Study on the Changing Connotation of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller is considered one of the greatest American playwrights of the twentieth century. His masterpiece—Death of a Salesman—tells a tragic story about an ordinary American and chronicles the changing connotation of the American dream. The American dream originates from the puritan spirit, develops in the Revolutionary war and distorts as society changed. The essay attempts to reveal the changing connotation of the American dream reflected in this play by analyzing the representative character portrayed by Miller. On the basis of a better understanding of the play, the great influence of values in different time, such as the American dream, on ordinary people are expected to be learned.

inspiring and unifying the whole nation. As times have changed, the meaning of the American Dream has been constantly changing.

The Origin and Development of the American Dream
It's James Truslow Adams who first introduces the term "American dream" to the public, explaining that the American dream is a "dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man" (Cullen, 2003, p. 18). As time goes on, the meaning of "better, richer and fuller", however, is also hard to define. In contemporary America, it's frequently related to the money and property while it should comprise other evaluation standards, such as personal achievement and educational attainment.
The connotation should change and is changing along with the course of history.
The idea of the American dream can date back to the 1600s. Four centuries ago, in December 1620, since a ship named Mayflower took 102 passengers, traversing an ocean, from Plymouth, England to the new continent, American dream has spawned on this land. In the hope of founding a country without repression, the puritans in Mayflower, who escaped from the religious persecution, made The Mayflower Compact. Hence, the democracy, freedom and equality started to root in the United States and became the core spirit of American dream.
Facing the cruel and unfamiliar circumstance and, on the other side, holding the belief of pursuing spiritual freedom, those puritans who believed original sins and that man can only be saved by God through his hard work made efforts to found a new nation. The puritan spirit has continuously inspired American people to conquer any difficulties during the course of pioneering as well as shape their positive attitude towards life.
During the late 18th century when American Revolutionary War broke out and the Civil War in the 19th century, the American dream matured. The Declaration of Independence claimed freedom on the colony of Britain. On the other hand, this political manifesto that advocates liberty and equality resonated far beyond its original purpose and virtually has profound influence on the American dream, and thus shapes the country and people. Until today, people would like to use the phrase "the pursuit of happiness" to define the American dream. Because of the Gold Rush and prosperous economy, the growth of the population forced a number of pioneers to flood westward, which is called "The westward movement". The movement not only expanded the territory of the United States, but structured values of American people-bravery and persistence.
The Civil War that ended with the triumph of capitalism industrialized the South in a short time and thus the country entered a period of rapid development. Though laid a foundation of the nation's prosperity, the booming economy triggered nevertheless plenty of social issues such as serious economic inequality. The idea of equality and liberty that had been advocated by the American dream was severely challenged. Under the changing context, American dream has become distorted into the dream of business success.
The American dream that originates from the puritan spirit, develops in the Revolutionary war and distorts with the changing society has lured American people of all generations to explore.

American Dream in the 20th Century
Death of a Salesman is believed to set in the 20th century. On the other hand, to study the great change and loss of American dream, people need to understand social background in the 20th century first.
Since the Civil War ended with the triumph of North, the United States made a rapid transition from an agricultural country to an industrial one. Entering the 20th century, after a period of industrialization, the nation had gone through the booming development and dramatic changes that it never had before while the people of the nation, whether they realized it or not, were facing a crucial trial that they never encountered before. The biggest trial came silently in 1929, that is, the Great Depression.
At the same time, what the rapid industrialization brought is not only the economic prosperity, but the wealth gap between classes. The wealthy splurged the money while a great number of slums occupied the corners of cities and the poor cannot even afford their own basic living expense. With the emergence of monopoly, major industries and fields were occupied by large enterprises, and small and medium-sized enterprises only struggled for survival.
With the time changes, American dream that originates from the pioneering era and develops in the period of independent war is no longer completely suitable to the age of industrialization. American dream, developed under such a circumstance, is like a mirage or a bubble that is unable to bear even a touch. The Darwinian concepts about "the survival of the fittest" and the idea that only the strong survive became popular among the nation that used to hold "every man is equal".
In that period, the American dream became the dream of business success. The fascination with money and extreme obsession with business success permeated through the whole society, and people even started to doubt the traditional belief that they used to hold as their aims of pursuit. Intellectuals and writers, who witnessed the struggle of ordinary people under the dramatic changes of time, were disillusioned with their culture's myths and the wonderful future that some politicians portray. Yet it is inaccurate to assume that they are totally disappointed at their dreams, most of which are still hopeful about the American dream they believed in. For example, though Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman ends with the suicide of salesman Willy Loman, the dream Willy holds to death reveals author's hope for the dream.

The Creation of Death of a Salesman under the Context of American Nightmare
Arthur Miller produced Death of a Salesman based on both personal experience and social circumstance that were just discussed in the previous section. The author's personal experience which is one of the play's sources, to some extent, is closely related to the social context of the 20th century, in which the American dream deteriorates into "American nightmare".  Willy's death in the play is also considered to derive from what happened to Newman. "Newman had died with none of the ordinary reasons given" (Miller, 1987, p. 129 Death of a Salesman is a tragedy, and the protagonist of the tragedy is actually an ordinary man who might live around the people, like Newman. But, it's not just the tragedy of a man, but a tragedy of the time. Through the play, Miller seems to show us the distorted values and the darkness under the guise of American dream.

