Evaluate how Troy lives the American dream in both its successes and failures.

I think that Troy can point to several instances where he
has "made" it according to the mythology of the American Dream. On one hand, Troy has
succeeded more than his father.  Part of the myth of the American Dream is the idea that
the children have to "do better" than the previous generations.  In this, Troy has
proven to be more of a success than his father.  Additionally, as seen in the second
Act, Troy is promoted in his job and enjoys a greater level of financial success than he
exhibited at the start of the drama.  In this, Troy has accomplished yet another element
of the successes of the American Dream.  If these were the only components to Troy's
being in the play, then he would be a successful representation as dictated by the ends
of the American Dream.  Yet, there is more to Troy and it is here where he can be seen
as a failure in achieving the American Dream.  Initially, Troy's domestic situation does
not conform to the rigid standards of "the American Dream."  Lyons is a son from a
previous association, Cory abandons his father, and the child born of Troy's mistress
all represent domestic elements whereby the American Dream's vision of private bliss is
absent.  Additionally, Troy does not conform to the supposed contentment and happiness
in the American Dream in how he is fundamentally riddled with fear and doubt about death
and what lies in the future.  It is here where Troy is not one that strides confidently
into the future, as per the stipulations of the American Dream, but rather one who is
trying to battle an adversary whose force and pull is far too great.  In this battle,
Troy naturally fails, and with it, fails to live out the emotional conditions of
happiness and contentment that are part of the American Dream
mythology.