Essay about Living or Dying with the American Dream

Everyone wants to be successful. We all dream of having a decent job, a house, a car or two, good social connections and the respect of our peers. We dream of opportunity and freedom. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, many characters are pursuing their own version of this dream, but they go about it in many different ways. Some see work and perseverance as necessities. Others think personal charm and popularity are essential in obtaining their dreams. We see the American Dream through the eyes of many different characters, giving us perspective of our own priorities and goals. Once we see the American dream from all of these angles we have to decide how we will interpret it, and how we will react. Willy Loman is the main person†¦show more content†¦In order to find that happiness we have to decide what makes us happy, and from the statements above we can say that it is opportunity, freedom and family. The sad part of this is a lot of us still manage to misinterpret what happiness means. Like several characters in Death of a Salesman, including Willy, many people think luxury and money is going to make them happy. British economist Richard Layard published a book entitled Happiness in which he discussed the results of several tests he ran. He discussed having a group of children that were asked how happy they were on a scale of one to ten. The childrens overall happiness level was about a six. Then each child got to select a â€Å"gift†, at random, from a bag. Again the children were asked how happy they were on a scale of one to ten. Surprisingly their happiness level had dropped. It was now a four. They were now materially â€Å"richer†, but they reported being less happy than before. This shows that wealth does not make us happy. So why do we, like Willy still think it will? (Professor Richard Layard on Happiness) (Carroll, 2012). One of the reasons the children in the study were less happy is because they compared their  "gifts† to their peers â€Å"gifts† and they felt like they gotShow MoreRelatedThe American Dream In Jeannette Wallss The Glass Castle1519 Words   |  7 Pagescall it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.† Financial security, freedom to live how one chooses, retiring at 65 and living comfortably in old age, owning a home, knowing that working hard pays off: these are all fundamental beliefs tied to the American Dream. As newer generations are increasingly finding the dream to be unrealistic, people are beginning to abandon the concept; however it is still a very present ideology. While many believe the American Dream is a livelyRead MoreThe American Dream In James T. Adamss The American Dream1220 Words   |  5 Pagesphrase â€Å"The American Dream† was popularized by James T. Adams in his book Epic of America. 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