Ben and His Father-The Conventional American Dream
Ben, Willy's semi-legendary older brother, often appears in Willy's imagination and recollection in the play while their father is only mentioned in their conversation. Their experience and achievement represent the conventional dream of success that Willy pursues through all his life. Their accomplishments continuously remind Willy to regard himself as a big failure, leading to the death of Willy.
The experience of Ben and his father is a rags-to-riches story. No idiom is more appropriate than the expression "from rags to riches" to explain the conventional American dream. It means that, anyone, especially the poor, can climb to the top with their own efforts, diligence and luck. People have been fascinated by the theme after the Horatio Alger tale popularized it in some 130 best-selling novels which portray the boy's rising from poverty to success and fame. The true story of Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln seems to made people trust the idea. At that time, America is a nation full of seemingly unbounded opportunities. Ben and their father are the men who become successful through their diligence and efforts. Willy and Ben's father, an ordinary man earns his living by making and selling flutes, earns a large fortune that Willy will never make in his whole lifetime. Ben walked in the dark jungle in which he must make great efforts to survive otherwise he will never get out. Only with his great courage and endeavors, can he walk out the jungle and become rich.
According to Willy, his brother Ben is also a man with all luck, because he found diamond mines in Africa while he was intended to find his father in Alaska. It's completely accidental for Ben to find the fortune. The lucky Ben seems to be the boys who only live in the Horatio Alger tale, overcoming all of the difficulties by good luck.
Their experience which embodies the typical concept of "from rags to riches" convinces Willy to believe that every man, even the one at the lowest rank, has the potential and possibility to climb high through his endeavors.
Ben and his father are also the incarnation of the brave pioneer. The dream of pioneer and personal fulfillment can be traced back to the origin of American life, from the early small group of British religious dissenters who seek a new life to the speculators who seek fortunes in the westward movement. The pioneering spirit has become predominant among the American people. Until the highly developed period of industrial civilization, many a writer still bears a kind of nostalgia on the spirit of a pioneer.
Their father is a courageous adventurer and pioneer. From Ben's description, their father，an ambitious man, tosses the whole family into the wagon and travel across the country to sell the flute he makes.
Never satisfied with the comfortable life, he eventually decides to leave the whole families to search for a brighter future in Alaska. Similar to pioneering puritans who entered a new continent and then founded a new nation, Ben walked into the jungle at his seventeen and then came out and became rich.
He made his fortune in the process of pioneering, so he was fascinated by it. The obsession not only drives him to keep exploring but has great influence on Willy. In the end of the play, as Willy, who was fired by his boss Howard like an orange peel, hesitated to suicide, Ben encouraged him by telling the appealing view of the jungle, in which there is darkness but full of diamonds. Additionally, Ben's philosophy of success reflects his grimness and ruthlessness. Being asked to impart knowledge to the boys, Ben described his secret of success as "never fight fair with a stranger" in his words and deeds. In the other act, when Charley persuaded Willy to stop Biff from stealing, warning that jails never lack fearless characters, Ben, obviously disagreed with the idea, defended his nephew for replying that the stock exchange also full of fearless characters.
Cruel and ruthless Ben and their father might be, but they are successful. Ben walks out of the jungle and become rich while the money their father can earn in a week is much more than the money Willy earns in a life time. It is ironical that it might be their radical approaches that assist them to realize their American dream.

