Discuss the Importance of Dreams Essay

‘Death of a Salesman’ was a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949. It is a story of an ordinary man and his family’s struggle for success in America, the ‘land of opportunity’. The American Dream is the concept that one can begin in life with nothing and through hard work and confidence gain power, wealth and status. There are constant references to this in the play, but it is not portrayed as a perfect system by any means. Other types of dreams too are prominent in ‘Death of a Salesman’ – the protagonist’s (Willy Loman’s) disillusion and dissatisfaction with his lifestyle lead him to indulge in unrealistic fantasies and altered memories of the past. His hopes and ambitions are almost identical to the ideals of the American Dream, as are his struggles typical of those associated with it. In this way, Willy Loman is symbolic of the common American man and this is shown through the pun on ‘Loman’ (low man). Dreams are important in the play because they are the play’s most important structuring device, and also go some way towards explaining why the characters behave in the way that they do. Flashbacks steadily reveal the reason behind Willy and Biff’s animosity, the secret that only Biff knows, and Happy’s need to prove himself. Their other effect is to make the play’s structure non-linear and more like Willy Loman’s continuous stream of consciousness in his last days of life. The other type of dreams – fantasies, hopes and ambitions allow the audience to empathise with the characters. In the play, the only dreams which we do not see are those that happen while sleeping. Willy’s dreams infiltrate his life, becoming more and more frequent. They are almost hallucinations, and later on in the play he becomes less able to discern between reality and fantasy. For example, whilst he is in a restaurant with Biff and Happy, he becomes confused between the door of the restaurant’s washroom and the door of the hotel room in which he committed adultery – â€Å"the washroom †¦ the door †¦ where’s the door? â€Å". The effect of this line on the play is to blur the line between past and present a little, letting the audience feel some of Willy’ confusion. It also creates a sense of danger as to whether his secret will be exposed. Biff and Happy do not experience the same degree of intensity in their dreams, but Happy shares the tendency to exaggerate with his father, for example when he is in the restaurant with Stanley, he tells a girl that Biff is â€Å"one of the greatest football players in the country†. The importance of dreams to the play is emphasised by stage directions and staging, and the non-linear nature of the play. The Lomans’ house has no solid walls, and the apartment buildings can be seen through the back of the house. The apartment buildings symbolise the deterioration of the quality of life that came with increasing urbanisation, and Willy complains about them close to the beginning with ‘the way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks’. The lighting around the Lomans’ house is described as an ‘angry glow of orange’ and gives it ‘an air of the dream’. I think that Miller is attempting here to make the set seem menacing and surreal, like a nightmare which steadily worsens. To further this impression, the imaginary wall lines serve as a vehicle for the characters’ (namely Willy) dreams. When the characters are in the present, they enter through the ‘doors’, but during flashbacks they step through the walls, letting the audience know that this is unreal. Other devices used to signal a flashback are the gradual fading in of voices from the past, and in the memories of happier times, the flute. The flute is an instrument symbolic of nostalgia and originates from Willy’s rural, happier childhood. As the time period of the play jumps from past to present with memories and fantasies, it gives the effect of a stream of consciousness rather than a narrative play. Consequently, ‘Death of a Salesman’ could be interpreted as Willy’s train of thoughts leading up to his death. In real time – all the parts of the play which are not dreams – the play is the last twenty four hours of Willy’s life. The flashbacks are cut against real time and the effect of them is firstly to delineate the play’s structure, and secondly to concentrate the audience’s attention on both what will happen to the characters and what did happen in the past to shape them into the way they are now. Willy is only truly happy in his memories or when, as Happy says, ‘he’s looking forward to something’, but this is only his false hope showing through. He spends so much time absorbed in his memories because in the present he is a failure – it isn’t satisfactory. Additionally, we cannot even be sure that the past happened like that as what we are seeing is Willy’s memory, which may well be distorted to fit with his perfect image of the past. This is likely, because even in his memories Willy lies to Linda about his income – â€Å"Well, I – I did – about a hundred and eighty gross in Providence. Well, no – it came to – roughly two hundred gross on the whole trip† Linda knows he exaggerates, and later on she even reveals she knows that he borrows money from Charley so it looks like his salary, but she never questions him because she believes it would insult him. The effect of this maintained secrecy is firstly to show how fragile Willy’s mental state is, and secondly the plight of Linda, who also suffers silently, we find later on, with the knowledge of Willy’s suicide plans. She is keeping up the facade for the sake of her family and perhaps she thinks she can fool herself into believing everything is all right. Although unspoken for much of the play, this is Linda’s way of creating a fantasy as opposed to her unsatisfactory life. The importance of the American Dream in ‘Death of a Salesman’ is very significant. The Lomans are each affected in their own way by the pressures placed upon them by the society they live in. Willy is not ruthless enough to be able to really make it in the business world, but distorts reality to convince himself that all is well. Biff is pressured by Willy’s high expectations of him and his insistence that Biff has ‘greatness’, yet he says himself that â€Å"I don’t fit in business† and all he really wants to do is work in the country ‘with your shirt off’. It is ironic that, in the ‘land of opportunity’, citizens are restricted from attaining their true ambitions (Biff’s idyllic dream) by the pressures placed on them to become wealthy, successful and popular. Happy has a relatively steady job unlike his father and brother, but it lacks status. He is one of two assistants to the assistant buyer, and so feels the need to lie and exaggerate about business, women, his family and so on. Linda is not directly pressured by the American Dream, but suffers because her family are all affected, particularly Willy who she remains loyal to throughout. Biff is the only character who ever questions the American Dream and rejects Willy’s ambition. He is at first deluded by Willy’s insistence that â€Å"Biff, you’ve got greatness in you† but comes to realise that he is nothing special. At Willy’s funeral, he condemns Willy’s ambition with â€Å"he had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong†. Exasperatingly, Happy still hasn’t given up, and vows to achieve the success Willy couldn’t – â€Å"He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him†. This shows the vicious circle of disappointment and frustration – and a parallel between this and recurring nightmares – that can be created by the ‘dark side’ of capitalism and of the American Dream. Capitalism and consumerism are massive parts of the American Dream. The capitalist system of business means that when people are no longer useful they are fired, which is exactly what happens to Willy. Howard, his boss, symbolises the ruthless businessman who does well in capitalism. He is similar to Ben, Willy’s successful brother who will step over anyone to get what he wants. Ben’s ruthless nature is shown when he trips Biff in a play fight – â€Å"suddenly comes in, trips BIFF, and stands over him, the point of his umbrella poised over BIFF’S eye†. The prominence of consumerism is shown in the goods that Willy buys, only to have break down shortly afterwards, and in the importance of advertising to Willy – ‘Whoever heard of a Hastings refrigerator? Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it’s on its last legs! The refrigerator consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things. They time them so when you finally pay for them, they’re used up. † Willy here expresses his dissatisfaction with capitalist culture – connected with the American Dream – and how products are designed (in his view) to bleed as much money from the consumer as possible. The complaint has an air of unfamiliarity with the culture – Willy is idealistic and has a running fantasy that people are far less ruthless than they really are, and that they should make an exception for him due to his ‘popularity’ and his well-connected father.