Excalibur
11-13-05, - 06:52 PM
The American Dream treats social issues as if they were individual troubles, something apparent in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman and writings on politics by C. Wright Mills in The Sociological Imagination. Bloom (1991) describes the American Dream as more of a destructive force than something to be idealized, the reason being that America is comprised of millions of individuals, and though it may be possible for some to succeed, it is a potentially disastrous philosophy to apply on a large scale. Only one person at a time can be the President of the United States for instance, and though all have an equal opportunity in theory, the notion is not practical for dealing with large numbers.
In Death of A Salesman Willy Loman works hard all his life and dies without having achieved the goals and aspirations of the ‘American Dream’ the idea that every man should be able to achieve greatness if he works hard, and also that every one is entitled to wealth, individual identity and the pursuit of happiness. In contrast, C. Wright Mills examines American democracy and finds that it is based on formal assumptions of freedom, but that freedom does not exist as America is a hierarchical society where vested interests, such as corporations, politicians and the military impose an idea of America upon an uninformed public which does not fully understand the concept of real democracy.
C. Wright Mills maintains that America is not a true democracy, though it presents itself as one. Yet, while he challenges American society, and feels that Sociologists have the role of educating students about the lies and myths in American society (Mill), the author still believes in a concept of democracy that is based on a version of the American Dream – the idea of the unbridled, creative individual who stands apart from the crowd. He refers to these special individuals, presumably like himself, who actively encourage controversy (Mills). He opposes this idea of the very radical individual (Mills) to the bureaucratic institutions of society which are creating a new mass public that has “values that have been inculcated and often deliberately by vested interests....unconsciously acquired habits rather than choices” (Mills). He maintains that it is in the interests of powerful elites within American society to deny true democracy while claiming it exists. He argues that the “sociological imagination” is an imagination which opens up people’s minds to the need that they evelop powers of debate, to be able to contribute as individuals to the creation of a true democracy in America.
Mills critique of the average man with no power at all, who may not even be aware he has no power fits with Miller’s investigation of Willy Loman and his sons Biff and Happy. Mills writes of the people in the new mass society who are “gripped by personal troubles which they are not able to turn into social issues. They do not understand the interplay of these personal troubles of their milieu with problems of social structure. The knowledgeable man ...understands that what he thinks and feels to be personal troubles are very often problems shared by others, and more importantly, not capable of solution by any one individual but only by modifications of the structure of the groups in which he lives and sometimes the structure of the entire society.” (Mills: 187)
However, even in this criticism of the mass man, unaware of his true lack of power in society, Mills envisions the special individuals who with knowledge, wisdom and virtue come together to debate ideas. This special individual still fits into the American Dream idea of the unique and special individual. This shows that even in his criticism of America, he is somewhat still seeing the problems of American society in individual terms.
Miller’s play reveals the way American society cheats its citizens through the kinds of lies and myths which Mills identify, though not going far enough in totally critiquing the idea of individualism which is part of the American dream. In Death of A Salesman Willy Loman, an aging salesman, who by the end of the play is fired and commits suicide, worries about his son Biff, a thirty four year old man who is still drifting around the country, in search of himself. Is Biff potentially the ‘new’ man that Mills believes, if he got the right education, could contribute to building a different kind of democracy in America? Happy, Biff’s brother sees Biff as a kind of poet because he is always talking about how dissatisfied he is with the usual choices (the American Dream) open to the average man in America. Biff does not want to work in an office. But at the same time, he feels he is a failure. He says, “I’ve always made a point of not wasting my life, and every time I come back here I know that all I’ve done is to waste my life.” (Miller)
Happy is also dissatisfied. He says that he is “waiting for promotion...all I ever wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I’m lonely” (Miller). The play therefore shows that both generations are dissatisfied. They believe in the American Dream, in its different forms, from either; making money and being successful, or finding one’s self and then becoming successful, whatever that might mean. These problems are never taken further however than the level of individual achievement, understanding or failure. Willy, for example speaks of wanting to get “a little place out in the country...raise vegetables....chickens” (Miller). The two brothers fantasize about being the “Loman Brothers” with their “million dollar ideas” (Miller). This shows the way that the father’s ideas and his generation have impacted on the sons. They are part of the mass society that Mill argues is lost without power.
