Of Mice And Men American Dream Essay

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

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.

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.

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,

Because Lennie is confused he grabs her hair and tries to make her stop yelling. But because Lennie does not know how to control his own strength, he squeezes Curley’s wife’s neck too hard and crushes her spine. Lennie then flees the ranch because Curley wants to kill him for what he did to his wife. So Lennie is not brutally murdered by Curley, George finds Lennie and, because he cannot get him out of trouble, shoots Lennie. Lennie’s uncontrollable strength and ignorance destroyed his, George and Candy’s dream

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.

Furthermore, Candy and Curley’s wife respectively have a broken dream. When both Candy and Curley’s Wife realise they are not able to fulfil their dreams, their reactions are similar, they both deflect the responsibility onto others. When Candy is left alone with Curley’s wife in the barn, he angrily asks her why she had ruined his chances at a better life. His accusations are seen on page 94 “‘You God damn tramp,’ he said viciously. ‘You done it, di’n’t you?’” The diction used in statement clearly shows us that Candy in this moment has strong feelings of hatred towards Curley’s Wife and holds her solely responsible for the loss of his dream. Likewise Curley’s Wife holds her mother accountable for her dream and although she does not make it

Candy, the old swamper in the novel, had hopes for a better life as well. “Candy says, ‘You an' me can go there an' live nice, can't we, George? Can't we?"’(94). Candy has one arm and he is old and weak. When Candy heard that Lennie killed Curley’s wife, he knew that his dream might not come true. He constantly fears getting fired by his boss because of his disability and age. When Candy learned that George and Lennie dreamt of owning a farm, he saw hope. Candy wanted to join them if it was the last thing he did. Candy was all alone and his dream was all he had left. Although they had the same dream, they were going for different reasons. George and Lennie were going to live carefree, but Candy was going out of fear. Candy was willing to pitch in and spend some money that he had to buy the new farm. Candy panicked when he heard that Lennie was the one who killed Curley’s wife. He knew his dreams of going away with George and Lennie wouldn’t come true anymore. Even though Candy wanted to go with them out of fear, there is no reason for a dream. Candy never stopped trying to make her dream come true. He pushed even though there was no hope left. The death of Lennie killed his dream, but he didn’t stop trying until the last

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

The fact that Curley’s wife hates her life makes a huge contrast between her bad life and the possibilities associated with the American Dream. This contrast is shown in the line “Coulda’ been in the movies an’ had nice clothes.”(Steinbeck,89) Curley’s wife is presents the epitome of a person striving for the American Dream. She often says things like “I coulda made something of myself….maybe I will yet.”(Steinbeck,88) By Steinbeck using this character, he intended to show the difference between a “fake” yearning for the dream and a true whole-hearted desire for it. Curley’s wife would give anything to be successful in the future. This view is also seen by Kevin Attell who said “ To be sure, it is about dreaming of the future…”(Attell) The opinion from this critic show that this opinion or view is also seen by others who read this book.

Of Mice and Men is an American classic about the american dream. The main characters, Lennie and George, dream to have a ranch and own rabbits. Other characters want to join them such as, Crooks and Candy. This is the main theme, the impossibility of the American dream, is shown in these characters. The other theme shown in this book is loneliness of a migrant worker.

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.

John Steinbeck is an author who grew up in a farm during the Great Depression. During this time many people wanted their money from the bank but the bank didn’t have it. There were many people left without jobs and starving. Nothing in our country had value, only food did. Steinbeck writes a novel, Of Mice and Men that focuses on two men that are migrant farm workers in the Salinas River Valley during the Great Depression. This book is based on a true story of his life. In his novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the symbolism of George, Candy, and Curley’s wife to contribute to the overall theme of Failure of the American Dream.