Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman (1949)
Introduction
Arthur Miller is a renowned American iconic playwright regarded by many as the best of his generation. He is a household name in the American theatre and has produced arguably some of the best plays widely considered by many critics as classics. In my essay I aim to focus on Arthur Miller’s award winning play Death of A Salesman which premiered in 1949. The play, broadly referred to as the first ‘Great American Tragedy’, centers on the life of Willy Loman, the protagonist, and mainly so, on the last twenty-four hours of his life. Miller depicts Willy loman as a salesman with deeply flawed character with his own fractured idea of the American dream that he truly believes in and pursues wholeheartedly but ends up in failing to achieve it.
The generic conviction of the American dream is the concept that freedom and wealth are gained by those who work hard for it no matter your social status in life. It offers a sense of hope to all no matter how society views you. With basically hard work and determination success is sure to follow.
In the play, Willy Loman’s idea of the American dream is totally different from this and it basically hinges on popularity. Willy believes firmly that success only comes to those who are popular -‘well-liked’ and good looking. He goes out chasing the American dream with his own conviction that popularity brings success and convinces himself that he is popular enough and thus will be successful based on that fact. He spends his whole life chasing the elusive dream but never catching it and it eventually leads to him to his death. He has immature opinion that success in life relies solely on being well-liked and also having good looks. I will therefore try to show that Willy had his own idea of the American dream and what lengths he went to achieve it and how he was unable to reach it.
The American dream is the lurking yet elementary theme of this play. The definition, as depicted by James Truslow Adams in his book Epic of America makes out the American dream to be dream of a land in which life should be better in terms of success and riches and more fulfilling for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. This however contradicts some views of the modern society about the American dream with Juan Zhao writes in Corruption of The American Dream. He brings out the hidden theme in Muller’s play by suggesting that thought the years the American dream evolved into less of a moral lesson advocating hard work and more into a yearning for success through happenstance good fortune (Eisinger 51). Willy’s representation of the American dream completely differs from this and according to Eisenger Chester E, it borders on narcissism, ‘it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it – because personality always wins the day (Eisinger 51).”
Willy believes that if you are good looking and popular, you don’t have to work hard to be successful as wealth and success follows you. To him success equals having material things and being better than your neighbors. Willy states “That’s the wonder of this country that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked (Miller 83).” The fixation of being well-liked forms the basis of his obsession of success. A good example is when Willy speaks of Charley’s business saying that his opinion is that he is bigger than Charley in that sense since he is well liked but Charley is not well-liked. To emphasize more on this point Willy yet again makes another statement alluding at the same conclusion about his idea of the American dream. in his statement , Willy confirms his ideologies about success by suggesting that those who create personal interest and are well-liked will definitely get ahead in life compared to those that are not all well-liked.
Therefore it’s clear to see that his idea of the American dream is based more on the idea of popularity and good looks. Willy believes that looks are equivalent to success and refers to his sons as Greek gods. He believes that being attractive physically will lead to success and wealth and as Tyson Lois confirms that; “when Willy’s beliefs are applied to his sons, it means that being liked becomes more important than studying hard (Lois 21).” He believes an alluring personality is what brings success and not hard work.
Path to the American dream
With this belief firmly rooted in him, Willy goes out in search for the American dream. He bears a burning desire to show that he is successful and popular when in real life it is far from the truth and is practically a laughingstock among his peers and in the business world. To live up to his impression, he purchases things beyond his financial means. He overly exaggerates his sales abilities to a point where he passes on his idea of the American dream to his sons. This is revealed when he asks his son Biff if his friend, Bernard, son to Charley (Willy’s friend), is well liked, Biff responds, by admitting that Bernard is liked but not well-liked which is exactly what his father had said about charley. This clearly shows that he is passing on his beliefs to his sons.
Willy began lying about his accomplishments in his profession just so as to look and appear successful. He did this repeatedly and so convincingly that it became the truth to him. Willy has no problem in twisting the truth as long as it suits his purpose and fits into his vision. Willy alleges he is a well-liked salesman who is successful in his profession while in fact he is really not that good at his job. He believes that being well liked is the most crucial thing for success and hence he is superior in that respect to other salesmen. Even with the clear difference in success between charley and him, Willy maintains that since he is well liked unlike charley, who is only liked but not well-liked hence he is superior to him, even with the fact that Willy borrows money from Charley when he has no money and has wasted his salary, and Charley always bails him out regardless of the insults Willy throws at him. Willy is proud to a fault, in that, when charley offers him a job he refuses but is always borrowing money from him .His frailty is that he refuses to accept his failures and try something different which actually leads to his death. When Willy finds out that his son was not successful in his quest for money, Willy is so rigid in his beliefs that he would rather kill himself so that his son collects the insurance money rather than change his mind about popularity and success.
Willy’s failure to achieve the dream
The reason for his demise was basically due to his narrow minded way of thinking. A good example is his views on the success of his role model Dave Singleman. Dave was a successful salesman. Willy believed that Dave’s success came from the fact that he was well liked and admired by his clients. Willy did not think to factor in any external factors known to affect businesses, such as availability of goods, demand for the goods, the economy and such factors. He never reasons and factors in such issues even when it comes to his own ability to sell. When he was desperately in need for a job and is offered one by Charley , Willy declines the offer due to pride and his view that he is superior to Charley on the basis that he is well liked more than Charley is.
Thus, given such facts , when Biff fails to acquire a loan to pursue a new business venture and Willy can’t get a job he decides to kill himself and let his son collect the insurance money to pursue the American dream.
Conclusion
It is clear to see that Willy had his own ideas about the American dream but died without ever achieving the dream himself leaving his sons to continue with the hopeless pursuit since he passed on his ideologies to them. His relationship to other people just goes to show how much he valued superiority and popularity to a point he had been able to completely convince himself that Charley was inferior to him. He disregarded advice from those close to him and in the end the American dream remained to be just that, a dream.
Works Cited
Eisinger, Chester E: “Focus On Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman: The Wrong Dreams.” Critical Insights: Death of A Salesman (2010): 93-105. Literacy Reference Center Web 19 Apr 2016
Tyson, Lois. “ The Psychological Politics Of The American Dream: Death Of A Salesman And The Case For An Existential Dialects.” Critical Insights: Death Of A Salesman (2010):211-240. Literary Reference Center. Web. 17 April 2016
Juan, Zhao. “Corruption Of The “American Dream” In Death Of A Salesman: A Thematic Analysis Of Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman.” Cross –Cultural Communication 3(2010) 122. Directory Of Open Access Journals.Web.19 April 2016.
Miller, Arthur. “Death Of A Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts, and a Requiem.” Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1961.Print.
