The American Dream is the idea that "every United States citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and determination" (Dictionary). John Steinbeck, the author of the Of Mice and Men novel, has shown the readers the reality of the Great Depression times, which began in 1930, through his novel, by using characters like Curley's wife, Crooks, and Candy. When the readers view the story through the Marxist point of view, which "in literature is used to show the difference between characters because of the different traits they posses", they learn the message of the story (Kakarelis, Marxist). Steinbeck's bigger message of the novel is that the American Dream was unachievable during the Great Depression and he uses minor characters to prove it. Firstly, Steinbeck uses the character of Curley's wife to show how being a woman made it harder to achieve the American Dream during the Great Depression. Curley's wife is the only female on the ranch and the novel, which resulted in her being sexualized by all the men instead of being treated like a human being. She would be called degrading names like "tart" and "jailbait" and she would be …show more content…
The American Dream is the ideal that everyone gets an opportunity to live their best if they try hard enough, but the author uses minor characters to show that during the Great Depression, if you were different, you would never be able to have your own American Dream. Characters like Curley's wife, who was under the possession of her husband because of her gender, Crooks, who was discriminated and left out of the society and the workgroup because of the colour of his skin, and Candy, who was a disabled individual without anyone to take care of him, prove that not everyone has the same opportunities to achieve their best and make their dreams a
Intro Hopes and dreams are essential so you can have things to look forward to and keep you motivated during difficult times. The novel, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck takes place during the Great Depression George and Lennie, two main characters, have a dream of owning a ranch. They, later on, involve Candy in the dream which motivates them to stay out of trouble and to work hard. John Steinback portrays hopes and dreams for people to survive by showing how the dream calms Lennie, keeps Candy distracted from his dogs and motivates George, Candy, and Lennie during a difficult time. To begin, Steinbeck shows readers how throughout the Great Depression working and earning money was difficult, but having hopes and dreams motivated
Lots of people want to have a nice house, nice car, married with kids but not everyone can have that. The American Dream is the views on people having freedom and the opportunity for prosperity and success. In the books, Of Mice and Men by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby by John Steinbeck, the characters have different dreams and inputs on the american dream because of their disposition of character. The Great Gatsby is about a man who is rich with a big mansion, a nice car, and is in love with a woman that is already married. Of Mice and Men is revolved around a man and his mentally challenged friend getting around in life and they want to stop working in the field and get their own house with animals one day.
Stage One: Pre-English: Responding to Texts – Of Mice and Men Question 1: How does Steinbeck use the motif of the American Dream as a means of combating the hardships of life? (Refer to the components of this dream, why does it seem far-fetched and yet how does it bring happiness to the impoverished characters?) Thesis: John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella, Of Mice and Men, is set in 1930s America and portrays the struggles and hardships for people living during the Great Depression. Steinbeck conveys the importance of the American Dream in times of hardship, through the techniques of characterisation, foreshadowing and repetition.
Everyone aspires to achieve the American Dream: an opportunity to be successful by working hard. Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the American Dream brings hope for a better life for those who hold onto it. George Milton and Lennie Smalls, traveling ranch workers called bindle stiffs, dream of owning their own piece of land where they create the rules. They are not the only characters with hopes and dreams. But Steinbeck shows the American Dream is, in fact, sometimes just a dream through the hopes and actions of Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife.
Steinbeck introduces the character of Curley’s wife via other characters, this is a given chance to build up a negative image of her using language that creates dislike. The structure shows the low importance of Curley’s wife, which creates sympathy for her. The overall quote tells us that Curley’s wife was not seen as a loyal woman, but a woman just seeking a sexual
During the Great Depression, many unemployed workers moved to California to look for work on the ranches. This was because they had a dream to become successful, which is also called “the American dream”. In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie, the two main protagonists, worked on a ranch chasing the american dream just like many other americans who dreamt of becoming successful. They tried to save money to buy their own land and live a life where they were successful. However, they never accomplished that, and like many others, did not realize they would never accomplish it.
Finally, Steinbeck dehumanizes Curley by the negative criticism that always pursues her and her loss of identity when accompanying someone or something. This is why she is always commonly known as “Curley’s Wife”, proving that she is an unimportant and insignificant character in this book. Plus, everybody in the book says that Curley’s wife causes trouble for everyone; as George says, “She’s a jail bait all set on the trigger,” (Steinbeck, 49) and is constantly getting blame for all that goes wrong in Soledad; as Candy says, You God damn tramp. You done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad.
The American dream is something that we all strive for in one way or another. Whether it’s being equal to the people around you, or having freedom to be successful in whatever you want in life. But for the characters in Of Mice and Men it is the dream of owning land and being independent from everyone else. But the American Dream is not something that is given to you, it includes work ethic, knowing that the dream may be impossible and the sacrifice that may have to be made. These are all things that George and Lennie and other characters in the book have to do to eventually reach the American dream.
In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrayed a political statement by looking at mental and physical disabilities through different characters such as Curley's Wife, Crooks, and Lennie. Curley's wife is used to represent how women were treated during the 1930’s and almost treated with a disability. Women were portrayed as the help and they were supposed to stay home and work while the strong brave men went out and got money to support the family. By Steinbeck not giving Curley's wife a name he is showing how she is connected to Curly with an Invisible rope.
The American dream is an illusion that is deeply implanted in the minds of the people, it sets a bar for life achievement and offers hope to work hard to achieve their dreams. As for Americans, they are raised in a society to where they are expected to make lots money and to have a healthy family. After all in our society success is largely based off positions of power and financial stability. For example, in The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there were multiple interpretations of the ideal American dream in the 1920s. In the 1920s, due to the growth of materialism, people advertised and fancied the power of money to fulfilling their dreams.
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.
We see that all of these characters and their situations depict that a dream of an American is not always possible. Steinbeck shows that the unrealized dream was a major part of life in the 1930s and in the book Of Mice and
John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, is a compelling story that has captured and embodied the struggle and loneliness felt by many during the Great Depression. While desire for the American Dream is prominent in the novel, Steinbeck is able to demonstrate the wants from different social classes through the construction of characters such as George Milton and Curley’s wife. With these characters, Steinbeck successfully displays the difference in ideas, values and attitudes of certain social classes in the 1930’s and the illustrates the rarity of achieving the American Dream. Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, when America was suffering greatly by the disastrous crash of the stock market. From this point in time, separation of the different classes became
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 The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck discusses what the American dream meant for families in the 1960s. The American dream that most families strived for included a happy marriage, well behaved children, a stable job with a decent paycheck, and a nice house. Every character in the novel has a dream that they wanted to accomplish but could not. Ethan dreamed of wealth and power, but felt guilty in the end because he went too far in trying to reach his goals. Marullo already had his dream, but it was stripped away from him when Ethan reported him to immigration services.