Willy is full of nostalgia for an imagined past. He idealizes an eighty-four year old salesman he met when he was a young man. From watching him, he decided that an individual would gain the most respect and get everything he wanted in life through being a salesman. He is looking for community, wanting to be “remembered and loved and helped by so many different people” (Miller). However, instead he is obsolete, losing his job because he is getting old, and is talking to himself and cannot make the sales that he used to because the style of selling and the game of sales has changed. He is old fashioned. This shows or tries to show a flaw in America, but only on the level of individual to individual. Willy idealizes his brother Ben, who at one point appears to him in a vision saying that “One must go in to fetch a diamond out” (Miller). This is a metaphor for ruthlessness in business and individuality that Willy does not possess. For this reason among others he considers himself a failure. He sees himself as “always in a race with the junkyard (Miller). Bloom argues this attempt to fill emotional voids by purchasing goods will inevitably lead to one’s downfall, as true satisfaction must be derived from alternative sources (Bloom, 1988). This emphasizes the fragility of the American Dream, because not only is it in many ways an illusion in terms of achieving it, but for those who manage to meet its standard are often disappointed.
After his death, Happy tries to perpetuate the American Dream even though it has led to Willy’s suicide and his and his brother’s own serious problems. Happy claims, “Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have – to come out number one man” (Miller). The American dream is criticized in Miller’s play as impossible to live up to or succeed at, because progress and change and the reality of hierarchies of power prevent each and every person from living out the ideas of the Dream. These are the people that Mills says are not even aware of what democracy is, but are living only through the form of a democracy, being brainwashed by the corporate and political elite.
However, neither author really examines an alternative to a form of individualism as a different way to construct society. For example in Cuba literacy is higher and medical care is better (both are free) than in capitalist societies. In the Bahamas the reality of an American style dream is nearly impossible without the help of Cuba for FREE education and cheap healthcare. In societies with discrimination, the idea of the individual will always prefer one individual type over another. In America, it could be argued the white middle class man has been the prototype of democracy. This is true even in Mills who envisions the new intellectual student emerging out of expensive universities most Americans cannot even afford to attend. Therefore, a different kind of ideal – based on equality of all and collective ways to organize society without hierarchies would present an alternative to these different visions of American individualism and the American dream.
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Bibliography
Bloom, H. (1991) Willy Loman. New York: Chelsea House.
Bloom, H (1988). Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. New York: Chelsea House.
Miller, Arthur, Death of a Salesman, Viking Press, New York, 1971
Mills, C. Wright, The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press, New York, 1959.
In Death of A Salesman Willy Loman works hard all his life and dies without having achieved the goals and aspirations of the ‘American Dream’ the idea that every man should be able to achieve greatness if he works hard, and also that every one is entitled to wealth, individual identity and the pursuit of happiness. In contrast, C. Wright Mills examines American democracy and finds that it is based on formal assumptions of freedom, but that freedom does not exist as America is a hierarchical society where vested interests, such as corporations, politicians and the military impose an idea of America upon an uninformed public which does not fully understand the concept of real democracy.
C. Wright Mills maintains that America is not a true democracy, though it presents itself as one. Yet, while he challenges American society, and feels that Sociologists have the role of educating students about the lies and myths in American society (Mill), the author still believes in a concept of democracy that is based on a version of the American Dream – the idea of the unbridled, creative individual who stands apart from the crowd. He refers to these special individuals, presumably like himself, who actively encourage controversy (Mills). He opposes this idea of the very radical individual (Mills) to the bureaucratic institutions of society which are creating a new mass public that has “values that have been inculcated and often deliberately by vested interests....unconsciously acquired habits rather than choices” (Mills). He maintains that it is in the interests of powerful elites within American society to deny true democracy while claiming it exists. He argues that the “sociological imagination” is an imagination which opens up people’s minds to the need that they evelop powers of debate, to be able to contribute as individuals to the creation of a true democracy in America.
Mills critique of the average man with no power at all, who may not even be aware he has no power fits with Miller’s investigation of Willy Loman and his sons Biff and Happy. Mills writes of the people in the new mass society who are “gripped by personal troubles which they are not able to turn into social issues. They do not understand the interplay of these personal troubles of their milieu with problems of social structure. The knowledgeable man ...understands that what he thinks and feels to be personal troubles are very often problems shared by others, and more importantly, not capable of solution by any one individual but only by modifications of the structure of the groups in which he lives and sometimes the structure of the entire society.” (Mills: 187)
However, even in this criticism of the mass man, unaware of his true lack of power in society, Mills envisions the special individuals who with knowledge, wisdom and virtue come together to debate ideas. This special individual still fits into the American Dream idea of the unique and special individual. This shows that even in his criticism of America, he is somewhat still seeing the problems of American society in individual terms.
