Death of a Salesman
As all Americans can attest to, the American Dream is a benchmark that is strived for one’s entire life, as one is constantly trying to find their purpose and figure out how best to achieve prosperity. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman spends his entire life identifying how he can achieve his personal American Dream. Willy strongly believes that fame is accomplished by being attractive and well-liked, and that it depends very little on one’s work ethic. This is precisely what Miller warned against when he stated that “it’s a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one’s self”, as Willy carries the false conception that if he is well-liked by others, he will realize his American Dream. In Death of a Salesman, Miller uses flashbacks like these as alterations of time that allow the reader to understand why the characters actions led to tragedy, and how Willy’s fate can be avoided if one uses hard work and dedication, rather than popularity, to attain their individual American Dream.
Willy’s deranged perception of success is mainly shaped by Ben’s influence, because Ben had the opportunity of becoming rich through his personality and presence, which is exactly what Willy is striving for. Willy frequently immerses himself in flashbacks, in which he converses with Ben, and allows Ben to convince him to the point where he even tells himself “that a man can end up with diamonds on the basis of being liked.” In contrast, Charley attempts to break through the illusion that Ben is presenting, and states that “the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell.” What is unfathomable is the fact that Willy would accept advice from someone who has cheated his way to the top, and used immoral actions to attain diamonds. But diamonds always have a sharp edge to them, as was discovered by Willy when he adopted Ben’s reasoning, which was the main reason for his tragic fate. Charley’s doctrine in achieving fortune differs immensely from that of Ben and Willy’s, but actually leads him to fruition, which implies that hard work should be placed above popularity in importance.
Ben is able to mirror his ideals on Willy through flashbacks in which they commune, and sets the basis for Willy’s quotes accentuating popularity throughout the entire novel. For example, the reader is able to understand Willy’s emphasis on being liked, and how it led to demise, by analyzing the flashbacks in which Willy glorified Biff’s football skills. Biff was the star quarterback for his high school, and had all the qualities that Willy admired, mainly popularity. He was in line for a football scholarship, and had a chance to become what Willy wanted for him; to be successful. In the scene where Biff was practicing his football skills, Willy blatantly told his sons that he “[thanked] Almighty God that [they were] both built like Adonises”, exemplifying his appearance-based morals onto his sons. Also, in the flashback when Willy was having an affair with The Woman, Biff was telling Willy why he was flunking math, which he claimed was because he made fun of the teacher’s speech. Instead of chastising Biff for his inconsiderate deed, all Willy had to say was “the kids like it?” Popularity was all that mattered to Willy, and he thrust this upon his sons in order to attempt to secure his family's position in the spotlight. But when it came down to it, all of the potential that Biff had for success was thrown away because Biff took on Willy’s beliefs towards “making it big”, and, consequently, did not have the work ethic in school and failed his classes. The downfall of Ben, Willy, and Biff clearly deflates the validity of the idea that an individual’s American Dream can be achieved through being well-liked, because all three characters retained this belief.
Charley provides an opposite perspective on achieving one's individual American Dream, as he models himself on the ideal that fortune is achieved by working hard, and caring for those around you. Referring back to the flashback in which Biff is heading off to the football game, Willy is convinced that Biff will become famous as a result of his football skills. He is very short-sighted, and does not understand the reality of the situation, even when Charlie tells him that it’s “not the most important day of his life.” Charley understands that football is only a temporary activity, and will not provide him with a stable job, in which he can build up his status with. Charley does not relate to Willy, but attempts to gain insight into his beliefs by asking him questions such as “why must everybody like you?”, and “when are you gonna grow up?” The problem is, Willy can not seem to answer these questions himself, because of the brainwashed state Ben has led him to. Even by seeing the success of Charley, he is unable to shake the rationale that popularity leads one to prosperity. Even with Charley, the voice of reason, WIlly is too stubborn to accept that everything he has believed his entire life is wrong. Instead of switching his priorities towards working hard to get where he wants to be, he settles for his old ways in which he focuses on getting others to like him. Willy’s inability to accept the reality of the American Dream, and how it can be achieved, leads to his downfall and actualizes his tragic situation.
Although Biff realizes the faults of Willy’s logic in the end, he demonstrates his support for Willy’s beliefs through much of the play, and directs all of his efforts toward gaining popularity. When the sequence of time is manipulated to show Biff in his football years, the reader is able to analyze the contrast between Biff and Bernard. At this point in time, Biff upheld Willy’s values, and Bernard upheld Charley’s. Because of this grouping, it is no surprise that Biff’s achievements correlate to WIlly’s, and Bernard’s to Charley’s. Willy does not understand why this is, because he predicted Bernard to never become anything special. In the flashbacks, he would always denounce Bernard and state “he’s not very popular is he,” or “he’s liked but not well-liked.” So when he found out that Bernard was presenting a case for the Supreme Court, he begged for an explanation as to why Biff wasn’t as established as Bernard was. So in order to clear up the confusion for not only Willy, but for the reader as well, Bernard replied that Biff “never trained himself for anything.” While Bernard was involving himself in his studies, Biff was slacking in every area of his life except football. And not even football could make up for how little effort he put in, and everything eventually caught up with him, and all of the potential he had at one point immediately halted. Thus, the reason why Bernard achieved his American Dream, and Biff didn’t, was because Bernard focused on a steady work ethic, while Biff relied on a seemingly unreliable method to gain accolades--his charismatic appearance and personality.