Revisiting the American Dream: A Study of Death of a Salesman in Post-Covid World

Abstract

Miller's play is not in general a condemnation of the American Dream. He, on the other hand, criticises the dehumanisation of an individual within a society. He discards the belief that the advancement of human life is able to change human ethics as he is opposed to the conception of greed as a principal motivator within a society. Willy's insatiable interpretation of the American Dream becomes the reason for his fall. He might have succeeded if he had a clearer vision of life and its realities. Miller judgement about the dilemma of ‘American Dream’ is that it is not in itself a problem, but the way it has been interpreted or simply our interpretation of it; it is with how we apply it. Comparing it to the current times and the American Dream is going on within the perspective of a pragmatic economy with reality perception, it seems the dream is over or it needs a hermeneutic update or a new interpretation. This paper compares Willy’s deep-rooted ideology which makes him create his ‘defence mechanism’ in order to uphold the American Dream ideology with the current world scenario with a special focus on China.