In 1929 Wall Street crashed plunging Americas and the rest of the civilised worlds economy into depression; thousands of 'wealthy' businessmen lost everything they had worked their lives for; and the American dream seemed to be a ray of hope and a route out of the depression. After Americas success in world war two their would be new opportunity for them to succeed once again from all of the jobs that had been created from the war's industry's that had to be created to combat Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. With all of these jobs America and the rest of the world increased the rate of recovery from the depression; thus leading to the idea of the American Dream.
Death of a Salesman bases most of the characters dreams and ambitions, especially Willy's, around succeeding in a community that is driven by the necessity to succeed and is dominated by the American dream However in the book as is in real life the amount of people who actually succeeded in the American dream were so few that the characters and real people who they are based on spend their entire lives searching for the supposed success and prosperity the American dream gives them, as is shown in Willy later on in the book, when the realisation that the dream cannot be achieved is met it is a huge mental blow to the person.
Some peoples dreams in Death of a Salesman seem quite achievable and realistic, Biff for instance wanting to set up a ranch and a new lifestyle away from the American Dream, 'we can buy a ranch' speaking to Happy early on in the book is a good example of a achievable dream outside of the high expectations of the American one. The American dream is achieved by Happy and Willy's older brother, who Willy is continually talking about him and his riches, however as the book progresses this can easily be disputed as of how easily Willy over exaggerates the success of his family members and himself.
Happy after achieving the American dream seems very lonely and not satisfied, as the dream seems to have led to him feeling empty 'My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women and god dammit, I'm lonely'. The fact that his own dreams are put to the back of his mind until the American dream is reached is emphasised, but the emptiness of somebody else's dream, when realised leads to the re-emergence of Happy's own ones. 'I dream about the Loman Brothers' shows Happy and his continual drive to succeed and achieve his ambitions in life.
Linda is the stereotypical woman of the American dream, she strives to only make her husband happy and values his happiness over her own and that of her children. 'There is more good in him than you know' shows how much she believes in Willy even when he begins to go slightly mad.
Willy Loman tries for all of his life to succeed in the American dream and its ideals, purchasing all of the goods and going along with the lifestyle perfectly, bringing his children up to try and benefit from the dream as well, he is over confident in his own abilities and he exaggerates everything that he has done in the past or that people he cares for have done, he is continually trying to 'sell' himself to everybody and ultimately fails to leave a lasting impression of the respect that the American dream implies.
He does not like change at all and likes everything in its place and well ordered, like when Linda thinking that it might be a nice idea for Willy to try a new type of cheese other than his normal type of Swiss cheese buys a different type, Willy takes this very badly and goes very aggressive towards Linda and the change, him acting like this early on in the book gives a early insight into what the American dream has ended up doing to Willy and his view on events no matter if they are small or major, even if they concern Willy at all.
The amount of interested he puts into Biff is very high, as Biff take sup all of Willy's ideas at a very young age and follows them almost religiously, but when Biff fails a mathematics test and sees Willy with a lady known only as 'the woman' in the book he realises that he has been living a lie as the American dream is only a ideal and it is in the most part not achievable, and he reverts to his own dreams.
When Willy tries to persuade Biff to go back to his old ways he does not listen, however when Willy tries to gives his boys advice Happy laps it up but as Biff knows about the possible affair he is reluctant to accept the advice and starts to try and degrade Willy as a fake, 'Don't be so modest, you always started to low' is a good example when Biff and Happy are thinking of going into business together.
Throughout the book Arthur Miller gives subtle hints as to the failures he recognises in the American dream and uses Willy Loman as the epitome of this failure, everything Willy has is all part of the American dream, no more, no less, however he is by no means happy, as he has worked so hard to achieve the American dream you cannot help but pity him and the thousands of others who must have been in the same situation as him.
