Description: My views on what the American Dream in relation to the novel Death of a Salesman, and also my own personal “american dream”.

On a personal side, for me the American Dream is to be able to own a home. I believe this dream is not my own and is in fact shared by hundreds of people. The dream of being able to own a home means much more than some might think. Owning a home is more than having a piece of land. After all so many people come to this country, risking their lives, for their dream that it cannot be just summed up as a mere material possession. Being able to own a home is like being able to say you are liberated. By owning a home a person no longer feels trapped – not that renting is a bad thing – a person can feel at ease because it is something that is theirs. I think that’s the bases of this dream of owning a home: the person being able to claim something that is theirs for all to see. Owning a home is not an easy task and by owning a home that person can have something to show off all their hard work.

Some people in my life claim I will never own a home because it is impossible for me to do so – because it requires so much money. These comments just make me want to strive harder in school and get a good job to prove all those people wrong. So another way to look at it is, by owning a home that person is proving people wrong and showing them that they are their own boss. This is where I believe ties to both Biff and Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Both characters to me struggle trying to prove themselves to other people – to live up to expectations. When in fact what both characters are truly wanting is to be their own person, hence the American dream. Not having anyone to have to respond to, being their own bosses in control of what they want to do is what both of them wanted all along. And it wasn’t until they realized that in fact they controlled their own destinies that they were able truly understand what the American dream really was.