Death of a Salesman is an indictment not of Willy Loman but of the American Dream. How far do you agree?

Miller uses many characters to contrast the difference between success and failure in the American system. Willy Loman is a deluded salesman whose vivid imagination is far greater than his sales ability. Linda, Willy's wife, honourably stands by her husband even in the absence of essential realism. To some extent, she acknowledges Willy's aspirations but, naively, she also accepts them. Consequently, Linda is not part of the solution but rather part of the problem with this dysfunctional family and their inability to face reality. In restraining Willy from his quest for wealth in the Alaska, the 'New Continent', ironically the only realm where the "dream" can be fulfilled, Linda destroys any hope the family has of achieving 'greatness'. Even so, Linda symbolically embodies the play's ultimate value: love. In her innocent love of Willy, Linda accepts her husband's falsehood, his dream, but, in her admiration of his dream, she is lethal. Linda encourages Willy and, in doing so, allows her sons, Biff and Happy, to follow their father's misleading direction in life.  Linda Loman from is a prime example of an “American dream” housewife. She is loving, caring, understanding and will do or say anything for her husband. Even though Linda’s intelligence and insight goes far beyond that of Willy’s she never showed him that side of her, for in American dream woman are supposed to be seen and not heard. So therefore in this respect the play can be seen more about the attributes of the American dream than an indictment of Willy Loman.

Willy's close friend Charlie on the other hand, despite his seemingly ordinary lifestyle, enjoys far better success than to the Lomans. Charlie differs from his friend considerably: he is financially secure, whereas, Willy can barely afford to pay the next gas bill. Similarly, Charlie never indoctrinated his son, Bernard, with the same enthusiasm as Willy. Charlie stands for different beliefs from Willys and, ironically, ends up far more successful. He is a voice of reason for his friend, but is only useful if Willy follows his advice. Instead, Willy's proud and stubborn nature ensures that he will never accept Charlie's many generous job offers. The Dream, as Willy perceives it, is still within grasp of the Lomans thus an ordinary job would not fulfil the true expectations Willy holds of either himself or Biff. Ironically, these job proposals are the one gate left open to Willy and his hopes of becoming 'great'. According to Biff, his friend, the 'anemic' Bernard, is not 'well liked'. However not 'well liked' he may be, Bernard, through hard work, has grown up to be an eminent lawyer. He appears to be proof enough of the "system's" effectiveness and affirms the proposition that success is achieved through persistent application of one's talents.

Whilst everyone around Willy experiences success and wealth, the Loman’s themselves struggle financially. The play romanticises the pioneering dream but never makes it genuinely available to Willy and his family. Willy reveres success. He wants to be successful; to be "great", but his dream is never fulfilled. Indeed, he feels the only way he can actually fulfil his dream is to commit suicide so that his family may subsequently live off his life insurance.

It seems Willy's dead brother, Ben, is the only member of the Loman family who has ever achieved something "great" when he proclaims, '-when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. And by God I was rich.' Ben is idealised by Willy since he fulfilled the genuine American Dream: to start out with nothing and eventually become rich through effort and hard work. Ironically, this wealth is achieved outside America suggesting that there is little left available for the ordinary individual within the country's own boundaries. Instead, one must look elsewhere for true "greatness", underlining the fact that, for the majority, the much sought after American Dream' is a myth. The play is ambiguous in its attitude toward the business-success dream, but certainly does not rebuke it openly. Nevertheless, when Charlie declares, 'Nobody dast blame this man', Miller hints at the responsibility of the state influenced 'Everyone should have a dream' campaign behind Willy's death, suggesting that the salesman was driven too far, pressurising himself into suicide. Miller also seems to judge America in hinting that there is far greater success to be found outside its land. Indeed, it seems there is a lot of room for failure (and ruin) as well as 'greatness' in America. Hence, Willy is a foolish and ineffectual man for whom we feel pity.

Willy detaches himself from reality, living in a life of idealism and dreams that never materialise. One example of Willy's deluded perception of reality lies in his constant disgruntlement with the American car industry. In truth, Willy has always scorned his cars. Even in the 1930s when, according to Willy, the Chevy was at its prime, the Chevy is still insulted by its owner! These, and other such instances in the play, evoke a prime flaw in Willy's character: he is never, fully content with what he possesses at present. Instead, he lives in a deluded world where imagination and past experiences join together and, frequently, appear as far more desirable memories. As a result, Willy continually finds aspects of his life 'remarkable' but never actually realises that as a salesman and a father, he is a failure. This lack of understanding eventually leads to his tragic death; a death he could not escape for he brought it on himself. In killing himself, Willy finally becomes a man of purpose and reason. He had been trying to make a gift that would crown all those striving years; in this instant, all those lies he told, all those dreams and vivid exaggerations would now be given “form and point”. In American Society the only option open to Willy as such was to be a salesman. Tragically, he eventually feels he must, symbolically, trade his own life for his family's well being whereby they will hopefully experience a life of greatness without, himself.

Therefore I believe that Death of a Salesman is an interpretation of America and it’s “Dream”. Willy's garden can be perceived as a “microcosm” of American society as tower blocks continued to be raised around him. This suggests that, for the 'ordinary' person, the literally 'Lo-man' has become overshadowed at the cost of capitalism. The audience is left with the image of the garden that will never grow; the ordinary person has been left behind and even rejected by wealthy capitalists. With everyone succeeding except Willy, Miller also suggests that there is far more success outside America. Indeed, there are nothing but wasted hopes and 'shattered dreams' to be found within the nation. And, in one last vain effort, Willy attempts to 'grow' something for his family in his buying of seeds to plant in the garden. Nevertheless, even Willy has come to realise that his life is a failure when he declares, “Oh, I'd better hurry-Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground.” I think that Willy made this comment because he had never sewn anything in his life that was worthwhile, I believe that he even thought that his own seeds, his children, did not grow into the men that he wanted them to be, so therefore his life is a waste of space in his “garden”

Miller's intention in writing about the death of a salesman, a seemingly ordinary occurrence in twentieth-century society, was to express the playwright's own vision of American Society and the nature of individuality. Death of a Salesman is the failing America and the 'jagged edges of a shattered dream' but it also demonstrates Miller's belief that 'the “common man is as apt a subject for tragedy as kings are”.