The monetary side of the American dream in 1940 was essentially a cycle: one must have a job. With their job they earn the respect and wealth to climb higher up the economic ladder. As they climb higher up this ladder they are obliged to spend more and more money to claim your place on the next rung of the ladder. There were several mechanisms in place to help ordinary Americans achieve the dream: Mass-production made luxury goods available for the masses, the best example being the Model-T Ford which sold over 100 million models. Edward Hoover summed this consumer culture in the 1920s when he promised ‘two cars in every drive and two chickens in every pot’. This is what America strived for in the 1940s- wealth and ‘comfort’.
However, the American dream was not just about money- respect played an important role too. Willy (about biff)- They’ll be calling him another Red Grange. Twenty-five thousand a year [!]’. Money and respect are inextricably linked.
Arthur Millers seems to be deeply critical of the American Dream. Indeed, the term itself is open to argument. It seems to Russell that the Dream is ultimately about happiness and Money, and how they must somehow spawn from each other. Indeed, Willy makes many references to how one must be ‘well liked’ to succeed in business and that a happy personality is the key to monetary success. Along with this happiness (that is never well defined) and pursuit of wealth through ‘Rugged Individualism’. Willy believes in the American man just as strongly. His most happy memory is that of Biff being a Football player and leading his team out to cries of ‘Loman, loman’ whilst Willy and his business partners look on. Here again, ‘American success’ and business are tied together as one.
However, Willy’s overriding failure and Biff’s disillusionment from the Dream show that Miller is a sceptic and knows that the whole Dream may be a myth in most cases, much like the myth that the streets of London are ‘paved with gold’. The death of the salesman, the salesman being a figurehead of the American Dream, hints at the death of the dream itself. Even Happy, a character that keeps on clinging to the American Dream till the end, has his doubts: ‘Sometimes I want to just rip my clothes off in the middle of the store… everyone is so false that I’m constantly lowering my ideals’.
So how is this relevant to the American dream of today? Does it still exist? Perhaps the best way to evaluate this would be to look at a modern stage interperation of the American Dream- Glengarry Glenross. Many similarities can be drawn between the two plays, notably the sense of manic hope and doomed optimism that are the aura around both Willy Loman and Shelley Lavigne as they struggle to accept reality and stop living in the glories of the past. Both plays are centred around the American Dream and it is telling that in both plays the fortunes of the leading characters spiral downwards- (Willy)- 'The woods are burning!'- as the plays go on. Both Russell and the author of Glengarry Glenross want to show that selling yourself to the American Dream for material happiness cannot last forever. In this sense the portrayal of the dream in Death Of A Salesman is still relevent.
Is Willy's never-say-die attitude still prevelant in today's America? I would say that it is to an even greater extent: It seems it takes a certain type of person to be able to deal with and take pleasure from the risk of a salesman. However, it has been proven that man needs security in his life and sophisticated pensions and savings schemes show this. Because everything is so much more unsure in today's business world the risks are higher and larger. Russell shows the implications of failure when WIlly is rejected by Happy at the restaurant: Linda- He was so humiliated he nearly limped when he came in'.This almost physical pain is terrible and the risk that must be taken both today and in Willy's 1950s.
Perhaps the best place to look for Russell's view of the American Dream in Death Of a Salesman is in Howard Wagner. Willy used to be a massive asset to Howard but now he is merely a liability. Howard is the image of indifference, ruthlessness, nonchelance and power that is the flaw of the American Dream. It is simple- Howard, like the American Dream, only embraces Willy when he is serving them. When he can no longer serve them the is tossed aside 'in the ash-can like the rest of them' (Biff). Indeed, Biff is the one who seems to see the American Dream for what it is when he says to his father- 'Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens'. However, as we see, he never does burn it and something DOES happen. In this sense Russell maybe commenting that the Dream leads to complete destruction.
Finally, let us look at example American society today to see if this complete destruction is still evident. Media is increasingly controlling people's thoughts and instincts purely for profit (it seems a handful of corporations control our day to day consumerism) whilst the middle and lower classes still strive for a larger house and proverbial 'Hastings Refrigerater'. There is still the manic cycle or work, spend, die that Biff took so much time trying to break out of. Meanwhile, Death of a Salesman continues to be produces and strike a chord across the world (it was played in China to show the futility of American attitudes).
There are several quotes that would sum up the American Dream and it's relevance but believe the post pertinent one comes from Ben, the intangible role-model of the American Dream- 'The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy'. The American Dream has diamonds, but they are reserved for the few who can negotiate the jungle of failure and depression that is everywhere both today and in Willy Loman's era.
Ben Sellers.
