The American Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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

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,

In the novella Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, the struggle to achieve the American Dream; sucess, happiness and ownership of land weaves into the life of Crooks, an African American, disabled character who labors in the rural Californian ranch environment of the 1930’s. Throughout the story, Crooks struggles with the constant physical pain from his back, and emotional pain from the prevailing racism of this time period that isolates him from others. Due to his disability and race, Crooks is lonely, isolated and depressed, making it nearly impossible for him to achieve his dream.

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.

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.

The most important dream in this novel is that of the two main characters Lennie and George. They

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.

The American Dream, while varying over the years, has provided a lot of comfort to struggling Americans. During the Great Depression, much of the workforce used the American Dream to stay optimistic when unemployment rates were high. In John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men, the American Dream is portrayed using characters, the obstacles they face trying to achieve it, and actions that are made throughout the book.

In the book Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck depicts the American dreams as a myth, not a reality. Steinbeck shows this through people not achieving their dreams. Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Candy are just three people who did not get their American dream in this book. Lennie is a towering man, but a child at heart. Lennie has a vision of what his dreams look like, and he loves when George tells him about it.

When we try to chase our dreams, we end up in our own diminutive lonely world. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, has taught readers that the American dream can only ever be accomplished through hard work and determination. More times than others, we are distracted by the dream itself, and don’t chase the reality, which can then lead to high expectations, and without hard determination, that can then failure. In the end, we have been lonely for so long, chasing a dream, that when reality hits us, we become isolated and lonely. For George and Lennie, they have each other, until the American dream seemed too hard to chase.

In John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, the theme of the American Dream’s destruction resonates throughout the novel within the 1930s Great Depression Era of the United States setting. The idea of the futility of the American Dream is put into heavy focus as the author explores the theme through the character Lennie Small and his contribution to the figurative fall of man’s ambitions. Steinbeck utilizes Lennie’s flaws to illustrate the ultimate flaws of the American Dream. The character is innocent yet destructive, two failings on which the premise of the American Dream is suggested to be built upon due to its fragile nature deriving from its unharmonious components. The novella focuses upon the construction and the development

In the novella Of Mice and Men there are many themes that are presented through the book. One of the major themes is the impossibility of the American Dream for some people with odds being stacked against them. Written by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, the American Dream is not the same for everyone; everybody has different views of the dream and what they can be. Throughout the story there are many instances where the idea is shown that the American Dream is destined to disappoint.

People take things for granted, believing that things couldn’t be worse for them, but if you honestly think life is bad now, imagine living in the 1930’s. It was an era of tragedy, fear, and distrust. The stock market had crashed, the dust bowl hit, and WWII was about to begin. Not only did living conditions change, but people as a whole did too. With the crash of the stock market, unemployment was at an all-time high, exceeding at 25%. It didn’t just hurt the working class, like farmers whose average price of their output fell by half, but also affected those of the middle class. People were in an out of jobs for weeks and even months, doing their best to make a living. (1) In many cases it separated people from their loved ones, resulting in desperation and

The American Dream is only applicable to those who are of practicality in society. There are many characters in the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck that would also qualify for the exclusion of the American Dream. For instance, the American Dream is an unrealistic expectation for that of a socially impaired person such as Lennie in the story. He is pushed to the edge of society due to his impairment, which also happens to dissociate Lennie from the American Dream. He is of no use to anyone in the society he originates from and is therefore discarded from his rights and accessibility to the American Dream by being shot in the back of the head because of his social impairments and his lack of cognitive ability.

In every person, there is a dream that they hang on to for dear life. Those dreams are an extensive part of life that motivates people and affect their behavior. After the stock market crash in 1929, the United States fell into the Great Depression, which lasted for 10 years. A year later, the Dust Bowl became a natural disaster that affected the Great Plains for about a decade. During the 1930s, a number of Americans lost their jobs, lost their homes, and in some cases, lost their families. Those tremendous losses affected the dreams of almost every American. This time of loss is when the novel, Of Mice and Men, takes place. The main characters, George Milton and Lennie Small, face the losses of their dreams. The author, John Steinbeck describes a central theme of the inevitable failure of the American Dream, which motivates each character throughout. The American Dream influences several of the main characters, primarily George and Lennie, and then later on Candy and Curley’s wife. Steinbeck, through these characters, explains the impossibility of the American Dream and the power of the American Dream, even if it is hopeless to achieve.