Alexandrea Weinman



Alex WeinmanProf. Debby MoningerENGL1020: Expository Writing IIApril 15, 2013Death of a Salesman Psychological CriticismA two-story house, white picket fence, 2.5 kids, a nice car… These are all characteristics of the American Dream. The American Dream is the belief that any person with any background can be successful. Throughout history, Americans have bent over backwards trying to achieve the American Dream. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman tries unsuccessfully to accomplish the American Dream for his family. Throughout his life, Willy planted seeds along the way for his two sons, Biff and Happy, to become successful businessmen, and to succeed, and shine bright like diamonds, where their father has failed. Seeds are not an overnight success; it takes hard work and dedication (almost the opposite of Willy's theory that a person only needs to be liked to be successful), and diamonds are very rare to find. ?In Death of a Salesman, there seems to be two different meanings of the American Dream; there's the business success dream, and the historical dream. The historical dream is when an individual is able to buy their own house, and live with a stable job, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a high paying job, just one that allows them to pay their bills and live a decent life.? If an individual has a high paying job in the business world, although they might not own their own home, and earn more than enough for living expenses, then they have achieved the business success dream. In a lot of ways, Willy had already achieved the historical dream. He had a house, car, family and a job, but he gets obsessed with the business success dream and tries, or at least he thinks he tries, to accomplish it but he tears his family apart in the process. Usually the man in the house is supposed to be a strong figure and lead the family, but in Death of a Salesman, Willy is a weak man. Willy’s last name, “Loman,” suggests that he is literally a “low man.” But he is too driven by his “willy”-ness or “willfulness” to accept the reality that is desperate mind has put-on. His motivation is external rather than a personal desire to achieve his own dream, because he’s too set on what other people think of him instead of how he feels about himself. His occupation as a salesman implies that he is trying to sell his clients the wrong dream, because he has such a demented idea of what the American Dream is. Everyone knows that there’s no secret formula to grow seeds. They have to have a foundation to grow on. The seeds have to have plenty of water, good soil, and depending on what kind of plant they are, a lot of shade or a lot of sunlight. They need to be nurtured. The same idea goes along with raising children. In Death of a Salesman, Willy exclaims, “I’ve got to get some seeds. I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground”(Death of a Salesman 1985). Willy’s attempt to grow vegetables implies his humiliation about hardly being able to put food on the table. Willy feels like he has worked hard, but worries about not having anything to leave his two sons when he passes away. Not only does Willy feel like he has failed to grow the vegetable seeds, but he also feels like he has failed with Biff, his oldest son. Willy’s struggles to farm and nurture Biff went wrong. The garden functions as a substitute for Willy’s failed career and Biff’s non-existent ambition.To Willy, diamonds symbolize definite wealth, and having diamonds would allow him to pass them on to his boys, two things he desperately wants. The diamond stands as a reminder of the success that Willy’s salesman job could not offer him and the missed opportunity of success that he could have had with Ben, his brother. The discovery of diamonds made Ben a fortune, unlike Willy’s failure as a salesman. Willy believed that the American Dream was so infallible, that he passes up the opportunity to go to Alaska with Ben to go into the “jungle”, and “the man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he’s rich” (Death of a Salesman 1985)! Willy had already achieved the historical dream, but he gets obsessed with the business success dream and tries to accomplish it but he tears his family apart in the process. There’s always a time in a person’s life when they look back and wish that they had taken an opportunity when it was offered. In Death of a Salesman, Willy wishes that he could have taken his brother, Ben’s, offer to go with him to Alaska and become rich. When he purchased seeds to plant in his garden, he thought that he could prove to his sons that he was a successful man that they looked up to when they were younger. By planting the seeds, he hopes that, like the vegetables, his career might “grow”, but it didn’t work out quite how he envisioned it. Works Cited"Death of a Salesman Theme Quotes." Shmoop. Shmoop University, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman (1985). Dir. Volker Schl?ndorff. Perf. Dustin Hoffman, Kate Reid, John Malkovich, Stephen Lang, Charles Durning, Louis Zorich, David S. Chandler, Jon Polito, Kathryn Rossetter, Tom Signorelli, Linda Kozlowski, Karen Needle, Anne McIntosh, Michael Quinlan. N.d. IMDB. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. < Editors. “SparkNote on Death of a Salesman.” . SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. ................
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