Death of a Salesman

what picture of american society and family do you get in death of a salesman?

brief detail of american society and family

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Death of a Salesman came out around 1949. America was done with WW2 and heading into an age of mass consumption and conformity. THe American Dream seemed almost tangible to the middle class bent on achieving it. Two perfect kids (ideally one of each gender) a perfect home with a perfect domestic mother waiting for her husband to return home from his perfect high paying job. Willy Loman desperately wants this but the illusion of happiness is exactly that, and illusion. Willy was an unsuccessful salesman trying to catch the fast train to big money. Certainly the materialism is as rampant today as in the 1950's. Get rich quick infomercials still permeate the late night TV airwaves with countless "Willy Loman's" professing soul crushing ways to spend your last dollars. I think the conformity aspect has changed some. The 1950's were heavily steeped in the illusion of family happiness as a product of consumption and conformity. I think today is more about individual happiness as a product of consumption and money.