![]() This is why I contend that the American Dream is only what Biff Loman suggests it is: a “phony dream” ( Miller). By reading Willy’s progressive downward spiral throughout the play, it becomes clear that many, if not all, of his actions are directly motivated by a need for greatness, which is why I argue that his tragic fate is the direct result of being conditioned by American Exceptionalism. While the Oxford English Dictionary defines the American Dream as “the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative,” I believe that this promise of prosperity is a guise under which American Exceptionalism imbues the individual with the belief that they need to be great to succeed in America ( "American"). I assert that these structures not only exist on a national scale, but they also trickle down to the level of the individual where Willy Loman operates: Not only must America as a nation present the image that it is an “illustrious example and beacon for the rest of the world,” but everyone who lives there must propagate this image by being exceptional themselves. According to the Oxford Companion to American Politics, American Exceptionalism can be understood as, “a quasi-religious belief that the United States is a chosen and superior nation endowed by providence or the creator to be, ‘a city set upon a hill,’ (Matthew 5:14) an illustrious example and beacon for the rest of the world” ( Wilson). However, I propose it is not the promise of the American Dream that drives the play’s central tragedy, but a much larger force: American Exceptionalism. ![]() ![]() In her article, “Success, Law, and the Law of Success: Re-Evaluating Death of a Salesman’s Treatment of the American Dream,” Galia Benziman states that “a survey of the critical evaluations of Death of a Salesman reveals that the play has been mostly construed as a powerful, impassioned attack on this national ethos, often designated as the ‘American dream” ( Benziman). Arguably, the critical consensus attacks this romanticized “national ethos” by asserting that Willy Loman’s downfall and suicide are the results of his failure to achieve an unattainable American Dream.
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