Materialism In Death Of A Salesman

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Term Paper Title	Materialism In Death Of A Salesman
# of Words	1701
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.8

Materialism in Death of a Salesman
     Arthur Miller uses Death of a Salesman to expose America's preoccupation with
materialism after World War II. This preoccupation is the main cause of Willy's mental
stress. Willy had a lot riding on him being successful. His family's survival depended on
his success. Miller's depiction of the Loman family is an example which shows that
America is largely a second and third generation country. The first generation in this play,
Willy's father, was forced in order  to make a living, to break up the family. But while
Willy's father achieved and was creative, he left behind him a wife, a young son who is
now fatherless, and an older son who was driven to find success and letting nothing get in
his way. Willy, the second generation, is his father's victim. While he wants to love and
"do right" by his sons, he is driven to use them as heirs to the kingdom that he believes
must be built. Thus, he must pass on to them not only love but the doomed dream that he
has. Biff and Happy represent the third generation in this play. Happy values only
material things. He looks for some kind of consolation in his relationship with women
and though vaguely conscious of some insufficiency, measures himself solely by
reference to his success in business. Biff, on the other hand, is aware of other values than
the purely material and is capable finally of the kind of genuine humanity which Willy
only approaches in moments of rare sensitivity.
     Some have interpreted Death of a Salesman as an attack upon the "American
Dream" which according to R.H. Gardner means the idea that ours is a land of unlimited
opportunity in which only a ragamuffin can attain riches and any mother's son become
president. Others have chosen to regard it as a contemporary "King Lear" which is the
tragedy of the common old man of today, as opposed to that of the extraordinary old man
of shakespeare's time. (Gardner 123)
     One set of values that exists in Willy's character, and defeated by the
circumstances in which he finds himself, are his impulses toward two of the original
American virtues: Self-reliance and Individualism of spirit. These virtues are perhaps the
pure forms underlying the corrupt and destructive societal imperatives of success and
getting ahead.(Foster 84) Willy has the self-reliant skills of the artisan. He is "good at
things," from polishing a car to building a front porch. But self-reliance has collapsed, the
tools rust, and Willy has become a victim...

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