The Death of a Salesman is a story about an exhausted salesman named Willy Loman. He is not a rich but, but work just as hard as one, and eventually he killed himself to end his exhaustion. This plot is trying to show that American dream don’t always comes true and sometimes people could never achieve it.
In the story, Willy has a brother called Ben. Although Ben is already dead and we only saw Ben in flashbacks and Willy’s own imagination, but Ben is a rich man who achieved success by discovering diamond mines in Africa. Ben represents the figure of a man who achieved the American Dream, the self made man. Because he went in the forest and came out at the age of 21 and by then he was rich. So Ben became successful on his own. On the other hand Willy had worked very hard but still doesn’t get paid very well. He represents the hard working man who doesn’t achieve the American Dream.
Because Willy is overworked and exhausted, he had lost himself and sometimes just imagines what his dream life is like. He wanted to show his sons his brother Ben, Ben’s success and hope that they can become successful like him.
However, Ben might not be the character Willy thinks he is. In a scene when Ben and Biff is going to fight, Ben pretended as if he is going to shake Biff’s hand, but pushed him down onto the ground, and gave Biff the advice of not fighting fair with strangers. This shows that Ben is not honest and might have gone through illegal ways to achieve his wealth.
In one scene, Biff stole a football from his classmate, but Willy did not punish Biff for it and showed little attention toward it. This caused Biff to have a stealing problem. Biff’s stealing problem led Biff to become unsuccessful.
The Death of a Salesman showed that even if people work very hard they might not achieve the American Dream. Willy worked as hard as many rich man, but he is not rich.
In the story, Willy has a brother called Ben. Although Ben is already dead and we only saw Ben in flashbacks and Willy’s own imagination, but Ben is a rich man who achieved success by discovering diamond mines in Africa. Ben represents the figure of a man who achieved the American Dream, the self made man. Because he went in the forest and came out at the age of 21 and by then he was rich. So Ben became successful on his own. On the other hand Willy had worked very hard but still doesn’t get paid very well. He represents the hard working man who doesn’t achieve the American Dream.
Because Willy is overworked and exhausted, he had lost himself and sometimes just imagines what his dream life is like. He wanted to show his sons his brother Ben, Ben’s success and hope that they can become successful like him.
However, Ben might not be the character Willy thinks he is. In a scene when Ben and Biff is going to fight, Ben pretended as if he is going to shake Biff’s hand, but pushed him down onto the ground, and gave Biff the advice of not fighting fair with strangers. This shows that Ben is not honest and might have gone through illegal ways to achieve his wealth.
In one scene, Biff stole a football from his classmate, but Willy did not punish Biff for it and showed little attention toward it. This caused Biff to have a stealing problem. Biff’s stealing problem led Biff to become unsuccessful.
The Death of a Salesman showed that even if people work very hard they might not achieve the American Dream. Willy worked as hard as many rich man, but he is not rich.