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One thing that is true about all literature is that it has more than what just meets the eye. The characters and the story and the setting all stand for something more than the sum of it all. Perhaps the most important thing a literary work can have is a theme that can resonate with the majority of its audience.
Arthur Miller is one of the quintessential American playwrights and Death of a Salesman is still his magnum opus. Aside from being a captivating read and produced the broadway through great actors, it has a running theme through its veins – American Dream.
The term has deep cultural significance in both the literary and real world. In the latter, people believe that America is a land of hopes and opportunities. Anyone who has ambition and is willing to put in work will have all the riches in life. In literature, writers use it as a recourse to highlight the ugliness and despair in life through a realistic prism.
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The American Dream Theme in Death of a Salesman
The works of Arthur Miller are filled with disturbing themes that are in direct conflict with the character’s morals and that of the readers. For instance, in The Crucible, Arthur Miller showed the human and erroneous side of clergy and people of cloth when they decide greed and lust for wealth to invade their minds.
The American dream in “Death of a Salesman” is something that is paraded as attainable and noble but ends up being a bane for the middle class and lower-middle classes.
Before we delve deep into the American Dream theme in Death of a Salesman, it is necessary to go through what American Dream is.
The American Dream
It is an old ideology that states that any man, irrespective of his background and culture, can become successful depending on his character and qualities. The New World was essentially more than a piece of land, it was an opportunity to have a better and prosperous life on his terms – to have American Dreams.
The Seeds of the American Dream
During the 17th and 18th centuries, people from Europe fled from monarchies because they were abusive toward the middle classes. Their land, labor, and love were not safe while a king or queen with prerogative rights was sitting on the throne.
The drive to have a better and “own” life drove them to seek the New World.
At first, there were hardships, but they persisted and made the world their own. The old system was already out of their hearts and minds as they ventured out to make a new world.
America has been fortunate throughout history to have never been under the yoke of the monarchy. It was that charm of a land where everyone would be equal, free, and had the potential to be successful that paved the way for a republic, which materialized in 1774.
Europe, in contrast, could not shed off its imperialistic skin and adopt equality. That was also promulgated by forefathers in the declaration of independence, namely life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
Although the ideas of liberty and pursuit of happiness can contend for different meanings and ethos, there is no denying that they make up an essential part of the American Dream.
Representation of the American Dream
In the play, the idea of the American Dream after World War II, in both its true and more bloated and romanticized form, was represented by both main and side characters. Since they were both contrasting in their setting and mindset, this gives a perfect view to the readers of what the idea is and what it could be.
Following are the characters that embodied the idea of the American Dream:
- Willy’s Father
- Ben
- Dave Singleman
Willy’s Father
Just like the forefathers and adventurous men of the past, Willy’s father showed the spirit of the pioneers. He left his family and went to Alaska during the gold rush. He was courageous and adamant in his desire to make a difference in his life.
Of course, Willy could not follow in the footsteps of his father as the days of the pioneers and adventurers were over. All the adventures he could have had was in moving from one city to another and selling goods, to try to achieve the American dream.
Ben
Ben was an adventurous brother of Willy. At the start of the play, he died in Africa. Ben believed in sudden wealth, something like “rags to riches”. In a way, Ben was still carrying the spirit of the pioneers in going to new lands and meeting new people to advance his wealth and fortunes.
Willy can never be as reckless and adventurous as his brother, still, he would hallucinate about talking to the ghost of his brother in times of distress and self-doubt.
Dave Singleman
Dave Singleman embodies the epitome of a career as a salesman as he creates personal interest in Willy. He was a successful business person in his life that he would never have to go out of his hotel room to make a sale. He did all of that through his phone.
At the funeral of Dave Singleman, Willy revealed that he was very much impressed by the career and life of Dave Singleman. It was him that made Willy Loman’s American Dream to become a salesman in the business world and travel to other cities in search of money.
The Role of A Traveling Salesman
The traveling salesman is still carrying the spirit of the forefathers. He is still adventurous and daring enough to move from one city to another in search of a good payday.
He meets new people and shares stories with them in the hope of making money for the family to live a life he dreamed of since his boyhood.
Willy Loman was part of that clan and he was very proud of it. As a salesman for a New York firm, he moves around from one city to another. What hurts him as a person is that people were not interested in him as a person but only in the goods and products, he had to offer.
For them, he was a commodity, just like what he carried in his bags.
Willy Loman’s American Dream
As a central figure of the play, it is essential to study Willy Loman to understand the premises and scope of Death of a Salesman. Although he was an untalented man with nothing to show in terms of skills and aptitude, he was energetic and a believer in the American Dream.
While he slipped into his sixties and lost hope and vigor, he committed suicide in the hopes of collecting twenty thousand dollars in insurance for his family. For all his life, he hid his limitations and shortcomings in his two grown athletic sons.
The sense of loss and false hope in his life is because of his deep faith in the American Dream. In one of his quotes from the play he thought that as a salesman, he only needed to be liked by other people to be successful.
In his quest for love and recognition, he found out that no one was interested in him as a person. This led to him losing vigor and zeal in his work and the hope of a better tomorrow.
Loman Family – American Hopes & Dreams
Throughout the play, the hopes and dreams of the Loman family were pretty much similar. The men in the family wanted to have successful careers as businessmen or salesmen. Biff and Happy, Willy’s sons, wanted to get into the business world together. They had already thought about a name for their business – The Loman Brothers. They thought that building a million-dollar empire was easy.
As his only dream, Willy wanted to earn 200 dollars a week to pay off his mortgage and live a prosperous life with his sons and wife. In the end, both Willy and his sons were at least disillusioned by their dreams. One of his sons confronted him and told him that he had the wrong dreams. That sealed the coffin for the failure of the American dream in Death of a Salesman.
Conclusion
In all its plot and characterization, Death of a Salesman is a tragedy. It is about an old man with a wife and two grown-up sons. Willy’s American Dream is about being energetic and zealous for his career. His brother was a true adventurer who died in Africa. Willy envied his little brother his whole life and wanted his sense of fearlessness. In times of despair, he often hallucinated about talking to the ghost of his baby brother.
The play took a jab at the American Dream and what it stood for a human being in the 20th century. Since the days of the gold rush and adventures are over, it is hard for men to make a sense of their lives and livelihood while living a meaningful life.