American Dream

What is a dream? More importantly, what is the "American dream?" In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, the idea of the "American dream" becomes the driving force for Willy Loman to sustain his life for as long as he continues to live. As a salesman, in the time that is still facing problems from the effects of the Great Depression, he struggles to provide for his family with very little income. Due to the changes in work ethics from that of what America's founding fathers knew, Willy compromises his integrity in his work, his marriage, his relationship with his children, and his sanity in order to pursue his goal of obtaining the ultimate "American dream."

United States President, Calvin Coolidge, once said, "the business of America is business." But what exactly did he mean? From the first time that American settlers stepped on the soil that would one day be known as the United States of America, there was a dream to explore, to have their own way of thinking, living, and doing business with others. In 1776 when the founding fathers drafted the Declaration of Independence to maintain power from England and become a new country on their own, John Locke's original idea, which Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration was, "[w]e hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Property" (Huenefeld, sec. C). However, Jefferson and the five others who were editing the Declaration decided to change the statement to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" (Jefferson, par. 1). During the time of the founding fathers, the amount of property one owned was always directly related to how wealthy they were, which is still somewhat true today. So why did Jefferson change the word to happiness? And what exactly does the "pursuit of happiness" mean? According to D. Brewer, "[w]hen among the affirmations of the Declaration, it is asserted that the pursuit of happiness is one of the unalienable rights, it is meant that the acquisition, possession, and enjoyment of property are matters which human government cannot forbid, and which it cannot destroy" (Huenefeld, sec. C). America's founding fathers had to take an enormous risk to even see if they could accomplish all they had hoped for in establishing a new country, just like how Willy Loman had to take a risk when deciding to become a salesman, which would inevitably mean giving up his family and sanity in the long run. When the settlers came from England, the "American dream" was not even an established thought to them. What this risk, or dream, meant for them was that it was "a genuine and determined belief that in America, all things are possible to all men, regardless of birth or wealth; if you work hard enough you will achieve anything" (Juan, 124). They just all wanted to provide a better life for themselves than they had in England because most of the people who came as settlers had either been in jail for years and still had more time to serve or they owed large amounts of debt to the English government. Their only dream was a better life.

Willy Loman also wanted a better life--for him and his family. However, times were hard for Willy because Death of a Salesman, even though it is not set during the Great Depression, it is still experiencing the effects of it, as is Willy, a salesman who stands befuddled by his failure (Bigsby, vii). Willy had always dreamed of being a successful salesman just like Dave Singleman, who made all his sales from a hotel phone. In Act II, Willy makes the statement "I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want" (Miller, 61). However, throughout his entire career Willy struggles and cannot exactly get his feet up off the ground in any of his sales. In the time that Willy is living, "the American economy had become consumption-oriented rather than production-oriented, and society was turning more and more materialistic" (Benziman, 20). This is exactly how the world is today. America, and the rest of the world, just wants to ask the question, "What is in it for me?" Willy was willing to work his hardest and do whatever he could to obtain his dream.

Many people will come across a drama like Death of a Salesman and read it, but not have a full understanding of what the purpose of the writing was to do. Death of a Salesman was meant to redefine the "American dream" and "as an appeal to reestablish [it] as it should be dreamt, and as it had been dreamt once, before its deterioration into an exclusively self-centered ambition for personal profit" (Benziman, 21). The "American dream" is simply the idea of being happy and successful, yet many people will overlook the fact that these two things--happiness and success--are not the same thing. It takes hard work, integrity, and determination to obtain the true "American dream." However, many scholars conclude, "this leads to success, wealth, and in due-time--power. But this dream for everyone develops,