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Through "Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller tries to draw his readers' attention to the flaws of the American Dream and attempts to differentiate between the theoretical meaning of the American Dream and the practical one. Miller does that mainly through the character of Willy Loman and partially through his two sons, Biff and Happy. .
In his play "Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller chooses Willy Loman as a symbol for all the believers of the American Dream. Willy Loman spends his life and dies in attempt to realize this dream, yet fails to accomplish happiness or success. This was the normal scenario for most of those who truly believed in the American Dream. People immigrated to the United States of America with high expectations for a better life offered to them in America. They had a certain picture drawn in their minds of how this life is going to be. Most of them dreamt of happiness in the form of wealth, exactly like our hero Willy Loman did. People have worked their lives off but still failed and only few have succeeded to attain this dream. The failure of Willy Loman is just one of a million others that existed in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Through Loman's life, Miller criticizes the American Dream and what it led many people to become. .
Loman's life revolves around one main principle, namely happiness. For him, happiness can only be attained through money and this is the proof for success. The only means to accomplish success is by being well-liked. We can see that in most of Willy's conversations with his son Biff, who was a popular athletic at high school. Willy Loman is puzzled by the fact that Biff is well-liked and yet, not successful. He believes that Biff has all the requirements need to become successful, represented in being well-liked. Clearly, this shows us that Arthur Miller dislikes the way people perceived the American Dream and tried to accomplish it.