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American Dream

n his play Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller shows us that theAmerican Dream is valid, but those who hope to substitute popularity and luckybreaks for hard work are likely to fail. Miller does this by using characters suchas Willy Lowman who cant achieve his American Dream of becoming rich andfamous.In Millers Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman makes two grave mistakeswhile trying to achieve his American Dream. Willy grew up believing that being"well-liked" was important to becoming a success. (Death, Homewok hotline) Hebelieved that being well-liked could help you charm your boss and open doors inthe business world. (Garrison) A perfect example is on page 64 when Willy ispreparing Biff for a job interview with Oliver. He says Dont wear a sport jacketand slacks when u see Oliver. Wear a business suit, and talk as little aspossible, and dont crack any jokes. (Miller, Death of a Salesman) This justshows how worried he is about being accepted. I think this is what caused Willyto fail. He worked his hardest trying to suck up to people and become popularwhen he should have just worked harder at his job. Miller also uses Charlies son Bernard to contrast Willies thoughts andhelp show that anyone can achieve their American Dream. Willy thinks Bernardis a physically unattractive, spectacles-wearing, anemic, pathetic little lad.(Elsom) Bernard gives Biff the right answers to the exams in math. In exchangefor this, Biff lets Bernard carry his shoulder pads into the locker room at gametime so that he can get some attention and feel like part of the group. Bernardis not "well liked." by his former class mates at all. He is the total opposite of Biff.Bernard and Willie run into each other at the end of the play at Charlies office.Bernard tells him that he has a case in Washington and Willy says How didyou? Why didnt he ever catch on?(Miller 92) Miller says this because he isamazed that Bernard got as far as he did. He doesnt understand why Biff didn...

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