An Analysis of American Dreams of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman

柴蕊

ABSTRACT：The Death of a Salesman of Arthur Miller caused a sensation throughout America after its debut. Miller uncover us a bitter and cruel reality in American in the 20th century after World War Ⅱ. It is necessary and beneficial to be well-informed of the value of American dream. From a cultural perspective， the origins， historical development and changes with time of the American Dream will be systematically analyzed in this thesis， which intends to find out its cultural root and its realistic value associated with the current reality. Currently， we need to treat this American traditional value sensibly， fully explore it to strengthen peoples confidence during the financial crisis， and avoid indulging to the unrealistic dream like the protagonist Willy in the drama.

Key Words：American dream； origins； confidence

The drama The Death of a Salesman of Arthur Miller is almost known to every household in America. After the first performance in New York in 1949， it caused a sensation among people. At that time， the industrial America was on its rapid rising and in that modern society， many people saw themselves or their friends and families in the drama who were also going through the same experience as Willy Loman.

In the drama， Miller made an ordinary people， a salesman instead of an upper-class people as the protagonist. Willy indulged in his great dream of success for the lifetime， but he was not appreciated by others and hardly had any noticeable achievement. Meanwhile， he was impractically living in the illusion of success and greatness. All the disparity between his dream and the relentless reality made him generated a strong sense of hatred and keep complaining about being born in a wrong time. He believed that it was not enough for one to be “liked”. Only when he was “well liked” can one get a great achievement.

The whole life of Willy was a process of the ruin of his American dream. He was always on the run but accomplished nothing， which eventually led to his tragic suicide.

The drama being such a success， it instigated wide interest among scholars. The theme of American dream has been studied extensively. Many individuals seem to agree that the American dream has always been a core and long-cherished value for the Americans. Needleman （2004） suggested that the concept of American dream rooted deeply in the American culture and was part of the nations history. Through analysis， Guo Jide（2004） elaborated the profound plot and the symbolisms in the drama and he concluded that Willy Loman was just a miniature of hundreds of thousands of American ordinary people and his tragedy represented the tragedy of American society. And Hu Gouping（2005）， a Chinese public procurator， analyzed the value of American Dream ， and at the same time uncovered the contradictory reality in the United States. And other scholars developed their studies from different perspectives. However， the situation in the world has been changing all the time， and it is quite necessary to analyze the meaning of American dream and discuss its realistic value in today society.

Therefore， the purpose of this study is to systematically study the reasons why Willy Loman was destined to fail in his pursuit of dreams， and rethink the current value of American Dream.

1.1 The core value in the American Dream

During the historical development， the core value of the American Dream gradually formed， which put its emphasis mainly on the individualism and the value cherished in the Declaration of Independence.

1.1.1. Individualism

In the drama， we can see that Willy Loman always believed success can be achieved through hard working. This was a well manifestation of the individualism in the core value of America Dream.

This conviction originated from the Puritan doctrine. There was， indeed， evidence that showed some people were the Gods chosen people. “They believed that everyone had a calling， which was given by God” （Zhu and Wang 27）. Therefore everyone must work hard， spend little and invest for more business. Working hard and living a moral life were their ethics.

Besides， in the late 17th century and 18th century， the profound Enlightenment Movement emerged in the European continent. A few Americans were so influenced by the new ideas and science of the Enlightenment. They thus became deists， who believed firmly that “reason teaches that God exists but leaves man free to settle his own affairs” （Zhu and Zhang 82）.

Apparently， the individualism formed also mainly form the religious faith.

1.1.2 Life， liberty and pursuit of happiness

With the continuous arrival of the Pilgrims， by the late 17th century， England established a dominant position on the North America. Under the influence of the advanced thoughts and propelled by the development of the colony economy， the 13 colonies rose up to fight against the British Empire for their own freedom.

Since the found of the new nation and its Declaration of Independence， the American Dream has been cherished and advocated by numerous statesmen and residents in American history.

We can easily sum up from the historical experience that the essence of the American Dream in the very beginning was the belief of the freedom for all the residents in the United States to pursue their goals in life through hard-working and free choice. This dream made people believe that they could achieve their success in American despite their race， sex， social state and as long as they have perseverance， hard work and courage， they could definitely have their dreams come true. Therefore， for hundreds of years， the concept of American dream served as spiritual pillars and motivation.

1.2 Reasons for the shattering of Willys dream

Willys own characteristics and attitudes were the factors not to be neglected resulted in his failed dream. Besides， there were also some reasons on the side of the society.

