Source: http://www.ushistory.org/us/53b.asp:
“For many generations and many decades, the American Dream has promised an egalitarian society and material prosperity. For many, the notion of prosperity remained just a dream”. The American ideals that Willy Loman holds are an American tradition. His views of the ability to make it big with a wink and a smile are not an anomaly; they are fostered by generations of success stories of very talented underdogs who did just that. Unfortunately, this becomes a dangerous notion when an ordinary man like Willy thinks himself to be something more.
However, for millions of Americans after the war, “the American Dream became a reality. Within their reach was the chance to have a house on their own land, a car, a dog, and 2.3 kids. Postwar affluence redefined the American Dream. Gone was the poverty borne of the Great Depression, and the years of wartime sacrifice were over. . . Automobiles once again rolled off the assembly lines of the Big Three: Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. The Interstate Highway Act authorized the construction of thousands of miles of high-speed roads that made living farther from work a possibility”. Suddenly after the war, there are not only those not fit for combat competing for success, but a surplus of Americans vying for the very things that Willy has been suffering for. Specifically, the accessibility of a personal automobile makes it even easier for energetic young salesmen to flood Willy’s area of expertise. This new affluence makes Willy and his sons even more redundant in both the workplace and society.
Arthur Miller has a marked distaste for the consumerism that came out of this period of prosperity. “In our big car civilization we still clutch to our breasts these chromium-plated iron hulks in the hope that they are salvation” (Bigsby xxx). Yet in Willy’s case, the perceived salvation of materialism causes him to lose any opportunity to be himself in the drive to become the ideal prosperous American.