The Modern Willy Loman
Linda:  Willy, dear, I got a new kind of American-type cheese today.  It's whipped.
Willy:  Why do you get American when I like Swiss?...I don't want change!  I want Swiss...How can they whip cheese?
(Miller, 1547).
Commercialism seems to mark the American existance, no matter whether it's from Willy Loman's desire to get a refrigerator simply because it had the biggest advertisement, or whether a child today wants the all new Polly Pocket with the dozens of compartments.  Materialism and the desire to possess brand names is a key component of the American Dream.  Willy Loman may have experienced a downfall half a century ago, but many people today still believe that a brand name is better.  Listen to a Target ad, and you'll hear that "Everything you want, you got it."  It's the catchphrase of our times, as people seek to have, own, and repeat the cycle.  Many teenagers today will run after the latest fad, not necessarily because it looks good on them, but because they simply want.

Why is this part of the American Dream?  Through this web study of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman, it seems that the goal is to be happy.  Yet, many people do not understand that being happy means more than having.  The American Dream, however, can be interpreted to convey such a message.  Willy Loman, for example, wants to possess the latest gadgets, the latest technology, and is always running behind for some reason.  Is he happy?  I see Willy Loman in many people, who will purchase simply because the advertisement jingle was catchy.  Go to a supermarket and see how people would rather prefer Campbell's soup to the generic brand, or even their own mother's homemade broccoli and cheese.  Commercialism is rampant, and the modern Willy Loman embraces it.
Willy:  I hope we didn't get stuck on that machine.
Linda:  They got the biggest ads of any of them!
Willy:  I know, it's a fine machine.  What else?
(Miller, 1556)
"Chevrolet, Linda, is the greatest car ever built...That goddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car!" (Miller, 1557).
thanks to "~serpent" at www.deviantart.com/view/645986
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