1.2.1 The unrealistic and blind faith in the American Dream

In the drama， Willy firmly believed “a man can end up with diamonds here on the basis of being liked” （Miller 19）. If we take a comprehensive view of the general story， it is not too hard to see that Willy was afflicted by the blind obsession with the American Dream. His tragedy was caused by his faith in accomplishing it， which meant success through working hard and obtaining others acceptance by popular personality. Though he carried this doctrine for nearly 40 years， he failed to live up to that high expectation.

The 63-year old salesman traveled about for many years before he suddenly realized that he was an incompetent husband as well as father. His two sons were far from being outstanding as he expected， and his own career made him exhausted and began to decline as he became old， either according to his own criteria or any other standards. So Willy chose to indulge into the fancy recollection of the past.

Willy desired to be “well like”， both for himself and his two sons. When he gradually lost his old customers and Biff and Happy， especially the former， failed to achieve successful career eventually， Willys hallucination burst utterly and he had to commit suicide in order that Biff could use his life insurance to start a business. Even before he died， Willy refused to discard his unrealistic dream. But death declared the complete bankruptcy of his life-long blind faith.

1.2.2 A socially un-adaptable self-position

Willy was just an ordinary salesman like other people， while he bragged to others how well liked he was. He said he was known almost to everyone in New England and once drinking coffee with a Boston celebrity. In the guidance of his fancy， Willy imagined to closely connect with the upper class. And also， he had planned to raise his two sons to become big shots， but neither of the two had lived up to his expectations. Therefore， it was so unbearable for him to wake up to the reality that he was actually nothing and Biff was an utter failure. At first he merely threw himself into the illusion of his brother Ben， who represented all his fancy about success， and the unrealistic future. When the facts were presented in front of his eyes， he had no choice but to face it.

All these details revealed that Willys self-position and the position for his son lost contact with the real life. For his failing to adapt to the reality， Willy did not pull himself off the illusion until his death.

1.2.3 Pomposity

After Willy was fired by his boss， he was deprived of all the sources of bread and butter. So he went to his neighbor Charley to borrow some money. The latter offered him a job but was refused， thus manifested his fatal pomposity. According to Charley， Willy was just jealous of him for his success.

If Willy had adjusted his attitude of life and accepted Charleys kind offering， he might not have been died. Therefore， pomposity became a deadly defect in his personality which finally leads to his tragedy.

1.2.4 Superficial interpretation of likeability

Willy believed for his lifetime that being “well liked” was a manifestation of success. He childishly disliked Bernard because he considered him a nerd， but ironically Bernard turned out to be a successful lawyer when he grew up. Meanwhile， he thought his own son Biff was well liked until Biff went to his ex-boss to borrow a large sum of money while ended up nothing except stealing a fountain pen from the office. He imagined all the ways that he himself was well liked in New England and Boston， but the fact was that he gradually lost his ability to sell and the old customers went away from him. The entire well-liked thing proved to be a bitter satire on Willy. As pointed out by Charley， no people was well liked only “with his pocket on him he was well liked” （Miller）.

Willys interpretation of being liked was so superficial. He did not know， or refused to admit that material wealth was a prerequisite of likeability. Such ignorance served as a factor to his shattered dream.

CONCLUSION

At the meantime， though Willy Lomans obsession with the unrealistic dream led to his tragic ending， we are not supposed to negate the value of American Dream completely. In the new period， the international situation changed a great deal. Americans economy fell into stagnation and social unrest intensified. And the new times will endow the American Dream with new significance. the new era tend to call for new connotations of the old dreams. It is necessary to avoid overemphasizing the material side of the dream that once made the interpersonal relationships pervaded with the smell of money. Except social wealth， there are many pursuits that would make people happy， such as family love， steady career， and physical health. These do not really contradict to the old values—the pursuit of happiness， while peoples definition of happiness may change over time. In this sense， the old values in American Dream should be connected to the modern reality. It is of paramount importance， drawing lessons from Willys experience.

WORKS CITED：

[1]Cheng Yingcui， Xu Bingbing. American Dreams with Audacity. Beijing： China Astronautic Publishing House， 2010.

[2]Miller， Arthur. “Death of a Salesman.” Elements of Literature. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research ， 2004.Print.

[3]Needleman， Jocab. The American Soul. Beijing： Huaxia， 2004.Print.

[4]Terkel， Sturds. American Dreams. Ohio： Ballantine Books， 1980.Print.

[5]金莉，張剑.《文学原理教程》北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2004.