An Unkept Promise

[chrisd02]

Chris De La Fuente
Period 2
Word Count: 705

An Unkept Promise: Miller’s commentary on the Futility of the American Dream


In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Miller addresses the issue that not all dreams can become a reality. Willy Loman feels that the only way to be successful in life is by being a salesman. Although the reader never learns what Willy sells, it is obvious that Willy is selling lies to his family about his experience at work and their financial situation. He constantly needs his family to buy his lies and then sell them back to him in order to help him keep striving for his dream. However, this only taints Willy’s dream even more because this positive reinforcement makes Willy unable to accept the reality. Society and the capitalist system of America need people like Willy Loman because these are the people that allow for the David Singlemans to appear. If there were no people who chased the American dream and failed, then success could never be measured. Miller criticizes the American Dream and capitalism by showing how the system uses and then disposes of the people that no longer benefit the system. This American Dream is just as evident today as it is in the play. Immigrants come to this country to chase a dream, but many times they are unable to make anything of themselves. As evident in Death of a Salesman and in today’s society, capitalism needs people chasing the American Dream in order to have a functional working class, but when the workforce is no longer beneficial to the system, it quickly becomes disregarded, and the American Dream falls short of its promise.


The capitalist system needs people like Willy Loman to be strongly motivated and determined to achieve the American Dream, but if such people are not successful, as is the case with Willy, they are tossed aside into the pile that allows for the successful to stand on top. Willy constantly feels that he can break out of his “slump” and “knock ‘em dead next week” (Miller 36). However, his self-perception is so misguided that he does not realize he actually lacks people skills. In fact, when describing an encounter with a client to his wife, he says, “the buyer I heard him say something about – walrus. And I—I cracked him right across the face. I won’t take that. I simply won’t take that. But they do laugh at me” (37). Willy feels that the only way to achieve the dream is by being a salesman, and he idolizes David Singleman. He feels that David was able to make something of himself, and Willy dreams of accomplishing this same feat. Yet, ironically, Willy would have been one of those people that allowed for David to be successful. David became such a successful salesman because he benefitted from the failures of people like Willy Loman below him. When Willy asks his boss for more money, he says, “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away” (82) but in reality this is exactly what the capitalist system does. It finds the most “fit” working class and disregards the others that are not beneficial to the system.


Even though many people today are trying to achieve the American Dream through their hard work, in the capitalist system efficiency is paramount. In the past, steel workers could expect to work in the mill throughout their whole life with a steady income, benefits, and security. However, today, producing steel overseas is less expensive, and many steel mills across the country have been shut down. Similarly, soldiers have chased their dreams of making the military their career, but if they are injured during their service they are disappointed to find themselves at the mercy of the veteran’s administration; they have been disregarded in their apparent uselessness to the armed forces. The capitalist system makes an insufficient attempt to provide for these people who are of no use to the economy because there is no payback for the expenditure of time and money necessary to help them. Hence, society has changed little since Miller wrote his classic novel. People are still being discarded from the workforce in order to spend money efficiently. For many workers both in Miller’s time and today, the American Dream is merely an intangible illusion.

[dominique g]

I thought that it was interesting in the first paragraph how Willy's inability to achieve the American Dream due to the vicious cycle of lies that he creates is vividly portrayed. Also, I felt that the thesis was clearly stated in that it took a strong stance on capitalism and its harsh realities for the working class.

The body paragraphs were also clearly displayed as they explained this concept first in the play, and then in various outlets of our present day society, such as the military and the steel industry. This created an undeniable connection between the play and our present environment, and ultimately, the existence and perpetuation of the American dream within society.

The analysis of the cruel system that the American Dream entails was also well developed. The need for both failure and success in this system was distinctly laid out in the paper.

[dominique02]

I can't delete this post because I wrote it as a guest Mr. Cheddar, but my real commentary is on Melissa's essay, with the stylistic and content elements included. I still liked your essay though Chris, I just thought we could two, and it turns out I was wrong

[Jonathan B Pd 2]

I found Chris' argument very interesting because it compared the American Dream and the capitalist system as a machine that just uses its participants. He looked at the American Dream in a negative way because the American dream has so much promise to so many people, but so often, it falls short of that promise. Many look at the American Dream as a positive driving force, but Chris looks at it differently. He says it is merely an "intangible illusion" that leads people on, but what grabbed my attention was how he said that those who fall for the Dream are part of it because their failure is necessary for the Dave Singleman's of the worlds to succeed. I never looked at the American Dream in that way until I read this paper. My paper had similar points about how jobs are being replaced by those overseas, but the example of the steel workers was fascinating because prior to thsi analysis, i didn't know about that trend towards steel mills overseas at all. I really liked how he incorporated Willy's words of "slump" and "knock em dead next week" becuase it flowed with the paragraph perfectly which is sometimes difficult to do when synthesyzing quotes into one's own words. The connection between the orange and the capitalist system was uncanny becuase they both of their uneeded parts are tossed aside in the idea of progress (if you call eating an orange progress, which i would). The use of that quote is very strong because of the definitive tone of, "that is exactly what the capitalyst system does." Another stylistic nuiance that i felt very effective was the image created by the strong topic sentence of the first body paragraph. By giving the image of the used being stood on to reach process, Chris showed how they are stepped on and shoved into the dirt. Also, by using the word "pile," which suggests a large number of people, it showed how many people fail in order for that elite few to succeed with the American Dream. Those peoples' stories are the ones that are heard because they are "standing on" their unsuccessful counterparts in order to broadcast their message. That topic sentence really worked for me because of its strong imagery.