Miller’s play reveals the way American society cheats its citizens through the kinds of lies and myths which Mills identify, though not going far enough in totally critiquing the idea of individualism which is part of the American dream. In Death of A Salesman Willy Loman, an aging salesman, who by the end of the play is fired and commits suicide, worries about his son Biff, a thirty four year old man who is still drifting around the country, in search of himself. Is Biff potentially the ‘new’ man that Mills believes, if he got the right education, could contribute to building a different kind of democracy in America? Happy, Biff’s brother sees Biff as a kind of poet because he is always talking about how dissatisfied he is with the usual choices (the American Dream) open to the average man in America. Biff does not want to work in an office. But at the same time, he feels he is a failure. He says, “I’ve always made a point of not wasting my life, and every time I come back here I know that all I’ve done is to waste my life.” (Miller)
Happy is also dissatisfied. He says that he is “waiting for promotion...all I ever wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I’m lonely” (Miller). The play therefore shows that both generations are dissatisfied. They believe in the American Dream, in its different forms, from either; making money and being successful, or finding one’s self and then becoming successful, whatever that might mean. These problems are never taken further however than the level of individual achievement, understanding or failure. Willy, for example speaks of wanting to get “a little place out in the country...raise vegetables....chickens” (Miller). The two brothers fantasize about being the “Loman Brothers” with their “million dollar ideas” (Miller). This shows the way that the father’s ideas and his generation have impacted on the sons. They are part of the mass society that Mill argues is lost without power.
Willy is full of nostalgia for an imagined past. He idealizes an eighty-four year old salesman he met when he was a young man. From watching him, he decided that an individual would gain the most respect and get everything he wanted in life through being a salesman. He is looking for community, wanting to be “remembered and loved and helped by so many different people” (Miller). However, instead he is obsolete, losing his job because he is getting old, and is talking to himself and cannot make the sales that he used to because the style of selling and the game of sales has changed. He is old fashioned. This shows or tries to show a flaw in America, but only on the level of individual to individual. Willy idealizes his brother Ben, who at one point appears to him in a vision saying that “One must go in to fetch a diamond out” (Miller). This is a metaphor for ruthlessness in business and individuality that Willy does not possess. For this reason among others he considers himself a failure. He sees himself as “always in a race with the junkyard (Miller). Bloom argues this attempt to fill emotional voids by purchasing goods will inevitably lead to one’s downfall, as true satisfaction must be derived from alternative sources (Bloom, 1988). This emphasizes the fragility of the American Dream, because not only is it in many ways an illusion in terms of achieving it, but for those who manage to meet its standard are often disappointed.
After his death, Happy tries to perpetuate the American Dream even though it has led to Willy’s suicide and his and his brother’s own serious problems. Happy claims, “Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have – to come out number one man” (Miller). The American dream is criticized in Miller’s play as impossible to live up to or succeed at, because progress and change and the reality of hierarchies of power prevent each and every person from living out the ideas of the Dream. These are the people that Mills says are not even aware of what democracy is, but are living only through the form of a democracy, being brainwashed by the corporate and political elite.
However, neither author really examines an alternative to a form of individualism as a different way to construct society. For example in Cuba literacy is higher and medical care is better (both are free) than in capitalist societies. In the Bahamas the reality of an American style dream is nearly impossible without the help of Cuba for FREE education and cheap healthcare. In societies with discrimination, the idea of the individual will always prefer one individual type over another. In America, it could be argued the white middle class man has been the prototype of democracy. This is true even in Mills who envisions the new intellectual student emerging out of expensive universities most Americans cannot even afford to attend. Therefore, a different kind of ideal – based on equality of all and collective ways to organize society without hierarchies would present an alternative to these different visions of American individualism and the American dream.
--------------------------------------
Bibliography
Bloom, H. (1991) Willy Loman. New York: Chelsea House.
Bloom, H (1988). Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. New York: Chelsea House.
Miller, Arthur, Death of a Salesman, Viking Press, New York, 1971
Mills, C. Wright, The Sociological Imagination, Oxford University Press, New York, 1959.