# data[].attributes.body
Willie, the main character in the book is from Brooklyn NY and has been a traveling salesman for 34 years.  The year is 1947, "Willie believes in the American Dream of easy success and wealth but he never achieves it".  When he realizes that his dreams will not be achieved he then places hope in the hands of his two boys having faith that they will succeed where he has failed. Willie is an extremely prideful man that has bouts of hallucinations, suicidal tendencies, and bi-polar rants. He is an unfaithful husband with lots of regrets.

# data[].attributes.body
The peace keeper, Linda Loman, is Willie's wife and she is faithful to a fault.  She never let's Willie believe he is any less than perfect, strokes his ego immensely, and is there to try to pick up the broken pieces.  She knows Willie is suicidal but chooses not to bring it up to him as she knows it will set him off.
Linda is the one that is always reminding Willie to pay the bills and reminds him of how important it is to pay on the life insurance policy.

# data[].attributes.body
Willie's "Favorite" son Biff had many admirers and a great looking future in college football. He had many scholarships lined up and was the family's prized possession but he failed Math and never graduated high school sending Willie into a 16 year downward spiral. Biff is also the one that walks in on his dad having an affair and the relationship between Biff and Willie changes forever.

# data[].attributes.body
Harold "Happy" Loman, the least favorite of the two children has spent his life trying to be like his father to gain his father's acceptance.  He likes the women, is a story teller, and is constantly looking for ways to be successful but just as his dad has not found success.

# data[].attributes.body
Ben is Willie's deceased brother that shows up in his hallucinations. Ben left home when he was young headed to Alaska but somehow ended up in Africa becoming a rich man finding diamonds in the jungle.  Willie has always looked up to his brother and finds himself questioning why he hadn't gone with Ben all those years ago. "Ben represents wealth and success" something that Willie wanted so desperately but could never seems to achieve.

# data[].attributes.body
Charley was Willie's next door neighbor and devout friend. He knew that Willie was losing his mind but never wavered away from him. He would loan Willie money knowing that he would never be able to pay it back and encouraged Willie to take a job working for him at his CPA firm but Willie would refuse.

# data[].attributes.body
Bernard is Charley's smart son, the same age as Biff, he is also Biff's math tutor through high school. He is the one that keeps on top of Biff and tells him that he is in jeopardy failing but his worries for Biff go unnoticed and disregarded. He grows to be a successful lawyer which Willie grows to envy as his son's were unable to make him proud like Bernard has made Charley.

# data[].attributes.body
"You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away, a man is not a piece of fruit".  This is what Willie told his boss after he was told that he needed to take time off due to his emotional outbursts and argumentative episodes.  This piled on top of the delusional thoughts, thoughts of failure, and unsuccessfulness is what ultimately caused his final attempt at suicide ending Willie's life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The United States did not enter World War II (1939-45) until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But even before that, the war had made an impact on American life. Manufacturers began to put more effort into supplying the wartime needs of Europe, creating shortages at home. By 1941, raw materials such as steel, rubber, nylon, silk, oil, and fabrics were in short supply. Automobile manufacturers gradually converted their factories to build airplanes, tanks, and other military vehicles. Clothing manufacturers made uniforms for the military. Shortages also changed the way civilian goods were designed. In order to use less fabric, clothes became tighter and more versatile. Buildings were simpler and more efficient, while furniture became less elaborate and more functional.

After 1941, American life began to change in many important ways. Rural dwellers moved to the cities to work in factories. They included millions of women, ethnic minorities, and teenagers. These groups had never worked together before, so there was often tension between them. Wartime jobs paid well, so many Americans found themselves better off than ever before. Yet wartime shortages meant that Americans at home had very little on which to spend their money. Instead, they bought war bonds or saved in other ways. After the war, these savings fueled a period of consumerism more intense than any other in history.

Postwar consumerism was even stronger because of the shortages that had occurred earlier. In fashion, the war years forced designers to find ways of using every inch of cloth. The U.S. government put limits on the amount of fabric available for civilian clothes. Women's clothing was tailored and elegant, but dresses and suits in wartime were kept simple. Pockets, frills, and unnecessary buttons disappeared. To make up for a lack of adornments, women wore hats and high heels, and carried long, flat leather handbags. Shortages affected men's fashion even more dramatically. Suits were simple, two-piece garments, with squared-off shoulders. But because most producers of clothes for men were making military uniforms, it was almost impossible to buy a new suit after 1942. After the war ended, clothes became more luxurious. Men wore gray and brown suits with white shirts and slim ties. Fabrics were heavy and expensive. After work, American men relaxed in comfortable slacks, sweaters, and sportswear. For American women, a style called the New Look brought full skirts and soft, feminine curves to fashion.

After the war, manufacturers applied new skills and ideas to making goods for the civilian market. Cars were large, powerful, and streamlined. New materials, such as nylon, went into making carpets, furniture, and even ornaments. Everywhere, designs reflected the confidence of a wealthy nation building its new identity as a world leader. Glittering skyscrapers expressed the confident mood of corporate America, while sprawling new suburbs offered home ownership to the expanding middle class.