Willy Loman and Biff, Happy-The Distorted American Dream
Willy's understanding of the American dream was shaped by, at least, two men-his brother Ben and the legendary salesman Dave Singleman. He admires his brother and regards him as the prototype of everyman's success, treating him as a model of business success and asking his sons to learn from him.
On the other hand, it's Dave Singleman who convinces Willy that the key to success lies in one's personality, to be more specific, "be well-liked". As young Willy was ready to go to Alaska to locate his father, he met Dave Singleman, a salesman who was already eighty-four years old, but still can make his living just by making phone calls. The portrait of a man wearing decent suit and being respected after his death impressed Willy a lot. From then on, Willy decided to try his best to become a well-liked salesman as Singleman and the dream of business success which is based on the idea of being "well-liked" began to root in his mind, thus changing rest of his life.
Greatly influenced by his brother, Willy passes his ideology on to his two sons Biff and Happy. Biff, the older brother, believes in his father's philosophy of success in youth but comes to realize the truth after thousands of failure. Happy, who isn't actually happy in his life, loafs around and does nothing.
To some extent, Happy is more like the young Willy, living in the shadow of his brother and struggling hard to get his share of his father's attention. At the end of the play, Happy's choice to continue his father dream may imply the same tragic future as well.
However, their dreams have been misunderstood and distorted. As Charley remarks in the Willy's funeral-a salesman got to have a dream, Willy does have dream of business success, but the problem is that he didn't realize that the meaning of that dream must extend beyond the accumulation of wealth.
A man who just needs to be nice is never going to become successful.
For example, Howard, Willy's present boss, is so merciless that he fires Willy just in the way as he throws orange peels. Obviously, he who has no time to maintain his personal relationships and is not kind to the people who was friend of his father isn't supposed to be called a nice man. Another example is Bernard, Charley's son, Biff's friend. He was unknown when Biff became a pop sport star in the school, and becomes a successful lawyer when he grows up. Instead, Biff who was considered to be five times ahead of Bernard gets nowhere in his grown-up.
What Willy doesn't realize is that having a pleasing personality which he regards as the secret of success is virtually one of the results of being successful. Ironically, he holds the faith to be well liked even at the cost of his life, but his funeral only has five attendants.
In addition, Willy never stops lying to himself and people around him. He is reluctant to acknowledge his failure and lives in dozens of delusions. For instance, he assumes that he won't be fired because he works for his friend's son Howard who was even named by him. Even when his neighbor Charley tells him that personality means nothing, Willy still fails to recognize that, as a salesman, the only thing he can rely on is not the relationship with his boss, but the thing he can really sell.
He is eager to be successful, even at the expense of not telling the truth. No matter what kind of lies he tells, his wrong way cannot lead him to success, nor can it lead his sons to success. Under the instruction from his father that the only way to achieve their goal is to be well-liked, Biff aims to be a popular athletic star at the expense of academic performance. The two brother shares the same dream: to be well-liked, respectable and successful, like their father Willy Loman. However, Biff's illusion collapses when he finds his father's love affair and failure. He then realizes the problem lying in his dream, while Happy adheres to his dream. Well, for Happy, if he pursues his dream in the wrong direction, it's hard to tell that there may not be another death of a salesman.
Willy's tragedy is partly caused by, as it's mentioned before, his wrong dream and wrong way to actualize them, and partly caused by American society in the 20th century which overrated the economic success.
Willy dreams to be another Dave Singleman, but the name itself implies that the single man's success is hard to replicate, but what he didn't realize is that with the time changes and rapid development of consumerism and industrialism, the old value system is rapidly substituted by the new cruel one.
Money, instead of one's personality, dominates the society. When Willy goes to Howard's office to demand not to travel, Howard pays no more attention to Willy's plea, but concentrates on the new recorder machine that makes a sharp contrast with the old and outdated Willy.
Contrary to the American dream that emphasizes the freedom, opportunity and equality for all, the dream in the 20th century becomes more pragmatic, which is related to the ability to sell a commodity regardless of its intrinsic usefulness. Willy didn't recognize the reality, but Charley did. He warns Willy of the fact that his faith is useless in the current times. When Willy describes his faith and complains his boss's ruthlessness, Charley reveals the truth imperturbably, pointing out that selling things defines how to be a salesman.

Charley and Bernard-The Realistic American Dream
Compared with Willy, Charley, Willy's kind neighbor and sincere friend and father of Bernard, yields At the same time, they don't indulge in self-delusion, and they make compromises to the current time.
As Arthur Miller once remarked, the great difference between Willy and Charley is that Charley is not fanatic. (Miller, 1987, p. 33 Bernard own are that they are able to keep realistic in the trends of frenzy chased by almost the whole country, leading to a success not by speculating, but by their hard working. "Uncle Charley" is not estranged from the Lomans though he knows they are prejudiced against him, and besides, Bernard strives to help Biff improve his grade. He also reminds Biff to be polite to Willy even in their argument.
In this age that money dominates in social life, they have always had a sincere heart for their friends.
They are not as ruthless as typical capitalists. Although Charley and Bernard have thrived in the current system, they don't lose their morality for winning the success. As a representative character in the 20th remarking the reason of their father's failure is that he has the wrong dream, Charley explains for Willy that "a salesman is got to dream" (Miller, 1998, p. 111). Though he doesn't agree with Willy, he virtually can feel what Willy feels.

Conclusion
Death of a Salesman tells a tragic story about an ordinary American-Willy Loman. Unlike most of his previous literary works, Miller's portrayal of an everyman as the protagonist of his work is more resonant with the reader.
The American dream, which has been one of the important themes in American literature and also in the work Death of a Salesman, has become a symbol of American culture. Originating from puritan spirit, the spirit represents freedom and equality and encourages Americans generation from generation to pursue a better life. The meaning of the American Dream changes with the changing times, working as a double-edged sword.
As an excellent literary work, the play is highly rewarded and attracts many scholars both home and abroad to explore, discussing numerous themes of the play. It indicates that the American dream, during the 20th century, has become a dream of business success. The American dream was not the only topic of Death of a Salesman, but can be regarded as the focus of the story. The Lomans, the main characters in the play, exposes the distorted American dream in the age of rapid industrialization, while the other characters, from which people can find the different types of American spirit, play the role of highlighting the theme. From different characters Miller portrays in the play, people can attain better understanding of the meaning of the American dream in different ages.