My capstone will be exploring the ideas of identity using W.E.B. Du Bois and his double consciousness theory as seen through Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. In the United States members of the middle class and lower class of our nation are taught to view themselves and others in their plight with a critical eye. We celebrate those that pull themselves up by their own boot straps and condemn those that fail. The media message is that in order to be successful you must have material wealth to show for it. The American Dream tells us if we work hard in this meritocracy we will be rewarded for it. However the United States has 46.2 million people (15% of the population) are living below the poverty line in 2013 and 106 million (34% of the population) people living at twice the poverty level. I believe that the continued use of this idea of the American Dream prevents the United States as a society to establish true equality
