Of Mice and Men Essay

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.

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.

Lennie and George end up employed on a ranch and begin to realize that every man is for himself and that nobody is truly happy. They come to know a character referenced throughout the entire book as “Curley’s wife”. Being the sole female on the ranch, she is often referred to in derogatory terms because of her flirtatious personality (Steinbeck 28). She approaches the other men and “stirs up trouble” (77) which in the end leads to Lennie’s death. Being the wife of an arrogant and egocentric man, Curley’s wife tries to cure her loneliness by finding solace in other men. Knowing her future is bleak, Curley’s wife risks the dangers of the other men’s lives by trying to find someone like her. She lures Lennie into her world, telling him about how lonely she is and the future she could’ve had as an actress (86). Her solitary life drives her to put Lennie in danger and ultimately end her and his life. Curley’s wife and another one of the ranch hands talk about how “maybe people are just afraid of each other” (35). The fear of missing out (FOMO) drives people to make irrational decisions when feeling lonely which happened to both Daisy and Curley’s wife..

George and Lennie’s dream might have never been obtainable due to Lennie’s undiagnosed mental problem along with the depression. To achieve the American dream is to be fully independent and own land. The first setback was the difficult and long task of not only finding, but keeping a job. This proved to be almost impossible for the pair due to Lennie’s track record. George stated, “Well he seen this girl in a red dress. Dumb bastard like he is, he wants to touch ever’thing he likes. Jus’ wants to feel it. So he reaches out to feel this red dress an’ the girl lets out a squawk , and the only thing he can think to do...and I heard all the yellin’, so I comes runnin’, an’ by that time Lennie’s so scared all he can think to do is jus’ hold on.” (Steinbeck) That was a setback in George and Lennie’s plan to achieve their dream. The duo made their way to the ranch with the work cards to find a job to

In response Crooks says he says "I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn on of 'em ever gets it." (Steinbeck, Chapter 4). This quote signifies that George and Lennie have the same dream as everyone else and none of them ever get it and just like the rest George and Lennie are not going to get

In contrast, Steinbeck gave George a dream that he truly wanted for his and Lennie's own good, though he could not have due to the many boundaries in his way. George was a generally placid character, and knowing he was limited only to himself to rely on, he regarded the dream as a mere story. George was dubious of the idea until Candy offered his help that George illustrated the true hope he had of living off the “fatta the land”(Steinbeck, 60). Although in comparison to Gatsby, George’s ideas were much more realistic, at that moment he seemed to forget the burden encumbering him; Lennie’s troublesome behavior was arguably the only imposition as to why George could not have the freedom he longed for. Crooks spoke to Lennie of the many men who had the same picture of land in their minds. “‘...an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it…’”(74, Steinbeck). The unlikelihood of George getting a beautiful piece of land to himself was high on its own, let alone with Lennie at his side. George allowed the idea of having money offset his true values, thus allowing himself to forget his responsibility, as well as his role to take care of Lennie.

In today’s society people tend to be open about differences and respond to them understandingly. In the 2014 Special Olympic USA games Kim Chandler who is a thirty-eight-year-old olympic swimmer with down syndrome and uses her unique athletic skills to teach able children to swim. Kim is a brilliant example of how society has changed positively. What is so inspiring about Kim teaching children to swim is the way people accept her and include her in our own lives. We accept people with disabilities like Kim because society today accepts differences and believes we need them to make the world a unique place to live. Although, not everyone was accepting of disabilities in the earlier times. If Kim was living in the 1930’s when she wanted to help children swim she would not be able to, she also would not be able to swim because there would be no Special Olympics. In the 1930’s Society was unaccepting to differences; they didn’t want to believe that differences are relevant.

The American dream is a perfect life that everyone has thought of and works for. This dream is equivalent to a goal, in that it is a force that can push the human spirit to its best. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck demonstrates how the concept of a dream can empower an individual, but how the result can break an individual. Curley’s wife, Crooks, Lennie, and George all juxtapose the idea where a dream pushes someone to their fullest potential. The neverending battle that fate and human spirit engage in is found throughout the major and minor conflicts of this novella thus creating a reoccuring theme of inevitability and chance that structure the story.

The American Dream is the idea of the United States having an endless opportunity for anyone, regardless of their past, race, beliefs, and their economic life now. In the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, each character was driven to something that they enjoyed or wanted; something they had to work hard for and strive to have it. In the book, many of these objectives were connected to achieve The American Dream. Lennie and George's American Dream is to pursue their ideal life by owning their own ranch, Candy’s dream is to help Lennie and George buy their ranch and become apart of their little group, and Curley’s wife was dedicated to become an actress and live the “big life” in Hollywood. In conclusion, Lennie and George

In conclusion, The American Dream left George lonely like he has never been with Lennie. Together, the two could have had anything, determination got in the way of that. Like mice, human kind has a tendency to chase after what is right in front of them, because it’s simply easier. Once the dream dust has settled, and we can see the truth, I think readers now know whether they want to continue working hard towards their dream, or start living in

The hope that this dream gives is most relevant in the character of Lennie. Lennie is mentally retarded, and is not capable of taking care of himself. George has take care of Lennie, and mostly keep him from getting the two in trouble. George uses this “American dream” the two have to put a sort of false hope in Lennie that life the two have will get better. Now even George at one point in the novel realizes this dream will not come true for the two men, but he does not want to let Lennie realize George’s lost hope.

The impossibility of the American Dream has been displayed in novels and in movies for decades. In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie believe they are going to have a farm and thrive off of it. “‘... Someday- 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 and-" "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted. "An' have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that, George."..."We'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof…’” (Steinbeck 14-15). Lennie held onto this idea that he was going to tend to the rabbits. It was his dream. Unfortunately, towards

Motifs, which are repeated in the novel, are loneliness, friendship, strength and weakness. Men like George who migrate from farm to farm are often alone. As the story develops, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife all confess their deep loneliness. Each of these characters searches for a friend, someone to help them measure the world, as Crooks says. For George, the hope of such friendship dies with Lennie.

It was 1931, six years after the publication of The Great Gatsby, when historian James Truslow Adams coined the term The American Dream (“The Epic of America”, 415). Yet, his was a new take on an old concept. F. Scott Fitzgerald did not have to wait for Adams to brilliantly propose that the ideal of social equality and the pursuit of Happiness is a dream like enterprise, which has little to do with reality (US 1776). In the 1920’s, reality was solid proof that the “pursuit of Happiness” remained complicated business. Deemed age of confusion, this is a time of upheaval. In the wake of massive industrialization and WWI, the old order crumbles, leaving a void. Rules and

The American Dream has been the subject of countless American novels since it first was concepted. Though the specifics have evolved over time, and it is unique to each person, the general idea has stayed the same: become rich, retire early, own a large home and high- quality items. In the book, An American Tragedy, main character Clyde Griffiths is one of many who pine for the American dream, wanting “ . . . the fine clothes, the handsome homes, the watches, rings, pins that someboys sported . . . ” (Dreiser 19) and a high class social status- not to mention the benefits that coincide with being high class.. However, regardless of how much Griffiths dreamed his dream, he was never to achieve it. Throughout An American Tragedy, the sentiment that Clyde Griffiths was not meant to live the American Dream echoed numerous times in how he was raised, the era in which the novel is set, and the unique personality which clearly defined his character.