What is the American dream we pursue today?

In the play “Death of a salesman” the main character is trying what we call the American dream.

The stereotypical American dream today involves:
-Owning your own house in a nice neighborhood.
-Having 2,5 kids and a station wagon.
-A contemporary lifestyle.

But none of these things are possible without money. Earning a living on less mainstream jobs like art and music is hard. Getting a degree in medicine or any other area that one finds interesting to become one`s own boss requires time and even more money. And when money is what you need to pursue your dream, it is easy to take the easy way out and get a standard job where you can slowly work your way up.

In the modern society it is an essential to make money to be able to live a normal life off the street. For some people in countries with a lower life standard, roof over your head seems to be enough, but this is America, and it is not the case.

Commercial and media keeps telling us what we need, and what we should have, while painting a picture of what is essential to be happy.

What it seems that the American dream is trying to make the citizens of America today, as much as in “The Death of a Salesman”, it is to believe that looking like the perfect reflection of success on the outside, is going to make your life complete. You are as happy as other people think you are. The American dream is not necessarily to be successful and own a big house because you want it, or to get a good position in business because you put your soul into it, it is to make others believe you are happy.

Willy was perhaps the very lecturer of this as he told his son to look his best when he played football. How it delighted him that his son Biff was the champion of his school and everybody looked up to him. The bitter truth here of course is that looking happy far from makes you a fortunate person. Willy might have been the very image of a man who had everything he wanted, until we found out that he had been cheating on his wife. Even if he looked like a man who loved what he was doing, he was just desperately chasing an imaginary dream he created in his head.  It is why he never found himself, and realized that he was not made to be a salesman, he was too busy making money.

If we all just stopped for a moment, stopped thinking about making more, stopped thinking about what other people say about us, and though about what we realy want, would we find ourself? Would making less but feeling more alive make us happier?