The American Dream in Death of a Salesman

Which version of the American Dream do we pursue today? Biff's or Willy's?

After watching most of the movie and reading the play, I was able to recognize how Arthur Miller portrays two main ideas of the American Dream. First of all, "the term 'American dream' is used in many ways, but it essentially is an idea that suggests that anyone in the US can succeed through hard work and has the potential to lead a happy, successful life" (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-american-dream.htm). Both of the ideas of the American Dream seen on the play deal with success and the character's idea of what is success.
The two major ideas of the American Dream are different and eventually become conflicting with each other.

First, we have Willy's version of the American Dream. It is being well-liked, popular, and basically, leaving a thumbprint in the world. Willy has a materialistic concept of the American Dream and thinks that success comes if one is well-liked and has mere luck, not if one is a hard-worker or a risk-taker. In fact, there is a scene where Willy tells Linda that the reason he did not sell anything was because he was fat (in the movie it is because he is short). Clearly, we can see that Willy is judging his sales success based on his looks and popularity. Besides, in Act I, he tells Biff that "the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want". Also, Willy judges success by how many people come to his funeral; the more people that come, the more successful you are.

In the other hand, Biff's version of the American Dream is to free himself from his father expectations of being a 'successful' salesman and going to the outdoors, working with his hands. He dreams of owning his own ranch. He says that "there is nothing more beautiful or inspiring than the sight of a mare and a new colt", meaning that there is nothing more beautiful than working with animals in the nature with his own hands. It is important to know, though, that Biff's version of the American Dream evolved during his adult life, because when he was a child, he wanted to please his father. When he saw that his father cheated on his mom, he began to move away from his father's version of the American Dream. With this in mind, Biff's version of the American Dream conflicts with his father's version of the American Dream since his father wants Biff to be a traveling salesman. He wants Biff to be successful, and for Willy, successful is being well-liked and wealthy. Because of the influence of his father's view of the American Dream, Biff returns home thinking that he was wasting his life and that if he continues to work in nature, he will never go anywhere.
At the end of the play, Biff realizes that Willy had the wrong dream. He realizes that his father wasted his life chasing a false dream and eventually becomes a disappointment.

Now, when looking at modern society, I believe that we pursue both Willy's and Biff's version of the American Dream. There are many people in the world, and each individual has his own vision of the American Dream, so definitely, there will be people who pursue Biff's view of the American Dream of being free and connected to the outdoors, and other people will pursue Willy's vision of the American Dream, which is being rich and well-liked and leaving a thumbprint on the world.
I think that the majority of people want to pursue a combination of Willy's and Biff's vision American Dream--maybe leading more towards Willy's version of the American Dream. The truth is that people want to be well-liked, most people want to be popular and have money. Honestly, I want to be well-liked and rich as well. However, Willy takes it to the extreme situation since he dies searching for the American Dream, and I do not want to end like Willy at all. I want to be free and happy as well. In fact, my American Dream would be to be happy, but I don't think I could be entirely happy without money. Taking this into consideration, I pursue a mix of Willy's and Biff's version of the American Dream, and even there might be some exceptions, I think that the majority of people pursue this  mixed view of the American Dream as well.