Since childhood, the American continent has often been equated with limitless opportunities. In A Description of New England, John Smith characterized the early colonies of 1616 as a land of economic potential, stating that "if a man works only three days in seven, he can get more than he can spend." (51) » In America, it was possible for a man, even from the most modest origins, to achieve great wealth through hard work and the sweat of his brow, without any restriction by any social hierarchy or intellectual qualification. However, as the nation grew, the makeup of the American dream began to change accordingly. By 1949, when Death of a Salesman debuted, the United States had endured the Civil War, two world wars, the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties, and the collapse of the Great Depression that followed, and found itself at again in the midst of an economic boom. Economic and social changes have forever transformed the very definition of the American dream. Once a philosophical ideal, the concept had essentially become the property of large American corporations. Rather than inspiring men to greatness, the American Dream has instead been used as a marketing tool, enticing a country's eager consumers to enjoy spacious housing, new cars, and processed foods. The dream was packaged and sold with pervasive conformity, protecting against the threat of economic instability that had plagued previous decades (Schwartz 111). Suddenly the grandeur promised by the dream was the grandeur of middle-class suburbia embodied in the sprawling expanse of Levittown, the ideal of unlimited wealth acquired through hard work having been gradually relegated to the rapidly disappearing frontiers . However, as the definition of the dream changed, its passing left as casualties the lifeless bodies of those unable to adapt to it - people who wholeheartedly embraced a dream only to see that dream come to an end. evaporate and be replaced by a new dream. they perceived them as the intangible compromise of those who feared aspiring to something more. One of those bodies strewn along the abandoned highway of the American dream was that of Willy Loman. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In many ways, Willy represented the last of the agrarian pioneers, forced into the uncomfortable depths of the corporate world. For Willy, success was something you achieved because of how hard you worked and how much you were appreciated. This doctrine of how to succeed consumed Willy's life and sealed his fate. No matter what he accomplished, Willy was constantly forced, due to conflict with his own aspirations, to view himself as a failure. For Willy, success meant achieving sudden frontier wealth. But this border had disappeared. Therefore, all Willy could do was suffer, compare himself to an ideal that had never really been achievable for him, and, in his later years, try desperately to live the same unattainable dream vicariously through his son in whom he had instilled the same old-fashioned idealism. who distressed him. However, in Biff and Happy's inability to live out their father's dream, they too were deemed failures. The only real success depicted in Death of a Salesman is represented by three characters, one representing the vanished agrarian definition of the American dream, another the acceptance of the corporate ideal that replaced it, and finally, arepresenting the intellectual potential capable of transcending this dream. the corporate ideal and the conformity that accompanies it --- thus affirming that in addition to its great capacity for failure, America still holds the potential to achieve greatness. It is through the analysis of Arthur Miller's treatment of the characters of Ben, Charley and Bernard that the transformation of the American dream can be evaluated comprehensively. Ben is the only member of the Loman family to ever achieve real success. Therefore, although he is somewhat enigmatic, he is practically mythologized in Willy's mind. Few details are known about the real success he ever achieved, but for Willy, it's what Ben represents that is important. The very personification of the American dream for the Loman family, Ben set out to make his fortune early in life and that's exactly what he did. However, it is no coincidence that he realized this American dream not in America but rather in Africa. Suggesting that perhaps Willy's conception of success in America had already been supplanted by the corporate ideal, Ben achieved his fortune not in the neighboring fields and byways of Willy's world, but rather thousands of kilometers from the culture that imprisoned Willy. Nonetheless, Ben's memory serves to provide Willy with a blueprint, albeit vague at best, of what it takes to achieve extraordinary success. Ben was a man, robust and optimistic. Even his description of his own success is reduced to the essentials, summed up by stating: "When I was seventeen I entered the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I came out .And by God, I was rich.” (Exactly what Ben did in the jungle is a mystery. The only certainties about him are his role as the manifestation of everything Willy aspires to be and, as such, his validation of Willy's unattainable dreams. Willy was Had he gone with Ben to Alaska, when given the opportunity, would he too have achieved extraordinary wealth? The answer is unknown, but in Willy's mind, there is no doubt that Ben is? the only character in the entire play who refers to Willy as William, perhaps suggesting a higher level of respect given to a successful man is the common man, relegated to the confines of. economic weakness, while William was in many ways the potential for greatness that was not realized.2E It is a big part of Willy's dream to achieve the respect and admiration of his peers. , to be revered; Yet he is ultimately just a pathetic vestige of his failed dreams, unable to rise above Willy's juvenile nickname. Just as Ben represents the American dream of Willy's conscience, Charley represents the realization of the dream as it is formulated in the boardrooms of corporate America. Willy's foil, Charley lives his life without noble aspirations. All he wants is a happy, stable life, free of debt, and that's exactly what he achieves. Although he is by no means a rich man, Charley is nevertheless several rungs up the economic ladder from the lowest rung that Willy occupies. For Charley, there is no equivalent to Ben, no dreams of wealth bordering on the past, no archetype to compare himself to. Instead, Charley willingly participates in corporate culture and the suburban life it entails. Unlike Willy, Charley is content with his Chevrolet, his whipped cheese, and all the other trappings that cause Willy to think of himself as a failure. Most importantly, Charley recognizes the change taking place, realizing that being well-liked and athletic is no longer enough to succeed in modern America. Instead of encouraging his son to be a man's man --- like Willy does --- Charley 1999. 51.