c


   c    

Death of a Salesman and The American Dream

Thesis: In the play ³Death of a Salesman´, playwright Arthur Miller conveys that one must achieve the
³American Dream´ by following your own goals/dreams through the Loman family and happiness

O
  

¦ October 17, 1915, born in Harlem, New York City (German Jewish family²father was a well
to do but illiterate clothing manufacturer)

¦ After his father¶s business ended after the Stock Market crash of 1929, the family moved to
Brooklyn where he finished high school

¦ worked briefly with his father and in an auto parts warehouse to earn money to attend the
University of Michigan

¦ known member of communist party and was heavily scrutinized by American government.

¦ Influenced by: up and down fortunes of him and his family, his communistic/socialistic views,
and the work of Henrik Ibsen who portrays very similar themes in his works.

¦ graduated in 1938, having won several awards for playwriting

¦ O


on Broadway in 1947

¦ 







(1949) brought Miller the Pulitzer Prize for drama, international fame, and
an estimated income of two million dollars

¦ died February, 10, 2005

O  
  

ëp The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book u


O 
which
was written in 1931.
2p XThe American Dream is Xthat dream of a land in which life should be better and
richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or
achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream
of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the
fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for
what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.X
ëp In the United States¶ Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers: X held certain
truths to be self¦evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit
of Happiness.X This become the foundation to the American dream. 
ëp Transformed over time into the pursuit of material prosperity ¦ that people work more
hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families ¦ but
have less time to enjoy their prosperity. 
c

   c    

2p The American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work
two jobs to insure their family¶s survival.

OOO

 
¦p ´illy¶s oldest son (34 years old in play), his pride and joy
2p Personification of all ´illy¶s dreams
2p Biff was everything his father wanted :star athlete, popular with girls, well liked all round
¦p Biff failed math
2p Biff¶s discovery of ´illy¶s mistress strips him of his faith in ´illy

¦p Biff feels compelled to seek the truth about himself, and break the lies surrounding the Loman
family.

¦p acknowledges his failure and eventually manages to confront it, unlike ´illy and Happy, this
difference is evident in the characters names

2p ´illy and Happy willfully and happily delude themselves

2p Biff bristles stiffly at self¦deception.

¦p Adulthood: drifted from job to job, a failure in ´illy's eyes;

¦p pulled by 3 versions of the American dream

2p his fathers version: business/sales

2p He is also pulled by Ben¶s version of the dream, cheating to achieve it exemplified by

him stealing Oliver¶s pen, and

2p or what he likes to do : work with his hands in nature ±

¦p In the end he realizes his father¶s version was wrong, and it is through Biff, Miller says that the
American dream is accomplishing what you wish to do.

2p His fathers way of achieving the dream did not work because as mentioned by Biff, ´illy
was good with his hands

Theme of Happiness ±

¦p Biff is never truly happy, as he follows Ben¶s and ´illy¶s version of the dream, throughout the
lay.

2p He is overcome with guilt when following Ben¶s idea

2p He himself states that the business world is not for him and will not make him happy

 
¦´illy¶s thirty¦two¦year¦old younger son.
c

   c    

¦Happy has lived in Biff¶s shadow all of his life, but he compensates by nurturing his relentless
sex drive and professional ambition.
¦Happy represents ´illy¶s sense of self¦importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal
expectations.
¦ he works as an assistant to an assistant buyer in a department store
¦he practices bad business ethics and sleeps with the girlfriends of his superiors.
¦ presents himself as supremely important.
¦ Happy believes in his fathers dream
¦Like his father believes in being well liked, in order to achieve the American
dream

Theme of Happiness
¦ Even though Happy seems to be always happy, and cheerful often saying ³Sure´, he is
never really liked by ´illy as much as Biff is, exemplified by 1296
 
¦´illy's older brother
¦Ben left the family to search for his father in Alaska when ´illy was almost four. ¦got rich off of
the diamond mines in Africa by the time he was twenty¦one.
¦ Never fights fair ± exemplified by his fight with Biff
¦Linda is fearful of Ben
¦encouraged ´illy to teach the boys to steal and to be fearless,
¦ it is how he gained success
¦ He believes the American dream promotes the rags to riches idea
¦ BEN: ´illiam, when I walked into the jungle, I was seventeen. ´hen I
walked out I was twenty¦one. And, by God, I was rich!
¦ Through Ben, Miller says that people can achieve the ³rags to riches´ version of the American
dream, but they must be ruthless in order to achieve it

 

¦p main character of the play

¦p ´ishes he went to Alaska

¦p His goal as a Salesman is to be like Dave Singlemen, a man who was well liked for the money he
earned
2p Like singlemen he wants to be well liked and respected by his friends, through his
business success.
¦p Believes that the American Dream is the ability to become prosperous by mere Charisma
2p he wants to make sure his boys are well¦liked and popular
lp Miller proves ´illy¶s conformity to the stereotypical American Dream is wrong
2p Portraying Biff as a ranch hand/drifter in other words a failure, even though he was well
liked
2p ´illy get¶s fired when he asks his boss Howard for a raise
c

   c    

¦p In the end he commits suicide, so that his sons gain his insurance money to continue to achieve
his dream.
¦An example of both the American Dream, and False Pride, ´illy ends his life to support
his dream and false claims through his sons.

