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

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie have a dream. Their dream is to have a place of their own. My dream is like that in a way. I am looking at the bigger picture. My dream includes having a house and a great job. A job that I want to have to be exact. I want to be successful and not have to worry about money or food.

After the Great Depression in 1929, America’s economy was devastated. The increase of farming across the Great Plains states caused the precious soil to erode, turning the once fertile grassland to a desert like Dust Bowl. Hundreds of farmers and workers migrated to California in search of jobs aiming for the American Dream. The American Dream is the hopes and the goals of the characters in which they can obtain a better life through their hard work. In Of Mice and Men, the American Dream is portrayed to be extremely vital for the men as it serves as their motivation, yet ultimately proves to be unattainable through the memorable characters of Lennie, George and Curley’s wife.

‘“...I got you. We got each other, that’s what gives a hoot in hell about us,’ Lennie cried in triumph”’ (Steinbeck 104). Lennie says this in triumph because their friendship makes them winners. George and Lennie are best friends for more than just Lennie’s disability. George cares for Lennie and in return Lennie gives him unconditional love. They have their friendship rooted in their dream. Steinbeck shows the importance of this dream when Lennie, George, and Candy talk about their plan inside the bunkhouse. “ (insert quote here)” (Steinbeck ). This dream keeps their friendship intact and gives them hope for a better

In the first chapter of, Of Mice and Men, the audience is introduced into the two protagonists, George and Lennie. They plan to reach the “american dream” after a couple of weeks working to get enough money to buy land. Lennie, being mentally unstable, is put into

George and Lennie have complete faith and hope in their American Dream coming true. George described, “ ‘O.K. someday ㅡ 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 and ㅡ’ ‘ An’ live off the fatta the lan’,’ Lennie shouted.” (Steinbeck 14). George is excited to speak about their dream and while reading this the reader can assume that

In the novel, Of Mice and Men, the author, John Steinbeck argues that dreams are a foolish hope that cannot be achieved through how George and Lennie’s dream, Curley’s wife’s dream, and Crooks’ deepest desire all fail. John Steinbeck grew up and lived during the Great Depression, where he saw a lot of fragile dreams shatter and never come true. Naturally, this gave him a rather pessimistic view on dreams, so many of the characters have hopes that are never reached. George and Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Crooks all suffer the same fate, and never reach their ambitions.

“No matter how much sometimes you dare to dream, send happy thoughts into the universe, no matter what you do some of your dreams will never come true” (Unknown). In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, at the time of the Great Depression, two men, George and Lennie, venture to California in hopes to find work. Because Lennie is wanted for raping a woman, George and Lennie must escape the “law” by fleeing to the next town. Through the character of Lennie, Steinbeck shows that issues outside the control of an individual often limit the achievement of his dreams.

In this literary novella, Steinbeck digs into the idea of the nature of dreams and that each man must make sacrifices or battle some other outside force to make a dream come true. This follows with the theme that humans give meaning to their life and future by creating dreams. George and Lennie both have vast dreams that influence them in different

Both Lennie and George have a similar idea of what they want for their American dream and that is to someday owning a farm. If they achieve this it would offer protection and financial care. Crooks tells them that they won’t be able to achieve their American dream and this ends up being true for them. Lennie explains their dream and says " 'Well, ' said George, 'we 'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we 'll just say the hell with going ' to work, and we 'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an ' listen to the rain coming ' down on the roof... '" (Steinbeck 15). Lennie and George have very little to give. They have no family, money or home. As Lennie and George describe the life they want they soon remember their childhood and how they the things they had in their childhood to be on their farm. Unfortunately for Lennie and George they don 't reach their dream either. George ends up killing Lennie and doesn 't live on to succeed with living on the

George and Lennie, prominent characters in the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, are migrant workers—men who move from place to place to do seasonal work— who end up in California and are faced with numerous problems. Set in the era of the great depression, the story of Lennie and George, two very different men who have formed a family-like union, takes place on a farm where Lennie struggles to stay out of trouble. Having committed an unintentional, harmful act, Lennie is faces severe consequences; and George must decide to make a necessary decision which changes the mood of the entire novel. By the comparison and contrast of George and Lennie, unique characters who are very different from each other, the reader can better acquaint himself

Everyday we are influenced by our goals or dreams. George was also influenced by his dream of protecting Lennie. This one dream has influenced George by so much that it began to take most of his freedom, and in the process, becoming an aspect of his life. According to the text “All the time he coulda had such a good time if it wasn’t for you. he woulda took his pay and raised hell in the whore house, and he coulda set in a pool room an’ played snooker, but he gotta take care of you” (Page#101, Steinbeck). This basically proves and enforces the reality that Lennie influences almost every part of Georges life. This also shows that George could have had a good life, even a better life if his dream of being able to take care of Lennie did not become a burden upon himself and influenced his life so greatly. Everything that George did or tried to do was always influenced by Lennie’s wellbeing.

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. Through using the farm to represent the American Dream, Steinbeck brings forward issues from difficulties the mentally ill have to prejudices against African Americans.

In the novella Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck incorporates many thematic ideas into his text. He includes the ideas of dreams and reality, the nature of home, and he difference of right and wrong. He develops these ideas throughout the story.

They are doomed from the start because of Lennie’s fatal flaw—he is developmentally disabled and therefore incapable of bringing the dream to fruition—but his naïveté also allows both him and George to pursue the dream. Lennie’s innocence permits George to believe that the dream might be attainable: “George said softly, ’I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.’” Lennie is the keeper of the dream; he does not question its inevitable fulfillment, he simply believes. Without this innocence, George would be like all the other ranch hands, wasting his money on whiskey and women, drifting aimlessly from one job to the

George and Lennie just started working at the ranch, so they get a warning. “ Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world”(13). Why would being lonely ever be something you would want? George and Lennie had a plan to live together. Once again Lennie is getting picked on by Curly. “Curley stared levally at him.’Well next time you answer when spoken to”(26). Lennie and Curley seem to always be getting into fights or arguments. Lennie just wants to live the dream with his soft things. Steinbeck uses events to express that the american dream is impossible.