Tara Wilson
Deborde
Intro to Lit
8-31-11
American Dream
During class we discussed the “American Dream.” I feel many people have different views on what the ”American Dream” really is. Essentially, I feel the “American Dream” is the idea that people can succeed through hard work. If you live by the “American Dream” you believe happiness is completely obtainable. Many people also associate the “American Dream” with religious freedom and success in businesses. As I read ”Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman is let down by his son’s work ethic. Willy Loman seems to live by the American Dream and wouldn’t want anything else for his son. His Son had big dreams of being successful in a business; just like myself, but unfortunately he isn’t following through with it. He was very immature and never wanted to take responsibility for his actions. Willy Loman seemed very disappointed that his son wasn’t fully following the “American Dream.” There are multiply ways to cope with Denial and Repression, Wily Loman’s son is able to chase harder and fifull the American Dream he always wanted, or he could become more practical and figure something else out to chase. The American Dream was made up a long time ago, Miller states, “Whoever is writing in the United States is using the American Dream as an ironical pole of his story. People elsewhere tend to accept, to a far greater degree anyway, that the conditions of life are hostile to man’s pretentions.” Although, Arthur Millers characters are living by the “American Dream,” he writes like a Modernist. In class we learned, Modernists do not subscribe to the absolute truth, they are always searching for the truth. They also believe the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.
Work Cited
Murphy, Brenda. Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. Pasadena, CA: Salem, 2010. Print.
"The American Dream." Arnet - Home Page of the American Studies Centre at Liverpool JMU. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/American_Dream.htm>.
