(Kennedy 1410).
Some people may think that the American dream could be many different things such being rich, having a perfect family situation, or even being able to do absolutely nothing. Successful children, perfect families, and a happy stay-at-home mother can also be associated. Yet, everyone knows that the children are not always successful, there are family fights, and not every mother can be at home and be happy. Many families have lifelong searches for the ideal American Dreams and never find even one. To be hard working, honest and have ambition were the ways of the American Dream. This lead to success, wealth, and eventually power. This dream for everyone developed, and encouraged greed, selfish behavior, pride and rivalry between one another. The major flaw in this "dream" is that it produces selfish individuals who will go to any extent to receive personal gain. I believe that success and realism also play a big factor in the American Dream. .
Whether it is a family working together towards one common goal, or a single woman working her way up in life, in a sense it is all the same dream. Regardless of the goal one works towards, in my opinion, it all comes down to success. Success includes getting ahead at work and school, and the goal of attaining wealth, power, and prestige. Without success why would anyone want to do anything? You would think that success is free to every American, but it is not. It seems as if you must qualify for success. .
Realism may be defined as an attempt to reproduce the surface appearance of the life of normal people in everyday situations. Basically realism is a situation that normal people can relate to based on their own experiences. Realism is prevalent in the play Death of a Salesman. The characters in the play have real world problems. Lack of money is one of the problems, which is a problem for many people. There are also many conflicts within the family, which is related to each characters definition of success.
