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Death of a Salesman, a la Shmoop. The American Dream has been around for a long

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time. Okay, not that long.

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But a long time nonetheless. Our country was basically founded on the concept.

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No matter who you are or where you come from, if you work hard and persevere, you can achieve

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greatness. Consider the Pulitzer Prize- winning play,

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Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman… …and its tragic protagonist, Willy Loman.

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Willy is, well, a lousy salesman. He’s clearly not thrilled with the way his

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life has gone, but he holds onto the American Dream for the sake of his sons.

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By holding on to it, he basically sacrifices any chance of happiness he might have had,

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and it eventually kills him. So… what does this tragic tale really say

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about the American Dream itself? Good?

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Bad? Ugly?

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Willy believes that personality and charisma define a man’s chances of achieving the

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American Dream. He sees a super-bright future for his son,

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Biff, who is attractive, athletic, and well-liked. On the other hand, Willy sees a bleak future

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for his neighbor’s nerdy son, Bernard. Willy thinks that being attractive and likeable

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is more important than working hard. In Willy’s American Dream, the popular kids

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always win. But do they really come out on top?

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Maybe it’s about luck instead. Willy may feel that he is a failure simply

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because he missed his chance to be rich.

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He thinks he made a wrong turn the moment he didn’t join his brother in Alaska.

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In his mind, there is less pressure to succeed there. Apparently, he doesn’t know a lot

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of successful Eskimos. According to the play, the American Dream

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is so fragile… …that it can be lost in a mere moment.

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Seize the day. Carpet the diem.

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Or maybe Arthur Miller is simply telling us that the American Dream is a joke.

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An idea - nothing more than a gimmick used to make America sound appealing.

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According to Death of a Salesman, our chances of success are defined by our race, class,

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and social standing. Maybe the very idea of the American Dream

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is just a bunch of hooey. What do you think?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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YouTube blurb: SPOILER ALERT: A salesman dies. Sorry to ruin

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it for you. However, in addition to giving away key plot points in the title, Arthur

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Miller also liked to make some pretty weighty points about The American Dream. What is it,

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and who gets a shot at it? Only your hairdresser knows for sure.

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