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Kaylee Zukovich
Ms. von Holst
English 3
25 November 2014
The Possibility of the Dream
The American Dream is widely covered and strived for by many but is it possible to
achieve? There are two works of literature that explore the American Dream and whether or not
its obtainable. The first text that illustrates this is the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
Fitzgerald. The author utilizes the character, Jay Gatsby as the main focus of someone who is
striving for more and a woman is what drives his motives. The second text is the play Death of a
Salesman by Arthur Miller; the author demonstrates the life of a salesman named Willy Loman
and his hope to be successful and provide for his family. Despite the differences in the
characters motivations, these two texts explore similar themes. Even though both Arthur Miller
and F. Scott Fitzgerald both strive to demonstrate if the American dream is able to be achieved,
they differ in how they portray the characters dream.
In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, the author utilizes Willy Loman to be
the main focus of the play. Willy has moments when he talks to himself and has flashbacks of his
the past. One part of Willys dream is he wants to be well liked and he is too concerned about
what people think of him. Loman thinks little personal things matter in the sales business but he
doesnt realize that its about how much you can sell. Willys neighbor, Charley tells him,
Willy, whenre you gonna realize that them things dont mean anything? You named his
Howard, but you cant sell that. The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And
the funny thing is that youre a salesman, and you dont know that (Miller 97). Willy doesnt

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realize that certain things he thinks make him a salesman actually dont matter in the business
world. Willy is desperate throughout the whole play, he struggles with his job, trying to have
enough money for his family. Another part of Willys dream is to have both of his sons, Happy
and Biff to become successful. Willy doesnt realize his sons are following in his footsteps and
that they are going downhill with their lives as well. Willy is dissatisfied because he loses his job
and was trying so hard to be successful and be a true salesman. Willy looks up to a man named
Dave Singleman because he is a part of Willys dream. Willy says, When he died- and by the
way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York,
New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston- when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buys were
at his funeral (Miller 81). Willy Loman thinks he should commit suicide because he knows his
family will get 20,000 dollars if he dies. Willy decided its best for him to die so his family
doesnt have to struggle with money, and his family tries to stop him but it doesnt change
Willys mind. In the end of the play, Willys family did get the money but lost a loved one, Biff
realized he should think more about the right things to do and Happy doesnt realize anything he
does is wrong. Willy Loman did strive for his success and to stand out in the world but it didnt
work in his favor, he tried with everything in his power and couldnt achieve his dream.
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author demonstrates the
American dream by utilizing Jay Gatsby, the main character, to express his idea of the American
dream and how he tries to achieve it throughout his life. During Gatsbys younger years he
wasnt a wealthy man but his dream was to achieve success due to a man he met named Dan
Cody that he looked up to become. When Gatsby was a teenager he met a girl named Daisy and
she was his dream but Gatsby went away to war and things changed. Daisy wanted a wealthy
man and Jay would become that just for her. When Jay came back from war he became the

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successful man he wanted to be. He though if he was the wealthy man Daisy wanted he would be
able to get her back but she was married. Gatsby bought a house across the bay from Daisy and
her husband Tom Buchannan, Gatsby threw parties every weekend hoping one day Daisy would
show up but she never did. One day, Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, and Daisys
cousin, happened to move right next door to Gatsby. Gatsby and Nick became friends and Daisy
and Jay reunited. In the text, Fitzgerald says, If that was true he must have felt that he had lost
the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream (Fitzgerald 161).
This line in the novel demonstrates that Gatsby had the dream of being with Daisy and he was so
attached to that dream of having her he ended up paying the ultimate price of death. Another line
in the text, Fitzgerald said He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in
that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the
night (Fitzgerald 193). The main thing Gatsby didnt realize is Daisy was the past and wasnt
his future. Daisy was in love with Gatsby but in the end no matter what Gatsby did it was never
enough to achieve his dream, Daisy.
Throughout the two works of literature both authors demonstrate their ideas of the
American dream and if it was obtainable but both the play The Death of a Salesman and novel
The Great Gatsby have similarities and differences of their path to their dreams. Some
similarities between the play and the novel are how the main characters pursue the path to their
dream, Jay Gatsby and Willy Loman both strive to become successful in the business world.
Gatsby and Loman both have a man they want to become, in Willys life he wanted to be like
Dave Singleman and Gatsby was inspired to be the man he used to know, Dan Cody. They both
have people in their lives to push them, Willys has his family and Gatsbys has the love of his
life, Daisy. Jay and Willy both want to do the right thing for someone or some people, they did

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everything in their power to achieve their goals and in the end they both passed away with their
dreams still with them. Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby are similar in the dream they wanted to
achieve and due to how hard they tried to reach that goal they both werent able to achieve the
impossible but in their minds they were in the grasp of it. Some differences between the two
works of literature are how the author portrays their dreams. The main character in the novel and
in the play have different ideas of the American dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby has the dream of
obtaining Daisy and strives for success to be able to have her to himself. Gatsbys dream is Daisy
and everything he does in his life is based around her. In another text, the play, Willy Loman
only wants to become successful and be able to provide for his family. The things Loman does
isnt the right way to achieve his goals. Gatsby had Daisy as his dream and Willy had his
success, they both had different motives and still couldnt achieve that certain dream.
In conclusion, the novel The Great Gatsby and the play The Death of a Salesman both
have many similarities and differences but both texts demonstrate the American Dream. Even
though both Arthur Miller and F. Scott Fitzgerald both strive to demonstrate if the American
dream is able to be achieved, they differ in how they portray the characters dream. Throughout
each of the texts the American dream is portrayed as difficult to be achieved because both Willy
Loman and Jay Gatsby tried everything they could to make their dream happen and it wasnt able
to be obtained.

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Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1925. Print.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Penguin Books, 1949. Print.