Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller in 1949, won a Pulitzer Prize and established Miller's international status. The play addresses issues of social realism and family complications by exploring the life of a man who lives in a fragmented state of reality with unrealized hopes and dreams. Arthur Miller's play raises the question of the meaning and value of the American dream by contrasting two different visions of success: ; one view believes that hard work and support will lead to success, while the other relies on popularity, attractiveness, and likeability to achieve success. Willy, the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, and his family lived their lives believing amoral and amoral behavior. illusory version of the American dream compared to others. Willy is a highly insecure, delusional and misguided individual who whole-heartedly believes the various lies and retarded interpretations on which he has based his life; he believes that to succeed, one must be popular and attractive. Willy and his family are at a disadvantage because throughout their lives, "they continue to believe that the world will welcome them, proclaim them, simply because they are superficially charming, are sometimes witty, and can bluster and boast." with the best of people. “them” (Thompson). Willy continues to admire highly successful people. Dave Singleman and Willy's brother are two characters in the play whom Willy admires because of their hard-earned success. However, Willy helps the audience gain insight into the corrupt vision of the American dream, based on materialism, popularity, likability, and attractiveness. The American dream that Willy challenges was originally...... middle of paper. ....on what our founding fathers based it on: hard work, support, success and freedom of choice.Works CitedCardullo, Robert James. "Selling in American Drama, 1946-49: Miller's Death of a Salesman, O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, and Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire." The Explainer 66.1 (2007). OneFile Academic. Internet. April 17, 2014. Centola, Steven R. “Family Values ​​in the Death of a Salesman.” » Journal CLA 37.1 (1993). Literary Resource Center. Internet. April 22, 2014.Jacobson, Irving. “Dreams in the Death of a Salesman.” American Literature 47.2 (1975): 246-258. JSTOR. Internet. April 17, 2014. Miller, Arthur. Death of a seller. Bedford's Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2013. 1386-95. Print.Thompson, Terry W. “Death of a Salesman by Miller.” The Explainer 63.4 (2005). OneFile Academic. Internet. April 17. 2014.