Since its infancy, the American continent has often been equated with endless opportunity. In A Description of New England John Smith described the early colonies of 1616 as a land of economic potential, declaring that "If a man work but three days in seven, he may get more than he can spend. (51)" In America, it was It is possible for a man of even the most modest origins to ascend to great riches through diligence and the sweat of his brow, without constraints of any social hierarchy or intellectual qualification. As the nation grew, however, the composition of the American Dream began to change accordingly. By 1949, when Death of a Salesman debuted, the United States had overcome the Civil War, two world wars, the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties, and the subsequent collapse of the Great Depression, and was once again in the midst of an economic boom. Economic and social change has forever transformed the very definition of the American dream. Once a philosophical ideal, the concept had essentially become the brand property of corporate America. Instead of inspiring men to greatness, the American dream has instead been used as a marketing tool, pushing a nation's eager consumers to partake in housing, new cars and processed foods. Packaged and sold along with the dream was a pervasive conformism, protecting against the threat of economic instability that had plagued the previous decades (Schwartz 111). Suddenly, the greatness promised by the dream was middle-class suburban greatness embodied in the sprawling acreage of Levittown, the ideal of limitless wealth achieved through hard work having been gradually relegated to the rapidly disappearing frontiers. When the definition of the dream changed, however, it left as victims in its wake the lifeless bodies of those unable to adapt to it: people who believed wholeheartedly in a dream only to see that dream evaporate. and be replaced by a new dream. they perceived it as the intangible compromise of those who are afraid to aspire to something more. One of those bodies strewn along the abandoned highway of the American Dream was that of Willy Loman. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In many ways, Willy represented the last agrarian frontiersman, forced into the uncomfortable situation of a corporate world. For Willy, success was something you achieved because of how hard you worked and how well-liked you were. This doctrine of how to achieve success consumed Willy's life and sealed his destiny. Whatever he achieved, Willy was constantly forced, by conflict with his own aspirations, to consider himself a failure. For Willy, success meant achieving the sudden wealth of the frontier. That border, however, no longer existed. As a result, all Willy could do was suffer, grapple with an ideal that had never truly been attainable for him, and, in his declining years, try desperately to live out the same unattainable dream vicariously through his children in whom he had instilled the same old-fashioned idealism. that afflicted him. However, given Biff and Happy's inability to live their father's dream, they too were seen as failures. The only true success represented in Death of a Salesman is represented by three characters, one who represents the extinct agrarian definition of the American dream, another the acceptance of the corporate ideal that replaced it, and, finally, one who represents the intellectual potential capable of transcending it. corporate ideal and its relativeconformity, thus asserting that, along with its vast capacity for failure, America still possesses the potential to achieve greatness. It is through the analysis of Arthur Miller's treatment of the characters of Ben, Charley, and Bernard that the transformation of the American Dream can be comprehensively assessed. Ben is the only member of the Loman family to ever achieve true success. As a result, and despite being somewhat of an enigma, he is practically mythologized in Willy's mind. Few details are known about the true success he ever achieved, but for Willy it is what Ben represents that is important. The true embodiment of the American dream for the Loman family, Ben set out early to make his fortune and did exactly that. Not surprisingly, however, he achieved the American dream not in America, but rather in Africa. Suggesting that perhaps Willy's concept of success in America had already been supplanted by the corporate ideal, Ben achieved his fortune not in the fields and byways near Willy's world but rather thousands of miles from the culture that imprisoned Willy. However, Ben's memory serves to provide Willy with a blueprint, if vague at best, of what it takes to achieve extraordinary success. Ben was a courageous and optimistic man. Even his description of his own success is reduced to the essentials, summed up by declaring: "When I was seventeen I went into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I left. And by God I was rich." (What exactly Ben did in the jungle is a mystery. The only certainties about him are his role as the manifestation of all that Willy aspires to and, as such, his validation of Willy's unattainable dreams. If Willy were gone with Ben in Alaska, when given the opportunity, would he too have achieved extraordinary wealth. The answer is unknown but in Willy's mind there is little doubt, furthermore, it is notable that Ben is the only character in the entire play which refers to Willy as William, perhaps suggesting a higher level of respect afforded to a successful man Willy is the common man, relegated to the confines of economic weakness, while William was in many ways the potential for greatness that he was left unsatisfied2E It is a large part of Willy's dream to gain respect and admiration from his peers, to be revered; yet in the end he is just a pathetic remnant of his failed dreams, unable to rise above Willy's youthful nickname. Just as Ben represents the American dream of Willy's conscience, Charley represents the realization of the dream formulated in the boardrooms of American corporations. Willy's foil, Charley lives his life devoid of noble aspirations. All he wants is a happy, stable, debt-free life and that's exactly what he gets. Although he is by no means a rich man, Charley is still several steps higher on the economic ladder than the bottom rung occupied by Willy. For Charley there is no equivalent to Ben, no dream of achieving riches in the frontier of the past, no archetype to compare himself to. Instead, Charley consciously participates in corporate culture and the suburban life it entails. Unlike Willy, Charley is content with his Chevrolet, his whipped cheese, and all the other symbols that lead Willy to consider himself a failure. More importantly, Charley recognizes the change taking place, realizing that being well-liked and being athletic is no longer enough to achieve success in modern America. Instead of encouraging his son to be a man's man, as Willy does, Charley sees the importance of education. In the reformulated America, a man is able to distinguish himself not by the strength of his muscles or the charm of his 1999. 51.