is son, and most importantly himself. The extreme to which he followed the dream brought him to disallusionment and lose sense of reality. Willy created a reality for himself where he "knocked 'em cold in Providence," and "slaughtered 'em in Boston."(p.33) The ultimate result of his disallusionment is his suicide. It is ironic that he dies for his ideals although they are misconstrued. The problem with Willy's ideals which ultimately kills him is that he has lost sight of achieving the true goal of the American Dream, happiness and freedom, and the dream took control of him. He struggled to achieve something that he could not; he did not have the talent to be a salesman. He became so obsessed with living the dream that he was unable to be content with his talents in carpentry and with his family. There is also a manner in which he pusues the Dream. He is a salesman, a profession that is associated with trickery and illusion. He could not pusue a noble dream by doing something that is based in deceit. His quest was cursed from the start and the fact that he lived the quest and not the dream made it worse. Similarly in Miller's The Price the main character is a man who tries to life for an ideal and not the ideal . In The Price Victor becomes so obsessed with sacrificing for others that he ultimately fails to please himself . By not achieving for himself he hurts those he is trying to help, his family. Victor devoted his life to serving others at an early age. When he was younger he went to the police academy, a profession that is marked by self- sacrifice for others. Furtheremore he put his brother through medical school even though Victor had more potential in the field. While his brother Walter was in school Victor cared for their aging father at a great expense to Victor econimically and emotionally. During the time period portrayed by the play Victor is still selfless as he constantly calls tries to make arrangements to include his b...
