Similar Themes

What is "The American Dream"?

In the play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller and the poem "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes, both pieces seem to address the theme of a character struggling to attain what they perceive as "The American Dream". Though Miller in his play seems to rely more on heavy use of flashback and conflict, while Hughes's poem seems to rely more on heavy use of metaphor/ simile, and title significance, I think in the end each author seems to be exploring the issue of "The American Dream".

In the play, Miller introduces us to the life of a washed up salesman named Willy Loman. Willy seems to think the "The American Dream" consists of being "well liked"(Miller 1237) and "personally attractive"(Miller 1237). Loman seems to be pursuing the part of "The American Dream" of being wealthy and secure. He feels that if he dresses sharp and makes lots of friends, he'll be all set. Willy describes the life of an eighty-four year old salesman named Dave Singleman as if it were a great thing, because Singleman had made friends with so many people. He never stopped to think that being a salesman was not as good as it seemed. This obsession with becoming wealthy and successful was impressed into his family so much that even they thought this dream to be real. Until the climax of the story when Biff reveals that he has found himself, and brings to Willy's attention that the dream is not going to come true. And tragically in the end what Willy thought would be the answer just resulted in his death.

While Willy Loman was after the wealth and success part of "The American Dream", Langston Hughes was after much more. Hughes wrote his poem "Dream Deferred" in mid 1900's. The time period when racial discrimination and segregation was going on. A dream could be defined as hope a desire, goal