More than anything else, Americans wanted to put the war behind them and enjoy the benefits of victory. Many women stayed in the workforce when the war ended, but the emphasis was on home, family, and traditional values. The United States was the only nation that had fought in the war to see church attendance increase sharply when the fighting ended. Though prosperity brought new moral challenges, all the major U.S. religious groups gained strength in the 1940s. There was a huge increase in financial contributions, and church building expanded rapidly. The affluence of the 1950s resulted in large part from technological advances made during the war. But it was also a result of Americans' desire to rebuild a stable, more secure society for themselves and their children.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
the 1940s lifestyles and social trends: overviewthe united states did not enter world war ii (1939–45) until after the japanese attack on pearl harbor on december 7

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
the war had made an impact on american life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 1940s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 1940s Lifestyles and Social Trends: OverviewThe United States did not enter World War II (1939-45) until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But even before that, the war had made an impact on American life. Source for information on The 1940s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview: U*X*L American Decades dictionary.

# data[].attributes.body
Insight to the American Dream

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
After WWII, America stood back and gazed upon itself. There was a new revitalized American Dream after all the bloodshed, home front hard work, and thick-as-molasses patriotism. The American Dream of the 1930s had been focused on working hard, men provided for their families, and hope to rise above the Depression. By the 1940s, post-WWII, consumerism and first wave feminism started to play a role in the American Dream, and by the 1950s the American Dream had encompassed the ideas of futurism and opportunity.

In the beginning of the 1940s, America was in the midst of World War II. Men were being sent overseas and women were being sent to the factories. Women in the workplace became a big stepping stone of first wave of feminism in the United States. For some women, this was the opening of a new door in the American Dream. Instead of simply wanting a husband, a family, and a place to call home, they now had the opportunity to seek out employment, a new financial freedom. This would allow a woman with or without a husband to make her own money, to be a contributor to the daily allowance instead of just receiving. By the time the war was over, instead of running back to their homes, women began to take on more jobs in the workplace until they married or became pregnant.

During WWII supporting the troops became the everyday topic for America. American companies picked up on this and exploited it as much as possible. This consumerism began to take over America because now even the poor man could support the troops. Advertisements began coming out in droves with military men and women pictured, easy suggestions for the everyman, and slogans like "...for the troops" began creeping into everything. Not only were people on the home front working hard, but they were becoming more of a consumer society. They could buy the bread that would support the troops, they could buy a war bond, and they could hope that a war hero would come home and be in their lives.

As WWII ended and the men and women of war came home, the American Dream shifted slightly. Women still wanted to be in the workplace and companies increased their output of advertisements, but now the focus was on obtaining the "perfect American household". The perfect American household was a house in the suburbs, a steady job, being married, having a few kids, and keeping up with the Jones'. Despite the fear of the Reds being on American soil, a fear that would soon escalate, Americans were practicing their post-war resilience.

The early 1950s brought in two ideas that had come from the post-war resilience: opportunity and futurism. Music had dramatically changed with rock n' roll with Sam Phillips' musical phenomenon's from the south like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and others. Opportunity had hit musically, literature was taking a turn of its own with writer's like Tennessee Williams and Jack Kerouac, and film was entering a new age of glamour with Marilyn Monroe and Jimmy Stewart. Opportunity was beginning to surround American's at every turn and it was quickly becoming embedded into the brains of all the American youth. Parents could encourage their children to be anything they wanted to be and feel that it would actually happen.

Futurism came into play in the mid-1950s, almost in time with the space race which started pretty much in 1955 when the US and the USSR began working on launching objects into space. American's started becoming more aware of the future and what the future could entail. Unfortunately, instead of peacefully imagining a great future full of computers and flying cars like in the Jetsons (which wouldn't appear until 1962), the US entered the Cold War. This was partially due to losing the space race to the Russians who launched Sputnik in 1957 and partially due to the fact that with the hydrogen bomb being tested in 1952, there was the realization that Russia could develop and drop a bomb from space at any time. Still, futurism remained a popular idea among the American population by pushing every day technology forward with better washing machines, better refrigerators, new gadgets and gizmos for the home and office, and the introduction of basic computers in a commercial capacity. Futurism opened the doors for new concepts and ideas, and new designs of common objects.

The American Dream of the 1940s and 1950s was by no means simple. Hard work, family values, and hope still remained the backbone of the dream, but you can see how these two decades expanded upon the dream.

Readers, before I let you go, I have one question for you: Do we still have the American Dream in action today? I'm asking you simply because I ask myself this same question all the time.
Written by Jessie Desmond

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After WWII, America stood back and gazed upon itself. There was a new revitalized American Dream after all the bloodshed, home front hard work, and thick-as-molasses patriotism. The American Dream of the 1930s had been focused on working hard, men...

# data[].attributes.body
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller. Spark Publishing, 2014.

“Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 18 Mar. 1994, www.goodreads.com/book/show/12898.Death_of_a_Salesman.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Death of a Salesman.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 6 Nov. 2015, www.britannica.com/topic/Death-of-a-Salesman.

“The 1940s Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview.” U*X*L American Decades, Encyclopedia.com, 13 May 2020, www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/culture-magazines/1940s-lifestyles-and-social-trends-overview.

Guest Writer This article is written by a guest writer. Do you have an review. “The American Dream of the 1940s & 1950s.” Ultra Swank, www.ultraswank.net/kitsch/american-dream-1940s-1950s/.