Death Of A Salesman American Dream Essay

Throughout countless American novels, the idea of the American Dream is a strongly prevalent theme. Most characters pursue the American Dream in order to free themselves from the demand of society, and to have power over themselves and others. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, takes place in the early 1940’s and follows the story of Willy Loman, an unsuccessful salesman in his mid 60’s. Willy has worked for the same sales firm for over 34 years and has not progressed in his career but rather digressed to working for commission rather than a salary. Willy’s delusions of grandeur ultimately lead to his demise as he struggled to fight his own enemy, his ego. Miller uses Willy to expose the disparity between the power people think they have …show more content…
These delusions of power made Willy believe that he can obtain whatever he wants. Willy remarks, “I have friends. I can park my car in any street…” to Happy and Biff when they ask him about his business excursion (Miller 19). Exaggerated statements such as those did more harm than good to Willy’s ego, making him more power crazed. Later that same day he mentions to his wife that many of the buyers do not take him seriously due to his obesity, thus showing the internal struggle within Willy to gain respect from his peers. These delusions are brought up again at the end of the story, when Willy thinks that the life insurance check his family will receive from his death will raise them from the financial depression they are currently in. Willy states, “When he died — and by the way he died the death of a salesman… were at his funeral,” about another salesman he once knew (Miller 86). Willy again overextends his influence into thinking that he will be honored in a similar way just because of the service and amount of dedication he had invested in his job. Ironically, at the end of the play, it is explicitly stated that the only people who showed up to the funeral were Charley, Bernard, and the