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American Dream - Death of a Salesman

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Submitted By diamondjewels
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The play Death of a Salesman greatly portrays a specific ideology in regards to values, dreams, goals, and success in our consumer-driven society. It helps showcase the American dream that society tends to strive for even in the early 1900’s (the play is set in the 1940’s). That dream of being a successful business person or vendor. As well as the theory that image and physical attributes are most important to gaining fruition. Willy Loman plays a man in his sixties who has strived for this American dream for over 30 years but realistically has failed miserably on his goal in life – a wealthy salesman like his idol Dave Singleman (a fellow who could make a fortune selling without even leaving his hotel room). He spends his entire life in fallacy starving for that success.
Plenty of individuals in society search for this similar success in life and career. They may spend there whole lives trying to fall into the category of an “American Success” . This may lead them to never knowing what true happiness really feels like. When searching for something that was never intended to be leads to inevitable unhappiness. One can’t find something that was never really there. Near the end of the play Biff states “He had all the wrong dreams. All, all wrong; he never knew who he was”. This is a very true statement. Willy along with many other people in this world follow the wrong dreams just because they see fit as being successful. Willy quoted: “realized the selling was the greatest career a man can want” and that’s why he decided to be a salesman. With him knowing but denying that this path does not blend with his character.
At one point in the play Willy’s best friend Charley says to him “ When the hell are you going to grow up?” He states this because Willy allows himself to create so many lies to everyone in his life so much that he believes himself that they are the

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