicates to the audience his everyman, universal appeal.
Miller wanted to show that tragedy can affect us all, and not just in the way that
Aristotle shows. Tragedy for Miller can be experienced by anyone, albeit a King
or a simple worker in a situation similar to that of Willy.
In conclusion it can be viewed that Death of a Salesman does not fit with the
truest sense of the word, of which Aristotle laid down the definitions in his
poetics. However, this does not mean that the play itself isn’t a tragedy, as Miller
has gone further than to write within the constraints of an outdated definition, and
created a play that speaks to everyone, and not just the select few.
The Role of Modernity in Death of a Salesman
In “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, the main character, Willy Loman is a
man living on the cusp of modern America, in the late 1940’s. As more and more
new appliances and cars are being manufactured, Willy Loman is constantly
trying to obtain the best things for his family. As he slowly starts to lose his mind
in this materialistic world, it becomes clear that the only thing he is really
concerned about is keeping up with the people around him in terms of success
and possessions. Throughout the play, he constantly mentions the fact that he is
running out of money and can no longer pay for their new appliances, and he
mournfully regrets not going to Africa with Ben, who struck it rich. In many cases
then, modernity sets the stage for the tragic events to follow in Loman’s life.
Abandonment in Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman ‘s Willy Loman had a life that was full of abandonment from
the start. In true tragic form, the desertion of his father at a young age, followed
by Bill’s expedition to Africa, Willy has been left behind many times by the people
he loves. As his fear of abandonment grows stronger, so does the grasp of
control that he tries to maintain over the lives of his family. However, that control
does not prevent Biff from abandoning his dreams at the discovery of his father,
nor does it prevent Biff and Happy from deserting Willy at the restaurant after his
outburst. In the final scene of “Death of a Salesman”, the audience learns of
Willy’s own abandonment of his family, in the form of suicide.
The Madness in Death of a Salesman
As Willy Loman’s story unfolds throughout” Death of a Salesman” by Arthur
Miller, it becomes progressively clearer that the salesman is losing his mind. It
begins with the flashbacks to an earlier life, when Willy was happy insulting
Charley and his son Bill. However, the flashbacks quickly turn into haunting
scenes, where the sound of the woman’s laughter can set Willy off on a rampage
very quickly. Eventually, his madness destroys him, as he is found out in the
garden, plotting with an imaginary Ben the ways in which he can make twenty
thousand dollars. His madness progresses from flashbacks to the sound of the
woman’s laughter, to interaction with imaginary people, and throughout it all, his
family is struggling to cope with the situation.
Death of a Salesman and Betrayal
Betrayal is a thread that ties together much of the plot in Arthur Miller’s Death of
a Salesman. Willy Loman feels personally betrayed by his son Biff’s inability to
succeed in life, despite what Willy sees as loving encouragement. Biff Loman,
however, feels betrayed by his father because of the affair that he discovered
when he heard a woman laughing in the bathroom, which also echoes a betrayal
of Willy’s marriage vows. Perhaps the biggest and most tragic betrayal of all lies
in the loss of Willy’s job and subsequently, his mind.
Analysis of the Dream.
Death of a Salesman is considered by many to be the quintessential modern
literary work on the American dream, a term created by James Truslow Adams in
his 1931 book, The Epic of America. This is somewhat ironic, given that it is such
a dark and frustrated play. The idea of the American dream is as old as America
itself: the country has often been seen as an empty frontier to be explored and
conquered. Unlike the Old World, the New World had no social hierarchies, so a
man could be whatever he wanted, rather than merely having the option of doing
what his father did.
The American Dream is closely tied up with the literary works of another author,
Horatio Alger. This author grew famous through his allegorical tales which were
always based on the rags-to-riches model. He illustrated how through hard work
and determination, penniless boys could make a lot of money and gain respect in
America. The most famous of his books is the Ragged Dick series (1867). Many
historical figures in America were considered Alger figures and compared to his
model, notably including Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.
But the Horatio Alger model of the American dream is not what's represented in
Death of a Salesman. Rather than being a direct representation of the concept,
or even a direct critique of it, Salesman challenges the effects of the American
dream. This myth exists in our society - how does the prevalence of this myth
change the way in which we live our lives?
Miller had an uncertain relationship with the idea of the American dream. On one
hand, Bernard's success is a demonstration of the idea in its purist and most
optimistic form. Through his own hard work and academic success, Bernard has
become a well-respected lawyer. It is ironic, however, that the character most
obviously connected to the American dream, who boasts that he entered the
jungle at age seventeen and came out at twenty-one a rich man, actually created
this success in Africa, rather than America. There is the possibility that Ben
created his own success through brute force rather than ingenuity. The other
doubt cast on the American dream in Death of a Salesman is that the Loman
men, despite their charm and good intentions, have not managed to succeed at
all. Miller demonstrates that the American dream leaves those who need a bit
more community support, who cannot advocate for themselves as strongly, in the
dust.