America was birthed, and still thrives, on a sense of hope for a better future. This hope is the basis for most of America's development and advancement. Even our current president's general election campaign slogan was simply "hope". American's have this concept of steadfast hope ingrained in them as a society. However, modernistic ideals contradict commonplace traditional American values as in this steadfast hope. In fact, through the experiences of characters in The Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Great Gatsby, a steadfast hope ultimately results in an inevitable death.
In the first piece, The Death of a Salesman, there is a ubiquitous representation of hope and the resulting success, or rather lack thereof. Willy Loman has several hopes, but they all stem from his single personal mantra: "Be well liked"(Cite this). He believes that the key to success in life is to follow the aforementioned mantra. The main goal of Willy is to prove his mantra to his son Biff. A conspicuous example of his desperate attempt to portray his mantra to his boys is seen when he says, "America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. one thing, boys: I have friends" (Miller 19). Willy is trying to assure his sons that he is well liked throughout America and that is what is important in order to be "successful". Willy's hope in his mantra a mantra is paradigmatic of a traditional American.
Although a sincere and desperate hope is portrayed throughout the play through Willy, the important fact is that this hope never comes to avail. Willy had hope until the day he died that Biff would emulate his mantra into his own life. Unfortunately, Biff had his own idea of happiness as seen when he promulgates this by informing Willy that, "I saw the things that I love in this world.