Willy’s ambition in life is to become a part of his own unique American Dream, by becoming a well-liked, successful salesman who has the best of everything for his family. To do this Miller illustrates the single most important factor of being well liked will help Willy achieve his dream.
Miller shows that as Willy’s sons grow older they realize how worthless their father’s dream is to them but however hard they try to convince their father the truth he becomes more determined to achieve his dream, The American Dream.
In the play Miller presents Willy, as he drifts into a daydream, reminiscing about a big day in his sons football career, when he and his son break into a conversation about successful neighbour Charlie and his intelligent son Bernard when Willy describes Charlie as ‘… he’s liked but not well liked’ a phrase also used by his son to describe Bernard, thus emphasising what Willy really believes in, being well liked.
After the discussion about Charlie & Bernard Willy turns to his son and says ‘You want to be a worm like Bernard’ after Bernard tries to encourage Biff to study for his Maths exam, because if he failed he wouldn’t make the football team. This shows that Willy wants his sons to be liked and have character. Here Miller presents Willy as an obsessive man who wants his sons to live in his own dream world.
After Willy’s pay is cut and has to make a living on his sales alone, he struggles to pay for the many necessities in life Willy turns to his ‘… not well liked’ neighbour for money every week and willingly gives Willy the money as well as offering a job which Willy declines and is so frustrated at Charlie’s offer says ‘I’ve got a job’ but is challenged by Charlie who realizes Willy is deceiving himself with his unrealistic dream.
‘When the hell are you going to grow up’ to which Willy angrily responds ‘…you say that to me again, I’ll rap you one’ here Miller represents Willy as being resentful to Charlie for being the more powerful man and offering to sort Willy’s life out for him.
Each member of the Loman family has their own hopes and ambitions, which come from various stages in each of their lives, throughout the play. However some dreams are more realistic than others but some run the lives of the characters especially Willy who according to his son ‘…had the wrongs dreams, all, all wrong’ showing that although his father followed a worthless goal all of his life, he knew the effects it had on his father and the reality of the dream.
As Willy slips into his daydreams throughout the play, various factors make the changes obvious such as two young characters to play Happy and Biff, change in lighting and musical introduction These daydreams however help the audience to piece together the background Willy and his sons share and the relationship they have shared in key moments in Willy’s life.
In one flashback his son walks into a hotel room, where his Dad stayed whilst travelling, only to find his father having an affair with another woman and this leads to hatred as the pairs’ relationship is never the same again although Linda never does find out.
In conclusion I have shown how all off the characters in Willy’s life are affected by dreams in one way or another. Throughout the play Miller shows the trouble people face in a modern day society with all the pressure of marketing to have the best of everything in life and encourage people to set themselves such high standards in life to achieve all their desires and will one day be part of the dream, THE AMERICAN DREAM.
