n our modern day and age, it is no longer the fear of death that scares us, it is the fear of failure. Like the "Steven's" of the coffee shop, too many of us pursue a dream that has been indoctrinated into our lives through ideals that society considers to be "successful". Miller denounces how the American dream has failed individuals because it has focused them on a narrow journey that ultimately proves to disorient them and trap them in a web of industry. It creates and makes redundant beliefs that are anchored in false hope and masked by sweet words.

Our definition of truth is influenced by the environment around us. From a young age, we are born as "blank slates" waiting to be filled. Some of us may be filled with "hot air" and "big dreams", whilst others may choose to follow their own path and ignore the pressures from their environment as Millers social study "Death of a Salesman" tries to show through the his characters interactions with the "American Dream". The people we choose to accept into our lives impacts us greatly in shaping a significant portion of what we choose to accept as the “truth”. "A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he is meant to be." A idea from the early 1900's that was explored by the American politician Frank A. Clark about the societal factors that influence people as they develop. Clark was born into a time and age where slavery was acceptable and apartheid encouraged. It is little wonder that there were so few white people that advocated for African American rights. Whilst Clark pursued a political career that would eventually lead him to be elected for the House of Representatives despite having strong views on interracial relationship.

To accept our fictional society created from a web of lies we create a mask; a masquerade; an alternate identity to conceal who we really are and wear it as if it were our own face. There is something that lies underneath the masks we create for ourselves; something that we all try to hide through our thinly veiled smiles or our insincere compliments. We hide the darkness within us, we hide what we believe society won’t indulge in; we hide our real reality and instead choose to accept a false one.

Raising children, one is always favoured and the other craves attention

A child should be loved, wanted, understood, acknowledged
If we put our kid in a bubble and grant them their every wish and desire, that is what they grow to expect, but the real world doesn't work that way
People have an innate need to be needed

Framing success on external expectations set by society.

It delivers a bleak conception of American society which beats an overpowering fear of failure into the hearts of its members.
It raises and diffuses false ideas about success and manages to destroy any individual who does not fit into society's definition of a "member".
Arthur miller denounces how the American dream has failed and left individuals socially disoriented by portraying society's dehumanisation of the individual and the dominance of industries.
People like Willy tend to forget that the individual's happiness, virtue and love are worth more than success.

Firms dehumanise individuals
It has indoctrinated false ideals in people and rejected those who are not considered part of its definition of "success".

I clutched my coffee tightly as I nodded politely at the couple before me inquiring about a car they wished to purchase. I had to make this sale. I wasn't the finest salesman but I am a human being. Why am I pretending to be someone I'm not? What am I doing in a car yard, making a fool of myself, begging people to buy something I don't own?

A smaller man can be just as exhausted as great man.
All right, boy. I'm gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in