Theme of Happiness

Never really happy, he ends up killing himself.

 

¦p ´ife of ´illy Loman

¦p She is realistic and level¦headed
¦p She realizes that ´illy is trying to commit suicide\
¦p She views freedom as an escape from debt which she achieves in the end
¦p She shuns the goals of ´illy Loman, but she accepts the means of reaching the goals
2p She does not wan¶t to be wealthy so that others will like her, but so she can pay of the
debts and be free from financial restraints
¦p To her the American dream is paying of all the loans, financial freedom
Theme of Happiness

She becomes happy once she pays off the house loan yet, as ´illy dies she becomes saddened
again.

 

 

Miller relates to Romanticism through his portrayals of Biff and Linda.

I.p ±Biff, realizes he should follow his own dreams in life and not conform to his father¶s.
II.p ± Biff is in love with nature, farming, working his hands etc.

a.³ There¶s nothing more inspiring ore ± beautiful than the sight of a mare and a new colt´(1292)

¦ to Biff the Colt and mare represents himself ( nature as a reflection of self)

¦ he is inspired because just as the Colt receives a new beginning, he too realizes he has a
new beginning each time he begins to work on a farm

¦ Biff¶s reflection upon nature clearly

b. ³No with a ranch I could do the work I like and still be something´

¦ Biff is the Loman brother that does not conform to ´illy¶s expectations

¦ he wants to work in a ranch, because he enjoys working with animals

¦ Unlike ´illy who conforms to the expectations of society, Biff wants to do something
entirely different
c

   c    

¦ He also wants to be self reliant, and not depend on his father for success, this idea of
self¦reliance and belief is portrayed in Thoreau¶s works

¦ Thus by following his own goals and not that of others, Biff does not end up like ´illy
Loman, or Happy Loman trapped by their goals of success defined by others

c. Biff is one of the few characters in the book that seeks to communicate with everyone
including Ben.

¦ This represents both Thoreau¶s and Emerson¶s idea of connectedness.

¦ Biff is the most connected with his mother, father, and happy

¦ in contrast ´illy is not, often ignoring his wife, Biff in the beginning and has always
disregarded Happy rarely communicating with him

¦ ´illy also has been lonely for large amounts of time during his journey.

¦ In the end it is the individual who is connected to his surroundings that realized the truth
while ´illy, who is disconnected dies š clearly an Emersonian/ Thoreau idea.

Linda¶s nonconformist attitude


  

Miller relates to naturalism through life constantly putting down the Loman family through the
overpowering force of Howard.

´illy¶s Boss

a.p Howard being ´illy¶s boss has a similar relationship to that off Biff and Oliver.

¦p because he pays ´illy, he hold¶s ´illy¶s future and life in his hands
¦p ´illy is thus controlled by the huge force of his boss, who then dictates much of his life for the
past 20¦30 years sending him on long journeys
¦p The loneliness he experiences on these Journey¶s is what causes him to have a mistress ( Not just
his genetics that are forcing him to flirt with the woman, its also the forces (his boss) of the
environment he works in)
¦p ´hen Howard fires ´illy it further deteriorates his mental condition as his fear of relying on his
sons becomes realized
¦p Ben is able to survive because he has experience working in ³the Jungle´
¦p ´illy is not because the over powering force of ³the Jungle´ or the business world constantly
saps his energy and mental health, leading him to commit suicide
¦p ´illy throughout his business journey¶s becomes mentally unstable as he is no longer able to
make deals
¦p The ³system´ rejects the products that ´illy offers ( the system is the people ´illy sell it to, who
than give his income.
c

   c    




¦p Both have the American Dream as their central theme.

2p George and Lenny want to earn enough to live in a small farm, live ³off the fat of the
land´
2p Biff wants to make an honest living for his family.
¦p Linda=George Biff=Lenny
2p Both Linda and George constantly look out for and try to save their counterpart (Linda¦
´illy & George¦ Lenny)
2p Both are the sense of reason in the story.
2p Biff and Lenny just want to be happy.
lp Lenny does whatever makes him feel good despite George¶s warnings because he
doesn¶t know better
lp Biff thinks that his life is meaningless and realizes that he should do things that
make him happy, not anybody else.
lp Lenny doesn¶t care about money, or where he and George live. As long as they
are together.
lp Biff also doesn¶t care about money, all he truly wants is to do what he wants and
have his father accept him for what he truly is.