There is a great difference between doing what we want and doing what God wants. Whether which side we base our actions upon, there’s a chance we may not please the other side. If so, what problems will arise if Christian and American dream values differ? If we point of the differences between each belief, we are able to see how much they interfere with each other. In the American dream, working hard is a key point to success, and one’s actions are based on what they believe will benefit them, despite it being morally right or wrong. This belief is touched upon in the stories, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Mammon and the Archer by O. Henry. In a Christian’s eyes, they reflect their actions upon what God sees as morally right, regardless …show more content…
George, knowing that he couldn’t get the job if they found out about Lennie’s condition, hides the fact that Lennie was mentally handicapped and that they were wanted in another town. Although it would be morally right to tell others the truth, George refrains from doing this, as it would cause an obstacle to achieving his dream. The American Dream encourages us to do what makes us happy and content, whereas in Christianity, we are taught to do what will honor God and serve humanity. In the Bible, we are taught to have integrity like Samuel. He admits that he is a sinner and that he should be corrected for his wrongdoings in his speech. “Here I am. Bring a charge against me before the Lord and before his chosen king. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these, I will make it right.” (1 Samuel 12:3) Samuel’s display of honesty makes others to respect him. Being a king, he would have treated everyone else as if he were superior to him, but instead he decides to be humble and confess his sins. Because of his confession, people are able to gain trust in him as he rules as a king. As God taught us, we must repent for our sins. By doing what one believes as right doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s right
If there was a favorable circumstance under which one could endeavour all their hopes and visions, wouldn’t one pursue it? The American Dream was introduced as an interpretation to cause the people of America in the early twentieth century to work tougher. The American Dream is the opportunity to reach the goals one sets for themselves. It is about having your dream job and life one has always fantasized about. The dream is also about having freedom and equality. In the novel, “Of Mice & Men”, John Steinbeck uses symbols and motifs such as the vicious slaughtering of virtuous animals, Crooks’ rubbish bunkhouse and Lennie and George’s deception of an ideal farm to exhibit the perception that materialistic success results in happiness is a major flaw in our thinking about the American dream, and it is this thinking which makes the dream unattainable for many.
Propaganda filters throughout the world to lean people’s views one way or another. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, he uses George and Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife to demonstrate the American Dream. This is unattainable but is their motivation to carry on their daily on the ranch lives. George and Lennie’s actions revolve around their American Dream. In a conversation between George and Lennie they discuss their dream, George states “... We’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres, an’ a cow and some pigs” (Steinbeck, 14). George says this to Lennie to motivate him to keep quiet and out of trouble so they can eventually reach these dreams. The American Dream can be defined as people
A twenty-five percent unemployment rate. People desperate for lodging and food. Families stretching every penny to support themselves. Government trying to solve these problems through reforms and programs. This is what the world in the 1930s was like for Lennie and George, two migrant workers traveling across California, earnestly trying to achieve the American Dream. Even though these dreams seem impossible to accomplish, during the Great Depression a dream was a reason to get out of bed.
People living during the great depression had dreams but on seemed to be the most popular but with their own twist to their dream. The American dream is in the Declaration of Independence stating “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. This dream is called the American Dream. The American dream is a set of standards in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success that can be achieved through hard work and determination. Steinbeck uses the American dream to give each character a goal to work toward to. Each character had their own American Dream. Owning some land so you could live independently, to tend the rabbits or to be playing cards with the other guys.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, it is portrayed in several ways that is impossible to achieve one's dreams due to disabilities, circumstances, and even by the color of one’s skin. In the novel, almost every character Steinbeck writes about has a dream but has no possible chance of living out that dream. Not according to Steinbeck, the american dream is and should be equally achievable for everyone who’s willing to put forth the effort and hardship to make their dreams happen, but Steinbeck shows us differently. Steinbeck shows us that no matter how hard you work, something will always get in the way and shut down the possibility of obtaining the dream. So in other words, no, the american dream is not achievable for everyone in Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”
As America was formed, so was the American Dream. People from all over migrated to America in search of this dream. In the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, many different characters have a glimpse of the American Dream. However, as in real life, these dreams do not always come true. Steinbeck illustrates the improbable chance of the American Dream coming true through the hopelessness of the characters’ conversations.
