@PHDTHESIS{ 2022:988550575,
 	title = {Between hopes and delusions : the american dream and the tragic in of mice and men, death of a salesman, and 'night, mother},
 	year = {2022},
 	url = "https://tede2.pucrs.br/tede2/handle/tede/10229",
 	abstract = "The American Dream has been a theme widely explored in US literature. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (1937), Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949), and Marsha Norman’s ‘night, Mother (1982), the playwrights depict the vicissitudes of characters who strive to achieve their versions of the Dream. Although numerous studies in recent decades have been done on the portrayal of the theme in those works, there has been relatively little investigation into the relationship between the American Dream and the theory of the tragic in those plays. Considering this, the aim of this PhD dissertation is to examine the influence of the American Dream and the tragic on Of Mice and Men, Death of a Salesman, and ‘night, Mother. More specifically, this research was designed to determine to what extent and in what ways the American Dream central tropes would contribute to influence characters’ behavior and be responsible for their tragic flaw. It was hypothesized that the values embedded in the Dream set the tragic into motion in the literary productions. It was also hypothesized that the concept of “tragic American illusion” springs out of the movement of entwining the controversies over the American Dream and tragic features. The main theoretical framework comes from the studies of Peter Szondi (2002), Gerd Bornheim (2007), Sandra Luna (2008; 2012), and Albin Lesky (2015). The findings of this research point out that the American Dream values play a crucial role in determining the way the characters think and behave. Furthermore, the results suggest that the process of reification of social relations, the clash between great expectations and the harsh reality of characters’ surroundings, along with a desperate attempt to fit into a materialistic and highly competitive American society cause them to be continually tortured or destroyed throughout the plays. Finally, the study also highlights that the interplay between the dichotomies of the Dream and the tragic constitute the concept of “tragic American illusion”, that is, those literary productions which explore the promises of the American ideology at odds with the vicissitudes of characters that cling to trying to achieve unattainable dreams.",
 	publisher = {Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul},
 	scholl = {Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras},
 	note = {Escola de Humanidades}
}