Comparing Harlem Dream Deferred By John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Ma bought “Meat," he said. "Potatoes, bread, coffee. One dollar, even… "They're a-workin' out there. You let me have some sugar an' I'll bring the slip in later." … "I can't do it, ma'am.

The American Dream is For Fools “We know what we got, and we don't care whether you know it or not” (79). The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about a group of men who are constantly aspiring for the American Dream. Since they are just ranchers, making hardly any money, it is obvious that this wish will never be able to come true for them.

The delusion of the American dream is a major theme explored throughout the novella, ‘Of Mice and Men’, written by John Steinbeck in 1938. In the novel, the American Dream is a belief that nearly every character has which embodies everything great in life. It means hope that happiness and security are truly possible. George and Lennie have a dream to one day have their own land. Curley’s wife has a dream of being an actress and Crooks wishes he could be treated as an equal.

Since 1931 when James Truslow Adams first created the phrase “the American Dream”, people believed that America continuously offered everyone an equal opportunity to be successful. John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, was set during the Great Depression. Farms were struck hard during the Depression, and the two main characters George and Lennie were farm hands during this time. They had experienced the misunderstandings of other farm hands in terms of Lennie’s mental disability, but they were trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm. The idea of this farm drove Lennie and George to keep working, and like many others during this time they hoped to achieve this dream.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author uses the motif of barriers to show that causes that lead into the failure of these character hopes and dreams. The ability to own your own land is the main dream held by four of the characters in the book. The idea of owning your own land is a simile for a life of happiness. There are two other unattainable dreams which are held by Curley's wife, and Crooks. Curley's wife once had an offer to become an actress in Hollywood, however the person never bequeathed the job to her.

American Dream is the idea that everyone should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work and determination. George is important to the story because he teaches and helps Lennie do the right thing, due to his mental disability, Lennie doesn’t know right from wrong. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George expresses to Lennie throughout the story that you can get anything you want, with the hard work you put toward it. The author, John Steinbeck, does a really good job expressing the process George takes to develop the theme that it is human nature to want our dreams to come true because of the hard work we put toward it. George and Lennie have been traveling place to place, trying to find a job, so that they can get the money they need to be able to purchase their own land, “You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing…

Harlem shows that the American Dream can’t be achieved but Of Mice and Men the author shows hope in obtaining the dream. In the poem the use punctuation of question marks to set the tone of the author being uncertain and anxious. The poem is negative and is shown in the questions, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”. This is negative because it is talking about the how the American Dream doesn’t last. This is because it dries up and one realizes the dream is to impossible to obtain so they decide to give up.

American Dreaming Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” In the 1930s dreams were hard to achieve because of the depression. In the novella Of Men and Men written by John Steinbeck, the main characters are George and Lennie. George and Lennie are both middled aged men, but the difference is Lennie has a mental disability. They are very close because Lennie's aunt Clara told George to look after him before she died.

The importance of dreams in Of Mice and Men is to give the character purpose and hope. The novel takes place in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, and life was hard because of the tough economic conditions at this time. Dreams play an important role in the novel Of Mice and Men, because the characters need an escape from the loneliness and poverty that is their reality, and it gives them something to work towards. The characters use the idea of the American Dream to feed their desire to have a better life. The characters face many obstacles along their journey, and each obstacle will have a direct affect on shaping how the character develops as well as if they reach their dream.

Pursuing the Unattainable ¨Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.¨ An unalienable right, provided by the Constitutions Declaration of Independence, a right in which our government is expected to secure. The idea of a ¨happiness¨ that could be, allows us to hope, hope for a better and more fulfilling life. Something that we can not only reach for and attain but maintain as well. The life we fantasize about, our ¨white picket fence,” and American Dream.