When dream meets reality…

Essay by brennabaobaoUniversity, Bachelor's July 2009

download word file, 5 pages 3.0

The dream always reveals the reality, which conception lags behind. Death of a Salesman is a play where dreams meet realities and bubbles fall to the earth. Willy Loman, an old salesman, is lost in false hopes and illusions. His sons, Biff and Happy are also failures, but Willy does not want to believe it. He places high hopes on his sons, especially Biff. He firmly believes that Biff will succeed and achieve his own dream which he can’t fulfill. Biff has an internal struggle between pleasing his father and doing what he feels right. Closing to the end, Biff sees the truth and realizes that he is a “dime a dozen” and “no great leader of man”. However, Willy refuses to accept see the truth and makes himself a tragedy in the end. The story takes place in a small man’s family, while the play takes issue with many big conflicts.

What I am interested in is the intense conflict between dream and reality of the play and what actually makes the very small man a “powerful tragedy”. In my view, the distorted “American dream” and Willy’s personal inability to command reality are a major source of conflicts between dream and reality; it is precisely the intensifying conflict eventually causes Willy’s downfall and makes him a “pathetic figure”.

The American dream distorts values of people and stimulates their excessive pursuit of material gain. At the first place, we should make out the definition of the American dream. “It is a dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” In the play, the American dream deforms into a kind of moneymaking dream. The social achievement of individuals is mainly measured by material...