Dreams and Success in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman...

Dreams and Success in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman In Arthur Millers play, Death of a Salesman, Miller probes the dream of Willy Lowman while making a statement about the dreams of American society. This essay will explore how each character of the play contributes to Willys dream, success, and failure. Willy is the aging salesman whose imagination is much larger than his sales ability. Willys wife, Linda, stands by her husband even in his absence of realism. Biff and Happy follow in their fathers fallacy of life. Willys brother, Ben is the only member of the Loman family with the clear vision necessary to succeed. Charlie and his son Benard, on the other hand, enjoy better success in life compared†¦show more content†¦But in the beautiful, ironic complexity of her creation, she is also Willys and their sons destroyer. In her love Linda has accepted Willys Greatness and his dream, but while in her admiration for Willy her love is powerful and moving, in her admiration for his dreams, it is lethal. She encourages Willys dream, yet she will not let him leave her for the New Continent, the only realm where the dream can be fulfilled. She want to reconcile father and son, but she attempts this in the context of Willys false values. She cannot allow her sons to achie ve that selfhood that involves denial of these values (Gordon p. 316). Linda is also caught up in Willys lies and therefore does nothing but help fuel the fire in the inferno of their dreams and ambitions. She lets this whole masquerade continue right in front of her instead of doing something to stop their out of control lies. Also, Biff the oldest son, continues to search for his purpose in life. Due mainly to all the hot air Willy always feeds him, Biff continues to stumble in his fight for life. Biff has never had the ability to hold down a job very long due to his inability to take orders and do his time in the trenches before becoming a success at a particular job. Richard J. Foster states, Biff, who in the play as an amplification or reflection of Willys problems, hasShow MoreRelatedA Detailed Analysis of Death of a Salesman1199 Words   |  5 PagesLook at Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman has been accepted worldwide as one of the greatest American dramas to premier in theatre. The story behind the play is based on Miller’s interactions with his Uncle, a salesman whose efforts to obtain the â€Å"American Dream† and pass his success on to his two sons becomes his main focus. Miller’s life during the preparation of Death of a Salesman provides the spark and inspiration needed to pen a literary classic. 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