tget anywhere. It proves to him that you dont have to be well liked at all tobecome successful. Willies corrupted view of the American Dream also included the beliefthat successful people were risk-takers. He thinks that people take risk in orderto get rich quick. (Murray) He regrets the fact that he always turned down hisbrothers offer to move to Alaska to make his fortune. He took the huge risk oftrusting Biff to get him to his American dream. (Gardener) He thought that onceBiff became the star athlete, that he could start a successful sporting goodscompany. He believes people would be drawn to the company by Biffscharisma, athletic ability, and Loman name. Willy should not have put the fate ofhis dream into Biffs hands. Miller had Biff fail to show us what can happen if youtake a huge risk like that and it fails. Another commonly stated reason for Willies failure is the fact that hechose the wrong career. He truly believed that he was born to be a salesmanand that was how he would make his fortune and gain his success. Since hechose the wrong profession there is no way that he can succeed. According toChester Eisinger, people do not achieve their dream if they choose the wrongone, and they usually choose the wrong dream because they do not knowthemselves (Eisinger).Miller also shows us that the American dream is now corrupt and greedycompared to what it used to be. He shows us that family is one of the mostimportant elements in the American dream and Miller expresses this many timesthroughout the novel. He did this by having Willies American Dream causeproblems in his family and personal life. As Willie is trying to pursue his dreamhe often lets the family down. There are many flashbacks in the novel to the timewhere they lived in Nebraska and how everyone was happy. Willy had a decentjob with good hours and got to spend plenty of his time with his family. He maynot have been the richest or most popular man but he had his freedom, ...
