The American Dream Is Dead

In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman's descent into madness and probable suicide mark the perils of capitalism and the American Dream. Unlike system-wide dystopias in which individuals criticize its pitfalls, the Loman family's microcosm dystopia is suffered through without the characters ever realizing what the true antagonist is.

Willy cares so much about how he is perceived in terms of wealth, status, and being "well liked," without ever realizing that the best way to be seen as wealthy and successful is to put your nose to the grindstone and stop talking about wanting to be wealthy and successful. My favorite part of the whole play is when Willy says to Charley about Bernard, "The Supreme Court! And he didn't even mention it!" to which Charley replies, "He don't have to-- he's gonna do it" (Norton 1753).

The American Dream in Willy's life is all about the illusion of success, which is exactly what gets in his way of true success. Money and materials can't be the end goal, because in the process he loses everything that he realizes he's missing at the end of his life- happy marriage, independent children that still love him, and a meaningful career.

Because the American Dream makes success the end goal, like Willy does, the appearance of success matters more than the substance. So, is a mannequin replica closer to the living, or the dead?