English HL Essay

Candidate Code : jwg657

Session : May 2022

Word Count : 1580

Line of Inquiry :

How does Arthur miller express his skepticism of the American dream through

Willy Loman’s perception of it in the play, “Death of a Salesman”

critically acclaimed for their underlying criticism of human nature and philosophies, more often

than not his plays are tragic and boast of raw emotional satire. “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur

Miller revolves around the theme of the American Dream, starring a tragic hero, Willy Loman.

The American Dream is a legend as old as time. Since it was founded, the American continent

has been equated with boundless opportunity, it had become a symbol of hope, a dream that

could very well come true in this land of plenty, it’s the reason why over centuries millions

moved to this land to live the life they dreamt of. Over the years like most subjective

philosophical ideals, the American Dream also evolved, and by the time the play, “Death of a

Salesman” debuted in 1949, the American Dream had been corrupted.

However as the definition of the Dream changed it left casualties of the people that were

unable to achieve it, the people that chased this ideal but tasted failure as they couldn’t

touch the intangible. This shattered glass of their broken dreams in the continent that

promised success was a failure that millions couldn’t come to face with.

One of the millions was Willy Loman, the middle class low-man anti-hero written by the

brilliant mind of Arthur Miller, who’s obsession with the tainted American dream was fatal.

Miller believed that American people had been ultimately misguided and his

groundbreaking play, “Death of a Salesman” is a moving destruction of the myth of the

American Dream. Arthur Miller critiques the emptiness of the American Dream as he

explores it through his play. This raises the line of inquiry, “How does Arthur miller express

his skepticism of the American dream through Willy Loman’s perception of it in the play,

‘Death of a Salesman’”. Through the analysis of the main characters of the play, their ideals
and the outcome of their actions to achieve them, readers can clearly see that the play is a

well rounded critique of the conformist and unattainable idealistic nature of the American

dream that leaves men with empty promises and loans on their head.

In many ways, Willy Loman represents American people as the average middle class

American salesman, a tragic anti-hero who is self deluded and unable to accept that he is a

failure, not only as a man but also as a father and husband. The tragedy of Willy Loman, says

Arthur Miller, “Willy gave his life, or sold it, in order to justify the waste of it...” For Willy

success was achieved by how hard you worked and how well liked you were and this doctrine

of success consumed him and led to his demise. Even though he couldn’t accept his failure

wanted to live his Dream vicariously through his sons Biff and Happy which ruined his bond

with them as well, specially with Biff who he had high expectations from. Willy’s character is

representative of the average middle class man. The man who is chasing the unattainable

paradox which is the American dream. Critics say, “It can be argued that the Great American

Novel—that always elusive imaginative summation of the American experience—became the

Great American Drama in Arthur Miller’s masterpiece forms the defining the myth of the

American family and the American dream.” This idea of the promise of a fanciful life is false

and a rare reality. Death of a Salesman busted the myth that is lying over the heads of the

people living in the success driven society of America. A society where money and being “well

liked” and cars and fancy houses have the upper hand over values of honesty and kindness

and love.

The romanticised tale of the American Dream is one prolonged. Taking the example of Willy

Low-man as the average American that strives for success but tastes bitter failure. He is

representative of the typical American psyche portraying an extreme craving for success and
superior status in a delusional way in a world that is otherwise fruitless. Willy Loman is helpless

in his trajectory of chasing the American dream and his waning career deems him to be a

failure which he knows but is too egoistic to consciously admit. We still sympathise with this

tagil character because he is human and like everyone has flaws that make him vulnerable.

He’s been subjected to the same temptations as the rest of us but since he didn’t evolve with

time he couldn’t keep up.

Miller used many contrasting characters to show the difference between success and failure in

the American system. While willy is a failed man the only person we hear about that has

achieved actual success in the play is Ben. Cleverly not much about Ben is revealed , only that

he went to the jungle at 17 and came out of it at 21 as a rich man. This is significant as Ben

is representative of stories we hear of the American dream, a delusion or a tale of yore that

inspires but if we hold on to it and keep comparing your success with others drives one to

lunacy like it did with Willy Loman. The fact that we don’t know much about Ben is significant

too as it shows how we don’t see the struggles and the work put behind success, just the short

summary of it.

Success is individualistic and means different things to different people, Willy’s son Biff for

example is a farmhand, he was a promising kid with a bright future according to Willy because

he was popular and charming but that’s not how success works. He didn’t end up in a

corporate job and didn’t have the desire to be in one either, his view of a successful happy life

were very different from his father which created a rift between them that couldn’t be repaired.

This shows the internal problematic nature of the American dream and the pressure someone

puts on their offsprings to live your dreams through them.

respect for each other because they couldn’t accept each other's ideas of success. This shows

that the American Dream is one not without complications.If we do live in compliance to the

middle class American suburbia does it too guarantee happiness? Through Happy, Willy

Loman’s other son, the writer portrays a man that followed societal guidelines and rose to

expectation but we’re left to wonder if Happy is really happy. He’s still not fulfilled, he confesses

that he takes many beautiful women home to his luxurious apartment and has earned the

respect in his community but he still can’t seem to be content.

Arthur Miller uses literary devices to effectively reveal thoughts and intentions of the characters

in the play which present irony and thus criticize the idea of the American Dream. Throughout

the play, Willy Loman has flashbacks. In 'Death Of A Salesman', Arthur Miller redefines

flashbacks as a 'mobile concurrency of the past and present'. Willy's memories are fragmented,

being both real and imaginary since he has 'destroyed boundaries between now and then'. This

is significant as it forces readers to think about the American dream’s old version and the new

corrupted version of the age and time Willy Loman is living in. It also helps write Willy Loman as

an unreliable character giving his delusions, and thus makes the readers distrust his philosophy

of success.

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Miller uses symbolism in the play to display his skepticism of the American Dream by providing

ideas of failure, longing, and shame which are contrasting to the idea of the American Dream.

Diamonds are symbols of material wealth that not only are an ideal that Willy chases but also

representative of something he cannot attain after he missed his chance to get when he did not
go into the jungle with Ben. Diamonds are thus symbolic of something Wily desperately craves

but has not achieved. They represent Ben’s success and Willy’s failure and when at the end of

the play Ben urges Willy to enter the “jungle” and finally retrieve the diamond he had been

chasing - material wealth that he could pass on to his offspring which is an ideal of the American

Dream– by killing himself for insurance money that could help Biff in order to make his life more

meaningful. This tragic ending of the play is criticizing the values the American Dream is based

on.

This self destructive nature of the American Dream’s ideals is revealed as it shows how the

undying unfruitful ambition can drive a man to his demise if we attribute too much value to

material success. Ironically the act of killing himself is the only selfless thing Willy has done

throughout the play, which is again a criticism of how the American Dream is born on a selfish

philosophy and even the selfless act it promotes has a negative impact on people surrounding

the tragic hero. The play thus successfully opens one's eyes to the reality of the failure of the

corrupted idea of the American Dream.