beck and Miller portray their cynicism towards the American Dream?
Steinbeck and Miller’s portrayal of the American Dream in ‘of Mice and Men’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ is that the great prospect of the American Dream and the idea of having exactly what one wants is unachievable, whether it may be having the most money in the city and great prosperity or owning a piece of land in the countryside. Willy Loman, a city boy and Lennie Small, a farm boy, are examples of the weakest in their society and so most susceptible to the dream, however, nearly everyone is sucked in by this unattainable idea, causing them to constantly be discontent, as one can’t seem to reach it and so lives in a fantasy visualising about it. This creates an unfortunate …show more content…
When Willy dreams about when he was younger and talking to Biff and Happy, he lies to them, telling them how he doesn’t, ‘have to wait in line to see a buyer.’ Although he is very unhappy in reality as he does not seem to be able to achieve his obsessed idea of the Dream, he is able to fantasise about achieving it, which makes him far more happy, as can be seen how he, ‘laughs appreciatively’ when he imagines what it would be like to accomplish it. Willy spends a huge amount of his time living in a fantasy where he genuinely believes that he can achieve prosperity. He pictures his successful brother Ben to try giving himself hope: ‘listen to this. This is your uncle, Ben, a great man! Tell my boys Ben… the greatest things can happen.’ He uses his brother as a glimpse of hope in his fantasised world to give him huge amounts of false confidence that people can be successful and achieve their dream, causing him to become far more content. This is similar to Lennie and several other characters from Of Mice and Men who live in a fantasy to make themselves happier. Lennie likes to listen to George tell him about owning their own ranch, almost as if it is a bedtime story: ‘come on, George. Tell me. Please, George. Like you done …show more content…
One already knows that in reality Willy hardly has enough to pay his rent, earning only, ‘seventy dollars,’ however speaks to people as if he is the best in the business: ‘Business is bad it’s murderous. But not for me, of course.’ He is not successful nor has he achieved the Dream and so feels the need to lie, as he is insecure that people will think that he is a failure and worthless. After Willy loses his job, Charley offers him a place in his business, however he responds harshly to this proposal, saying, ‘I don’t want your goddam job!’ The reason Willy unreasonably turns down this great opportunity is because he wants to show his competitiveness and does not want his high level of false pride to fall drastically, as if he was to work for Charley it would make him feel weak and ‘insulted,’ as it would reveal explicitly that he is low down in the business chain, causing him to feel as if he is not achieving the Dream; Willy bases the way he thinks on how it affects his hopes of the Dream. Happy too behaves immorally, sleeping with his client’s wives: ‘that girl Charlotte I was with tonight is engaged to be married in five weeks.’ Happy betrays acquaintances in a very harsh way to give him satisfaction and show his
Steinbeck and Miller’s portrayal of the American Dream in ‘of Mice and Men’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’ is that the great prospect of the American Dream and the idea of having exactly what one wants is unachievable, whether it may be having the most money in the city and great prosperity or owning a piece of land in the countryside. Willy Loman, a city boy and Lennie Small, a farm boy, are examples of the weakest in their society and so most susceptible to the dream, however, nearly everyone is sucked in by this unattainable idea, causing them to constantly be discontent, as one can’t seem to reach it and so lives in a fantasy visualising about it. This creates an unfortunate …show more content…
When Willy dreams about when he was younger and talking to Biff and Happy, he lies to them, telling them how he doesn’t, ‘have to wait in line to see a buyer.’ Although he is very unhappy in reality as he does not seem to be able to achieve his obsessed idea of the Dream, he is able to fantasise about achieving it, which makes him far more happy, as can be seen how he, ‘laughs appreciatively’ when he imagines what it would be like to accomplish it. Willy spends a huge amount of his time living in a fantasy where he genuinely believes that he can achieve prosperity. He pictures his successful brother Ben to try giving himself hope: ‘listen to this. This is your uncle, Ben, a great man! Tell my boys Ben… the greatest things can happen.’ He uses his brother as a glimpse of hope in his fantasised world to give him huge amounts of false confidence that people can be successful and achieve their dream, causing him to become far more content. This is similar to Lennie and several other characters from Of Mice and Men who live in a fantasy to make themselves happier. Lennie likes to listen to George tell him about owning their own ranch, almost as if it is a bedtime story: ‘come on, George. Tell me. Please, George. Like you done …show more content…
One already knows that in reality Willy hardly has enough to pay his rent, earning only, ‘seventy dollars,’ however speaks to people as if he is the best in the business: ‘Business is bad it’s murderous. But not for me, of course.’ He is not successful nor has he achieved the Dream and so feels the need to lie, as he is insecure that people will think that he is a failure and worthless. After Willy loses his job, Charley offers him a place in his business, however he responds harshly to this proposal, saying, ‘I don’t want your goddam job!’ The reason Willy unreasonably turns down this great opportunity is because he wants to show his competitiveness and does not want his high level of false pride to fall drastically, as if he was to work for Charley it would make him feel weak and ‘insulted,’ as it would reveal explicitly that he is low down in the business chain, causing him to feel as if he is not achieving the Dream; Willy bases the way he thinks on how it affects his hopes of the Dream. Happy too behaves immorally, sleeping with his client’s wives: ‘that girl Charlotte I was with tonight is engaged to be married in five weeks.’ Happy betrays acquaintances in a very harsh way to give him satisfaction and show his