The American Dream: A Fairytale The play, "Death of a Salesman" was written by Arthur Miller in 1949. In his work Miller expressed the multitude of ways how men were able to achieve the American Dream. Miller worked hard to convey the roles of men, and women during the time just before the end of the 1940’s. Times were getting better after the Great Depression, and Willy Loman had set his course to success. The American Dream is seen as a pathway that is lit with the aspirations of many Americans. The pathway is perceived in many different ways and the outcomes are not always the same. For some Americans 2 cars, a wife, 2 kids and a white picket fence is the sign of success, but at what cost? The American Dream is nothing more than a person’s
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The idea that a better life is determined by the paycheck that is brought into the American home. By the blood, sweat and tears poured over concrete and steel. By the man in the suit and tie that won’t make it home tonight to see his kid’s recital, or to put them to bed. These are the kind of issues that plagued Willy Loman and his wife Linda. In Irving Jacobson’s Family Dreams In Death Of A Salesman, he is quick to reference that “Loman wants success, but the meaning of that need extends beyond the accumulation of wealth, security, goods, and status” (Jacobson). Jacobson’s take on the situation that plagued the Loman’s were quite simple. The fact that Willy wanted what he could not achieve any longer, stability. The unsure fact that he could help his family live in a society that is controlled by external influences. The sheer fact that he alone could no longer sustain a lifestyle that was garnished with the gadgets that were called time saving. Even with all of these things surrounding Willy, what he really lacked in the end is time. He felt as if he had run out of time and that he was being replaced in a way that didn’t glorify a time from which he came (Jacobson). Greed was also a key taker in the race against time. Cardullo briefly spoke on the subject as he asked, “Why did traditional societies not abandon their elaborate social structures, their customs and conventions, their myths, and rituals—all foolish pipe dreams of their own—in favor of the new capitalist order in which everyone was equal in his or her opportunity to maximize his or her gain” (Cardullo)? I believe he was speaking on greed overtaking the natural orders of
The idea that a better life is determined by the paycheck that is brought into the American home. By the blood, sweat and tears poured over concrete and steel. By the man in the suit and tie that won’t make it home tonight to see his kid’s recital, or to put them to bed. These are the kind of issues that plagued Willy Loman and his wife Linda. In Irving Jacobson’s Family Dreams In Death Of A Salesman, he is quick to reference that “Loman wants success, but the meaning of that need extends beyond the accumulation of wealth, security, goods, and status” (Jacobson). Jacobson’s take on the situation that plagued the Loman’s were quite simple. The fact that Willy wanted what he could not achieve any longer, stability. The unsure fact that he could help his family live in a society that is controlled by external influences. The sheer fact that he alone could no longer sustain a lifestyle that was garnished with the gadgets that were called time saving. Even with all of these things surrounding Willy, what he really lacked in the end is time. He felt as if he had run out of time and that he was being replaced in a way that didn’t glorify a time from which he came (Jacobson). Greed was also a key taker in the race against time. Cardullo briefly spoke on the subject as he asked, “Why did traditional societies not abandon their elaborate social structures, their customs and conventions, their myths, and rituals—all foolish pipe dreams of their own—in favor of the new capitalist order in which everyone was equal in his or her opportunity to maximize his or her gain” (Cardullo)? I believe he was speaking on greed overtaking the natural orders of