John Steinbeck's Obstacles

Is the American Dream impossible or does it just take time to find? In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck’s characters have many goals that they wish to achieve. The main characters, George and Lennie, want to own farmland and animals, and their own home. Obstacles come along throughout the novel that create great difficulties for the characters to reach their lifelong goals. Steinbeck’s perspective of the American Dream is that it is more of an idea than it is a realistic goal that can be reached, and he develops this theme through characters, settings and symbols in the novel. The American Dream is what makes the United States of America the place to pursue one’s life goals. This concept has been around for centuries. Someone

The characters throughout the novel are trying to work towards their goals. They keep the great idea of their dreams as motivation, but do they ever reach those goals? Steinbeck’s main character Lennie never reaches his dream,; he only has it as an idea to hold. Lennie gets himself in trouble towards the end of the novel. George finds Lennie by the riverside, George tells Lennie to look at the river and get on his knees as he takes out a gun and aimes it at Lennie’s head. Lennie does not know what was going to happen and George does not want him to know so he begins to talk about their dream, “Lennie begged ‘Le’s do it now. Le’s get the place now.’… George raised the gun and steadied… He pulled the trigger.” (Steinbeck 106). The concept of the American Dream is not something that is proven to come true. It is expressed as a movement, plan, or vision. It seems more like something people hold onto to keep their humanity. Lisa M. Weah tells her dream in “American Dreams” from The New York Times. “I dream of an America which embodies its own declaration.” (Brown 2). Like Lennie and many others Weah has not yet reached her goal, if it is even something she could reach on her own. Her American Dream is such a large dream, it would be a giant movement for the United States. Since it is such a large journey our reach to her goal, it seems like more of an idea. It is obviously a want for her, like a dream is for anyone, but is it a want that she can have? It is sad to realize that the American Dream is less a reality and moreso a