Similarities Between Of Mice And Men By John Steinback

    Curley’s wife was known as a tart and was avoided by the men on the ranch. At first the reader could assume her dream was to be noticed and talked to but her dream was to ‘be in the pictures’. A professional man had promised to make her famous and she waited for a letter that ensured this. She never received the letter and that’s where the decline of her dreams happened. Shortly after, her dreams started failing she married Curley who controlled her.

The American Dream started off as propaganda in order to make the American people of the early twentieth century work harder to build a successful economy. The idea of the American Dream is that every American citizen has an equal opportunity of making money along with owning a large house, some land, and having a family with kids. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates that the American Dream, no matter how simple is impossible to achieve. As everyone has their own interpretation of the American Dream, Steinbeck uses George and Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife to demonstrate how the American Dream is impossible to achieve and how important the dream was for people so they could carry on with their lives.

She hoped to be on the big screen with adoring fans giving her all their attention. Sadly, she didn’t follow her dreams because of her parents. Her mother and father thought being in movies wasn't a real or suitable job. Curley’s Wife chose to obey her parents, though she was resentful of it. To escape her parents smothering rules, she married Curley. However, she wasn’t actually in love with Curley. Curley’s Wife was so desperate to leave her parents that she chose to stay with a man she didn’t truly like. However, this didn’t bring Curley’s wife much closer to her dreams because Curley isolated her and deprived her of attention. Because of her social deprivation due to the possessiveness of her husband, Curley’s Wife seeks attention by flirting with all the other men on the ranch, because all she’s ever wanted was the attention and to be adored. Finally, Curley’s Wife is killed by Lennie. This, again, symbolizes that when one dies, their dream

It is the natural inclination of all men and women to dream. In John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men,” the American dream is sought after by many different characters. However, the main theme in the story is how these dreams are unattainable, and how because of the Great Depression, all American dreams were dead. But what is the American dream? A unitary definition does not exist, however, the meaning of living the American dream is something that differs for everyone. For some people, the American dream might be acceptance and equality. On the other hand, for others, it might mean fame and fortune. In the short story called “Of Mice and Men” the American dream seems unreachable for a number of characters, such as George, Lennie,

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.

Everyone has dreams, big and small. When one dreams, there is a scent of whimsical hope in the air mixed with the powerful drive for success to obtain their luminous goals. But, many times these luscious dreams end up in grief and pain instead of a promised joy due to the hurdles in life, such as the certain circumstances that society professes or the flaws in a person that restrains them from their aspirations. The writer, John Steinbeck, incorporates this ideology in his novella, Of Mice and Men by creating three pivotal characters. Lennie, Crooks, and George all have schemes that go wrong, and yet hope to illustrate their desires of fulfilling their American Dream and to be prosperous for their own independent purposes.

Crooks was a colored man which made him set apart from the others at the ranch. Crooks came off as character who was ornery, and wanted to spend his time alone. But as we learn more about him we begin to realize that as much as he makes it seem like he wants to be alone he really doesn’t want to and this quote shows that. “ ‘Long as you won’t get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down.” (pg.69) Crooks was in some ways similar to Whit because Whit was someone who for a while Lennie and George didn’t even know about until Candy told them that he quit and he didn’t even for sure know why he was quitting, just assumed it was the food. It shows that some of the men at the ranch are kind of just left on their own and the other guys don’t really care to involve themselves in the other guy’s lives. So Crooks dream was to not be lonely that is why he finally agreed and casually says that he would come along so they would have an extra set of helping hands. Crooks says “ I aint so crippled I can’t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.”(pg.76) This just goes to show that even if someone doesn’t say their exact thoughts that there aren’t more intentions behind

"The American Dream is that any man or woman, despite of his or her background, can change their circumstances and rise as high as they are willing to work” (Fabrizio Moreira). For many years, men and women struggled to achieve the idealistic life of living on independent terms. Many characters in Of Mice and Men work in order to pursue and achieve the American Dream that consisted of having their own house and income. Characters in the book may use that dream to help the overcome their life struggles and personal problems. Of Mice and Men tells the story of two friends, George and Lennie, who find themselves on a ranch in pursuit of their dreams. Unfortunately for them, circumstances beyond their control cost Lennie and George their dream and much more. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck portrays how dreams create a false sense of hope in order to cover up the realities of life through George, Curley’s wife, and Candy.

John Steinback’s Of Mice and Men is a book that describes the chase of the American Dream. Although achieving the American Dream is a great desire for all, seldom does it actually come true. George and Lennie, the two main characters in the book, have a goal of pursuing their version of the American Dream, as do many other characters. However, due to relationships and other conflicts, that dream is not achieved.

Working hard is the key to success. This struggle for success is most commonly called the “American Dream.” The aspect of the American Dream has been around forever and is often the underlying theme in many pieces of American literature. The theme of the American is especially presented in Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Two Kinds writer by Amy Tan, and in “Sophistication” by Sherwood Anderson.

“… He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was natural” (Steinbeck 88). That quote explains Curley’s wife’s’ dream of

Additionally, Crooks has the same dream although his is broken as quickly as it becomes real. When he finds out about Lennie, George, and Candy’s plan of buying land, it excites him and he wants to be in on it. However, he changes his mind when Curley’s wife yells at him because of his race. He says, "I didn't mean it. Jus' foolin'.

Steinbeck lastly proves the elusiveness of the American dream through the setting. It seems that almost all the places in Of Mice and Men a dream is shattered. This can be seen when Curley’s wife threatens to hang Crooks in the harness room: “‘Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny’” (Steinbeck 81). When Curley’s wife threatens Crooks, he becomes too scared to follow his dream. The harness room is Crooks personal room where he sleeps, yet his dream still dies there. Another example of the American dream not coming true is when Lennie is in the barn with Curley’s wife. While she is trying to impress Lennie and let him touch her soft hair, Lennie gets to rough: “Lennie was

The novel ‘Of mice and Men’ was written in 1937 and is set in America; the period of the Great Depression. During this time the Wall Street banks and business crashed leaving not only the economy in a fragile state, but the people too. This forced thousands of people to leave their homes and work amongst strangers at any work place they could find, be it hundreds of miles away. Being it the time of the great Depression, people needed something to look forward and head towards as it gave them a purpose; a reason to work hard, they named this ‘The American Dream’. This book illustrates how the dreams of different kinds of people are impossible to reach because of the forthcoming obstacles which keep heading their way, this tells the readers how

Curley, the boss’ son, symbolizes the oppressive system. He many times acts irrationally and wants to demonstrate his power by showing his physical strength – although minimal. This character could be sometimes considered as stupid as Lennie, but the difference is that he is the son of the ranch’s owner, and knows the difference between evil and good, and that means he is conscious of his wrong doings. Opposite to Curley, there are characters as George, Curley’s wife, Crooks and Candy that are victims of the system, but, at the same time, dream about changing their lives to a better condition, even though the oppressive system hinders them to fulfill their dream. George dreams about owning a land, Curley’s wife desires to be a movie star but renounces it by marrying Curley. Crooks wants to have his own mules and also hoeing a patch of garden on Lennie’s farm one day. Candy gets excited about George’s idea to have a piece of land and wants to take part in it. All of these dreams represent for these characters the possibility of real happiness, but the realization of these fantasies is not tangible for them. These dreams are an allegory of the impossibility of reaching the American Dream.