The Role Of Materialism In Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman

The vast size of the human population today in our modern time bring with it an almost arbitrary phenomenon, that most people do not seem to understand and accept. It is of course the phenomena that allows some people to live in huge mansions with a fifty meter pool in the backyard, and there are human beings who are forced to dwell in the many tunnels and sewers under major cities and who have to beg for their food. It is an extreme example of course, but is not farfetched at all. It is a system of powerful inequalities and differences, a system that can be just as benevolent as cruel. This of course is the materialistic manifestation of the human nature to seek comfort and stability; The American Dream. In Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", we are given a portrayal of the …show more content…
The changes in society were rapid and tangible; small farms disappeared to make way for huge plantations, mom and pop's small corner store were swallowed whole by multinational businesses. In this world, where profit and efficiency is the name of the game, we don't have time and a place anymore for Willy Loman. He is considered to be an inefficient, burdensome obstacle in the way of progress. Willy Lomans are expendable parts in the machine of a capitalist world.

In "Death of a Salesman," the two ideologies that clash are the cult of personality, the search for fame and recognition, and the capitalist utilitarian profit motive. The play uses Willy's brother Ben, and father, the tough individualists who carved out fame and fortune on their own, and contrasts their self made success with the harsh meat hook realities of a capitalist society. The two ideologies are working in tandem in up keeping the greed that makes keeps the American Dream alive. Both make monetary success equal with