Essay about 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,

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.

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.

dream but the dreams of many men at that time for a piece of land of

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.

Of Mice and Men, a story written by John Steinbeck, tells the story of two friends and their journey through California, looking for a stable job in order to accomplish their shared dream. George and Lennie, the main characters of the book don't get to realize their dream but instead just lives in their thoughts throughout the book. The characters in the book represent the American Dream in different ways through their actions and what they say. George and Lennie show how they have high hopes for their dream but fall short of accomplishing it like the other minor characters.

In the difficult times of the Great Depression, people envision a greater life ahead of them and try to achieve their goal through perseverance and belief. George Milton, in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, experience the hardships of the Great Depression that most Americans also felt at the time: isolation, a tough life, and a grim reality. Working on ranches that are mind-numbingly drab, George finds ways to escape from the life that he lives to a better one. Living in a time where men are soulless and cold, George travels with another man; he exhibits his need for others, to believe in the “American Dream,” and to illustrate the value of innocence.

Of Mice and Men takes place during the height of the Great Depression near Soledad, California which is filled with small family-owned ranch farms, where the two main characters George Milton and Lennie Small search for jobs to eventually be able to buy their own ranch. Of Mice and Men’s purpose is to teach young adults what it means to be human and how to overcome major obstacles that will arise in their life. Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck, who lived during the Great Depression so that gives him a great deal of context from his childhood observations of the poor migrant workers searching out a menial living by traveling from one ranch to another looking for work. During the Great Depression, menial work was scarce due to the amount of people without jobs that were in need of one. So often workers would have to travel around to many other ranches to find a job, and when they did find one, it was not stable for very long. The ones that truly saw the American Dream and diligently pursued whatever their dream was, were the ones who were willing to pick up everything and move as far as they needed to, in order to have a shot at attaining their dream. The American Dream is portrayed all throughout Of Mice and Men through character motivation to do better than the next guy, to become successful, or to just make ends meet.

The Great Depression of the nineteen thirties marks a time of great social and economic upheaval for the United States as global trade dropped by sixty percent and a quarter of American workers were left unemployed. In reaction to the Depression, there was a societal shift in focus from the decadence and excess of the nineteen twenties to the reality of pervasive everyday hardship that people were experiencing. In particular, one of the greatest changes came in literature. Authors began writing with increasingly down to earth mindsets and realistic point of views. Predictably, books became centered on topics such as the cruelty that existed in the world, personal ambitions, and the life lessons that ensued. An award-winning and notable author of this time, John Steinbeck, grappled with many of these Depression Era themes. One of his most famous and highly praised works, Of Mice and Men, is an extremely powerful, yet compellingly short novel. Stressing many broad themes about life, Steinbeck’s novel touches on social acceptance, economic exploitation, and most importantly the impossibility of the “American dream” or ideal lifestyle as it incorporates many unwritten truths that expose barriers to success.

According to President Woodrow Wilson, “Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.” In Of Mice and Men, George Milton and Lennie Smalls learn what it actually means to be loyal through their quest to achieve the American Dream. In the story, two migrant workers known by George and Lennie strive to get their own farm, by working on various ranches. On one particular ranch, George and Slim, a strong and thoughtful leader, quickly become friends and talk about why George and Lennie left their old ranch. George also meets Candy, an old swamper, and Candy offers to join their quest to obtain their own farm. Candy is able to contribute a significant sum of money, making the dream finally a reality. Soon after, Curley's reckless attitude and Curley's wife's flirtatious personality sparks a skirmish between Lennie and Curley, where Lennie crushes Curley’s hand. While Curley is getting treatment for his hand, Lennie and Candy converse with Crooks, an African American stable buck. The next day, while the rest of the workers are playing horseshoes, Lennie and Curley’s wife talk in the barn. Curley’s wife invites Lennie to touch her hair, which results in Lennie shaking her too hard and snapping her neck. Lennie flees from the scene and hides in a brush next to the river. Candy finds Curley’s wife’s body, and the men create a search party to kill Lennie. George parts from the group and finds Lennie hiding. While George comforts Lennie

Imagine a world where everything is ideal. Troubles are scarce and the universe is always aligned with you. You have achieved absolutely everything through your hard work. In the times of the Great Depression, this was the definition of the ‘American Dream’. In the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, many characters try to achieve their dreams, but their dreams are usually impossible.

Crooks explains to Lennie that, “Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’”(Steinbeck 74). Crooks, the African-American stable buck, explains the hundreds of men that have came and gone, all with the same land fantasy stuck in their head. In John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, many characters fight during a time of economic depression in the 1930s to fulfill their many dreams, in lonely Soledad, California. Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902. He attended Stanford University, dropping out before graduating, and attempted to begin his writing career in New York. Later, he became successful in California where he published books about the large economic problem occurring in the United States. John Steinbeck displayed the adversity many faced during The Great Depression with two characters, George and Lennie, who traveled together as migrant ranch hands looking for jobs in his 1937 novella, Of Mice and Men. The two discover Tyler Ranch, which provides an adequate job for the unlikely pair. This new job leads the two men to experience many tragic events during this depressing time period, which curses the men's dreams and the many other dreams held in the minds of the other labourers. In Of Mice and Men, the “American Dream” proves difficult to achieve due to the inhospitable world the characters live in.

John Steinbeck is the author of the book Of Mice and Men. He grew up during the era of the Great Depression which started in 1929 ended with the beginning of World War II. The stock market crashed and everyone panicked and tried to withdraw all their money at once but there was not enough and everyone was broke. Nothing had value anymore. Steinbeck lived and grew up in the Salinas River valley which is where all his novels including Of Mice and Men take place. The Salinas River Valley is in California. Of Mice and Men is a book about two men who travel together named Lennie Smalls and George Milton who are living the American dream. The work hard going from job to job trying to save money to buy their dream farm that they have always talked about. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses George, Candy, and Curley's wife to show the failure of the American dream.

The American Dream is something that every American has and it differs for every person. However, this dream is not always possible to reach or even plausible. In Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men, we have seen that the impossibility of the American Dream is a recurring theme. This is evident with Lennie, George, Candy and Crooks. Lennie, George and Candy all had a common goal, to own their own piece of land and perhaps even have a few farm animals of their own. However, many circumstances occur throughout the novel that prevent them from reaching their goal. Crooks is the only one in the novel that has already accepted that the idea of the American Dream is an impossibility and that nobody ever reaches their goals.