Analysis Of Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

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It is fair to say the founding principles of our nation as the United States have always been a secure part of the supposed promised American dream. However, it would be questionable to say that progress and success within our society is the very demise of our own being. In search for a foundation by which to answer this rather complex thought, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tends to give off a rather unique perspective -- a point of view that will perhaps allow us as mankind to prevent ourselves from a mutual-mass-suicide of our ways of life. In trying to understand what the American dream is to begin with, one must remember that the United States was founded on the idea of freedom, opportunity, and equality for all beings in the sense…show more content…
To be greedy and selfish is to be directly inhibitive of the victories that the American way of life can bring to oneself. Therefore, within the story that is Death of a Salesman, it can be said that the American dream is only prosperous when people have a sense of social responsibility, fairness, integrity, and sensitivity. However, this is only true due to the economic standards that are relevant to the modern times that came about in the early 20th century. Without the need for money, perhaps there would be a stronger sense of purity as to the meaning of the American dream over…show more content…
Biff stated, in the eulogy he gave at his father’s funeral, “He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong. … He never knew who he was” (Miller 138). This couldn’t be any more true in the sense that Willy never would get the chance to truly realize his potential beyond improperly fitting the bill as a salesman. Unfortunately for him, the grueling commercial-sales industry that employed him would also turn out to be the prime adversary of the American dream -- the misuse of the ideology known as capitalism. In the strictest sense of the purpose of Death of a Salesman, it was originally known as The Inside of His Head. Perhaps this was alluding to the fact that Willy Loman frequently goes on tangents about ideas and memories involving his grand ideas for life and how that very concept relates to the overarching principles of conflict amongst the American people. The prime lesson, as one may argue to be learned from this play, is that success is our disease if we rely on it to replace life experiences -- that if we never fail, we will not be able to learn how to live peacefully and in harmony with one another. We cannot, as a very diverse mankind, believe that we can sell ourselves a way around facing the cold, hard truths of life. The world is changing just as quickly as time is and to say that the American dream is dead wouldn’t be out
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