Abstract Death of a Salesman is a masterpiece written by American dramatist Arthur Miller. It tells the tragedy of a common American salesman —— Willy Loman, who spends all his life pursuing his dreams but finally fails. This thesis pides his dreams into three parts: he can be a good father and a qualified husband; he can be a successful salesman; he can be a man surpassing his neighbors. This thesis tries to analyze the reasons of disillusion of Willy Loman’s dreams from the personal and social aspects. Willy fails because he bases his dreams on inadequate self-evaluation as well as unrealistic expectations and he believes that personal attractiveness can bring him success. Besides Willy is greatly influenced by American Dream which encourages him to dream high and to pursue wealth and fame. His tragedy warns readers to have suitable dreams and adjust themselves to reality in the process of realising their dreams.
Keywords: Death of a Salesman; dream; disillusion; self-evaluation; American Dream54295
摘要《推销员之死》是美国戏剧家阿瑟·米勒的作品，它讲述了一个普通美国人威利·罗曼穷尽一生追寻梦想，最后失败自杀的故事。本文将其梦想分成三部分：成为一个好父亲、好丈夫，成为一名伟大的推销员，以及超越邻居的梦想，并从个人原因和社会原因来分析威利·罗曼梦想幻灭的原因。威利把梦想建立在不切实际的期望，不足的自我评价之上，坚信通过个人魅力就能获得成功，最终导致梦想破灭。同时他又深受美国梦的影响, 选择高远的梦想，追求财富和名望。他的悲剧警示人们在选择梦想时要切合自身实际，并在追梦的过程中不断调整，使之适应现实生活。
毕业论文关键词：《推销员之死》；梦想；破灭；自我评价；美国梦
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 2
3. The Reasons of Disillusion of Willy Loman’s Family Dream 3
3.1 Willy’s unfortunate childhood 3
3.2 Willy’s wrong education methods 4
3.3 Willy’s improper love affair 5
4. The Reasons of Disillusion of Willy Loman’s Career Dream 6
4.1 Unilateral understanding of selling 6
4.2 Inadequate self-knowledge 7
4.3 Blind perseverance 8
4.4 Impractical American Dream 8
5. The Reasons of Disillusion of Willy Loman’s Dream to Surpass His Neighbors 9
5.1 Excessive self-assertion 9
5.2 Betrayal of original Puritan ethic 10
6. Conclusion 11
Works Cited 12
1. Introduction
As one of the greatest twentieth-century world playwrights, Arthur Miller is regarded as the American conscience. His realistic drama writing style and his unique stage expression methods have influenced many other dramatists. The majority of Arthur Miller’s works are based on materials drawing from real life. In his works, Arthur Miller pays much attention to common people and shows his solicitude for humanity.
Arthur Miller was born in 1915 in a Polish Jewish immigrant family. His father was a successful businessman owing a clothing manufactory and his mother was a school teacher. He lived a wealthy and respected childhood. However, the family went through a tough time and lost almost everything in the Wall Street financial crisis. Since then, Arthur Miller began to do some part time jobs to help his family. By working at several menial jobs, he finally saved enough money to attend college at the University of Michigan. These working experiences endowed Miller with a profound understanding of the lower class people’s life, as well as the essence of American Dream. As a witness of tragedies, he tried to speak at full throat for common people to help improve the situation. 源'自:优尔`!论~文'网www.youerw.com 论《推销员之死》中威利罗曼梦的幻灭原因:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_58498.html