The concept of the American dream varies from person to person. For some, it is achieving personal happiness, for others, having a strong and loving family. Willy Loman, however, has a different idea of a dream - to be a hero in the eyes of his family and everyone else. He wants everyone to know who he is, and to remember him long after death for his accomplishments and offspring. Throughout Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, Willy strives to meet his own definition of a hero. However, due to the flaws in both the American dream and in Willy's own dream world, he fails miserably in this quest for heroics.
In Willy Loman's mind, having many deeds and accomplishments in one's life is key to being a hero. It is not enough to simply live your life - according to Willy a person must achieve both material and personal success.
Arthur Miller, American playwright
Actor Dustin Hoffman with Lee J. Cobb, who origina...
1st edition cover (Viking Press)His own life is an unsuccessful quest to achieve this prosperity. One of the main examples of this is that Willy and his wife Linda have so many appliances on the installment plan. They don't actually own these things, but put struggle to make the small payments every month in the hope of someday being able to call them their own. There is always "one more payment on the refrigerator"� (73), or "the last payment on the mortgage"� (73). Willy can only free himself of these commitments by ending his life, and does not live to see what it is like to live without debt. Willy is always comparing himself to other people in the play to measure his level of success. In this respect, he has achieved almost nothing. He greatly admires his brother, Ben, for attaining so much success by doing so little. Ben...