Ross EbsterScott YatesEnglish 1B16 November 2013Awakening from the Nightmare: From Marx to MillerArthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a modern tragedy that has its roots in those who seek to achieve the American dream but are unsuccessful in their pursuit. Miller's play revolves around the ongoing pursuit of this ideology and raises the question of whether trying to "keep up with the Joneses" might be more of a nightmare than a dream. Karl Marx's ideology introduces socioeconomic conflict between capitalists and the working class. Marx referred to these opposing forces as “the haves and the have-nots.” Viewing Death of a Salesman through the perspective of Karl Marx can help shed light on Miller's comments and possible rejection of American capitalism during the late 1940s. The protagonist, Willy Loman, shows an insatiable struggle to fit in on the right side of society and his desperate attempt to see himself and his children as one of the “haves”. Miller's vision of the American Dream shows the social and economic outlook of post-war America and how those visions relate to social class. To fully understand this idea in context, it is necessary to define the idea of ​​the American Dream. The basis of the American Dream at that time was that financial success through capitalism was the only foundation of happiness. Marx's point of view also helps to highlight the evident theme of materialism in the work. “Marx professed materialism but generally sought to distinguish his views from the mechanical materialism which regarded man as a machine, or which reduced all human behavior to the laws of physics and chemistry” (Mayo 34). For Marx, materialism was a neutral notion; neither moral nor immoral. It consisted of the simple acceptance that “the evidence…the medium of paper…changed young Biff's life. “That boy… that boy will be wonderful! (Ben appears in the light just outside the kitchen.) . . .Yes, exceptional, with twenty thousand behind him. (quote) Part of what makes this play so tragic is that if Willy had chosen acceptance and individuality over materialism he would have seen that he had already achieved the American dream by having the love of his family. Much of this play parallels the author's. life, “He grew up white and Jewish in Harlem. Mr. Miller's comfortable childhood in the radio era was transformed by his father's downfall during the Depression and the family's forced relocation from their Upper West Side apartment on the outskirts of Harlem to Brooklyn” (Shattuck 43). Death Of A Salesman heeds a well-deserved warning about the dangers of materialism and the risk of using capitalism as the sole backbone of prosperity.