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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 9 page paper on Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman. The writer demonstrates how the plight of the protagonist, Willy Loman, represents the tarnishing of the American Dream, and shows how the play serves as a clear indictment of the American capitalist system. Bibliography lists seven sources.
Page Count:
9 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Wloman.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
a World War, Miller had seen the promise of Americas better economic times turn to dust during its worst ones (Ousby, 621). He dramatized this situation in his play Death
of a Salesman, first produced in 1949. Miller accurately saw the tarnishing of the American Dream as being much larger than that of one family, or even Americans of
that particular time and place. What, precisely, is the American Dream? It is the belief that if any individual works hard enough, he will succeed in life; and success translates
automatically into material prosperity. The inverse of this belief is that people who are poor, or whose businesses have failed or who have been laid off, are necessarily worthless because
if they had worked hard enough, if they had really had "what it takes", they would not be in that position. The American Dream, therefore, insidiously ties who you are
to what you have. Belief in the American Dream is a necessary component of capitalism because it reinforces the doctrine of competition, which, in the analysis of Peter N. Carroll
and David W. Noble, is essential to capitalism (Carroll & Noble, 488). However, in the midst of the burst of economic prosperity brought on by the end of World War
II, Miller was able to show that the American Dream as a way of life is a sham -- and why. Death of a Salesman tells the story of a
has-been salesman (it could be argued that Willy Loman was a never-was) and the fall of the illusions which had kept him going all his life. In the past, Willy
has derived great pride from his sales prowess, and he struggles to keep up the appearance of success even though consciously he knows that he is not doing too well.
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