Well first of all, I will discuss Willy’s “complex relationship” with the American dream. The thing is though, Willy has no idea what the American dream is. Throughout the play, he searches and searches for something or really anything that can possibly give his life meaning, but he fails and ultimately ends up dead. To him, the American dream isn’t an idyllic suburban house with a happy family, rather, the American dream to Willy is simply being successful and finding meaning in life. He’s not really sure what that will look like - but he’s pretty confident that he will know it when he sees it. First, Willy looks to his career for success. He saw his father sell flutes and remembers the successful, well-liked, salesman who had an inspiring funeral and decides that sales will bring him success. Thus, he travels. He goes from New York to Boston then back to New York and back to Boston over, and over again. He thinks that if he sells enough, if he is successful enough, he won’t have to worry about money and will be content. But Willy fails. He tries to succeed in the business world but ultimately fails. He is put back on commission and eventually fired. He decides that must not have been the American Dream then. Instead, maybe the American Dream is having a successful family and prosperous children. So when Willy is fired he turns to his Biff and Happy. Just because he didn’t succeed doesn’t mean that they can’t be. Maybe they can start a business in Florida, be independent, content, and look of for him. Maybe that’s the “real” American Dream. But then that fails too and Willy again decides that wasn’t the American Dream. He looks to the past in his hallucinations thinking that he might find some vestige of the American Dream there but even that doesn’t work. Ultimately though, in a final act of desperation, Willy turns to the future for his “American Dream”. The way he sees it, he has looked everywhere else and there is really no where else to go. So he drives his car into oblivion thinking his death will bring him the American Dream. In the end, Willy still has no idea what this dream is, but he thinks his legacy might be it. Maybe if he just left his family $25,000 they could finally achieve what he couldn’t. Maybe then he would be remembered as a success. Maybe then he would finally find the American Dream. Besides, it’s “guaranteed”.
So really, when we talk about the “meaning of the work as a whole”, we need to realize that Arthur Miller wasn’t saying that Willy was chasing after the wrong dream. He doesn’t suggest that Willy somehow had all the wrong ideas and that Biff’s “American Dream” of finding freedom and success in the West was right. In the same vein, he shows that Linda and Happy each failed when they saw their “American Dream” in Willy. Instead, Miller argues that there is no “American Dream”. There’s no mysterious picture of success, no ephemeral image of happiness. Essentially, Miller uses every character to show that the American Dream simply doesn’t exist no matter how hard you look for it. Willy looks for it in his job, his family, and even his death. Biff looks just about everywhere and Linda passively waits and hopes it will come to her. In fact, the only characters who really achieve success are Charley and Bernand and they aren’t even looking for anything. They simply live their lives like they want to, how they want to, and with no regard for any sort of externally imposed “dream”. The whole point of the play is that the American Dream is a myth. There’s no set formula for happiness, success, or really anything for that matter. If we live like there is, we will only end up like Willy - alone, discontent, and dead.
As for what I think the American Dream is, I don’t really think it’s changed much over the years. Back in the fifties it might have been a house in the suburbs, a nuclear family, and a good career, but now it’s just been diversified. The house in the suburbs has been replaced by a small cottage, a vast mansion, or a bohemian enclave. The nuclear family has been replaced by a spouse, some kids, or some combination. And the dream of a “good” (or at least fulfilling) career hasn’t gone anywhere either. The thing is, people are just going to do whatever they want to try to be happy. They look to a family, a person, possessions, God, or something else entirely. At some point someone will try to put this vision of happiness into an easily accessible, packaged “dream” and maybe later someone will decide to label it “The American Dream”. In the end, I think Arthur Miller was mostly right. It might seem a little pessimistic, but I think it’s actually a better alternative. At the very best all an American Dream or even a personal dream can provide a set of goals and hope for the future. But at it’s worst a dream can feel binding or restrictive. So I think that a clear “dream” and a direct plan for the future doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Instead, I’m just going to live my life now and worry about labeling it later.
So really, when we talk about the “meaning of the work as a whole”, we need to realize that Arthur Miller wasn’t saying that Willy was chasing after the wrong dream. He doesn’t suggest that Willy somehow had all the wrong ideas and that Biff’s “American Dream” of finding freedom and success in the West was right. In the same vein, he shows that Linda and Happy each failed when they saw their “American Dream” in Willy. Instead, Miller argues that there is no “American Dream”. There’s no mysterious picture of success, no ephemeral image of happiness. Essentially, Miller uses every character to show that the American Dream simply doesn’t exist no matter how hard you look for it. Willy looks for it in his job, his family, and even his death. Biff looks just about everywhere and Linda passively waits and hopes it will come to her. In fact, the only characters who really achieve success are Charley and Bernand and they aren’t even looking for anything. They simply live their lives like they want to, how they want to, and with no regard for any sort of externally imposed “dream”. The whole point of the play is that the American Dream is a myth. There’s no set formula for happiness, success, or really anything for that matter. If we live like there is, we will only end up like Willy - alone, discontent, and dead.
As for what I think the American Dream is, I don’t really think it’s changed much over the years. Back in the fifties it might have been a house in the suburbs, a nuclear family, and a good career, but now it’s just been diversified. The house in the suburbs has been replaced by a small cottage, a vast mansion, or a bohemian enclave. The nuclear family has been replaced by a spouse, some kids, or some combination. And the dream of a “good” (or at least fulfilling) career hasn’t gone anywhere either. The thing is, people are just going to do whatever they want to try to be happy. They look to a family, a person, possessions, God, or something else entirely. At some point someone will try to put this vision of happiness into an easily accessible, packaged “dream” and maybe later someone will decide to label it “The American Dream”. In the end, I think Arthur Miller was mostly right. It might seem a little pessimistic, but I think it’s actually a better alternative. At the very best all an American Dream or even a personal dream can provide a set of goals and hope for the future. But at it’s worst a dream can feel binding or restrictive. So I think that a clear “dream” and a direct plan for the future doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Instead, I’m just going to live my life now and worry about labeling it later.