For years upon years, we have heard the concept of an “American Dream” repeatedly. In school, at home, and there’s probably several who have mused about it on their own during their time by themselves. It seems that, also, several have concluded that the Dream is dead: gone, disappeared, poof into thin air. Some argue that it’s nothing but a pack of lies our predecessors were fed to believe that perhaps America had a better future lingering just around the corner, or that it’s changed much from what it was ‘back in the day’. The American Dream has remained unchanged since the Great Depression, but the nation we are today may slowly be killing it. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the Dream is to have that equal opportunity for success, the same as in Bobby Jindal’s and Ellen Powell’s articles, but it seems that inequality may be killing the American Dream.
In the the text Harlemworld the author John L. Jackson visits Harlem in this visit Jackson began to demonstrate how the race or class interact. The author says “Harlem is often understood as a decidedly black space, as the home of African American cultural ferment and particularity, the "capital of Black America." (pg 18) then to my understanding, Harlem is portrayed as a norm for African Americans. Harlem can be an example of socialization because in the area there is a norm that everyone should act a certain way because they are from Harlem. Jackson says “To call Harlem black, to understand it as such, is to join in popular presuppositions of that selfsame blackness as an ontological solution to vexing questions of race-based social interest.”
In Of Mice and Men, there were lots of examples, of the american dream being unachieveable. The best example, of the American Dream not being achieved, is George and Lennie not getting to own their own farm. It was a dream, that they both shared. There were numerous times, where George and Lennie had talked about getting the farm. As time went on, more people were wanting to be a part of that dream. Instead of having to work for a longer time, they were going to quit working at the end of the month. They would then buy the land, with Candy’s money. When Lennie ended up killing Curley’s wife, George knew that his dream wasn’t going to happen. He may have known all along, that it wasn’t even going to happen. Steinbeck showed us, that people have a big plan for their life, but it doesn’t always end up how they would like it to. “ I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her,” (Steinbeck 94).
John Stienbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” is about the death of the American dream. George, Lennie and Candy’s dream is to own their own piece of land to work and live independently on. This dream is destroyed by Lennie’s ignorance and Lennie’s strength, which he cannot control. Curley’s wife’s dream is to be a famous Hollywood actress. Her dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who promised to contact her about her acting career but never has. Crook’s dream is for equality. Racism and the attitudes of others destroy this dream.
Many of famous figures in our society’s past have spoken their minds about the American Dream, for each and every one of those minds, are a different response. J. G. Ballard once spoke of his American Dream, “The American Dream had run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It’s over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now: the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Vietnam.” The outlook on this dream has changed over the years it has existed, most societies nowadays look onto this as a “curse” or something worse. This dream now is speculated as hurting our home, America. As Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men, the grave story of the American Dream was revealed by main characters, George, Lennie, and Candy. These main characters give us an inside look into what they think the American Dream is.
Do dreams come true if you work effortful for it? If you said yes think again because Steinbeck’s theme of the ‘American Dream’ in Of Mice and Men displays the real truth. Immigrants and Americans alike assume in American that if you work hard enough you will be rewarded. If you’re lucky then you might get the dream, on the other hand not so much for others. Almost every character has a dream or wish they yearn, but never achieved it for various of obstacles in their path. In other words: George, Lennie, and Curley’s wife form perfect examples of the ‘American Dream’.
What is the American Dream? Back then, the American Dream is to have a piece of land. That land would make life “better and richer and fuller for everyone”. Like George and Lennie, their dream was to get a piece of land. Now, people have many interpretations on what the American Dream is. In the article, The American Dream: What is The American Dream?, it says that some think that it is all about being able to have higher wages and have “motor cars”. Others think that living their life to the fullest and want to be recognized by others for their talents is the American Dream. Of Mice and Men depicts the American Dream perfectly.
Quote #1: "I remember about the rabbits, George.""The hell with the rabbits. That’s all you can ever remember is them rabbits." (1.18-19)
The American Dream is a concept that one may use as a crutch: a reason to hold on to hope. The American Dream is a goal one sets for themselves, a destination point for their journey through life. The novel Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck is filled with the idea of the American Dream. However, Steinbeck has a controversial and differing message about dreams than one would normally think. John Steinbeck’s comment on the American Dream is that most dreams are unachievable. People aren’t meant to live out their dreams.