John Steinbeck is a famous American author. He wrote many books that takes place in the Salinas River Valley during the Great Depression. His most famous book, Of Mice and Men talks about the failure of the American dream. John Steinbeck uses George, candy, and Curley’s wife to show the failure of the American dream. To begin, John Steinbeck uses George to show the failure of the American dream. George is a short, smart man. He is a migrant farm worker who has to take care of his best friend Lennie who is cognitively impaired. While they were about to go to sleep near the brush calmly like a bedtime story, George said “ Someday 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 rabbits”(Steinbeck pg 14). This proves that he and Lennie is going …show more content…
While sitting in the barn talking to Lennie, Curley’s wife said “Coulda been on the movies an’ had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went to them, an’ spoke in the radio, an’ it wouldn’ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitchers.”(Steinbeck pg 89). This proves that she could have been living the high life in the movies, talking on the radio, and being able to go to the movies for free because she is in it. As we go on in the story, she continues talking to Lennie about why she didn’t make movies and then she tells him that she doesn’t like Curley but Lennie was completely oblivious to it all, so she brings up her hair being soft. While Lennie was rubbing her hair, she didn’t want him to mess it up so she told him to stop and he started rubbing her hair harder and she tried to run and Lennie covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming but he accidentally snapped her neck. This proves that the American dream will fail because John Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to prove that American dream is a
Lennie and Curley's wife are having a conversation in the barn, after Lennie accidentally just killed a puppy and covered it in hay. All of sudden Lennie got scared and the same thing happened to Curley’s wife after she let Lennie touch her soft hair. John Steinbeck uses imagery and characterization to show how Curley’s wife changed after she was killed.
Lennie adored the softness of Curley’s wife’s hair, that he killed her by accident by crushing her skull when trying to pet her hair. The two planned a future together; their own dream ranch. A ranch where nobody could tell them what to do. A ranch where no trouble would come their way and they couldn’t get into trouble. Right before George put him out from the back of the head with the luger, he made Lennie think of their dream ranch, their future home.
“I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself” (Steinbeck 13). George views his dream of being super practical for the kind of life he lives. Living on his own ranch with Lennie will let him have less of a worry about Lennie making decisions that will put the both of them in jeopardy. Living secluded on their own property will only make life easier.
John Steinbeck wrote a novella called Of Mice and Men that was published during the year 1937 of the Great Depression. The novella is about two best friends named George and Lennie who is sick of not having their own things like a house, a bed, food etc… So they come up with the idea of saving up their money and buying their own home. But things drastically changes when lennie who is cognitively impaired kills Curley’s wife and George the caretaker and best friend of Lennie’s kills him to protect him. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck uses the characters Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks to display no matter how hard you work you WILL NEVER achieve your dreams. First, Steinbeck uses the character Curley’s Wife to prove the failure of the American Dream.
John steinbeck touches base on the American Dream when he wrote Of Mice and Men. There are many ways that John Steinbeck demonstrates how both George and Lennie have an American Dream. “With us it ain’t like that. We got a future” is an example of how the boys have that dream of having better things to come for them(Steinbeck 15). Steinbeck also uses motifs to show that the American Dream is within the book.
George, looks after Lennie because he has a disability and cannot take adequate care of himself. George and Lennie have a dream of having their own farm one day when they have the money to buy the land, and they talk about it numerous times in the novella, such as, “Someday-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-” (Steinbeck 1). This dream, however is far out of reach for the two men because of their social class, wealth, and because of the people that get in their way.
One of George's most important dreams is to have a small farm of his own, where he and Lennie can work and live independently. George explains his dream to Lennie, saying, "O.K. someday - we're gonna get the jack together
The Failure of Dreams in Of Mice and Men 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.
Steinbeck suggest that the American dream is unachievable to people who are discriminated because of their skin color through racism. Steinbeck portrays this through Crooks, a
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 portrays the american dream through motif and irony to show that chasing the american dream leads to poor judgement of reality. Steinbeck
John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, takes place in California on a ranch in the Salinas Valley during the Great Depression. During this time, the United States of America was in a period of economic decline and people were living in poverty. From these hardships, weaknesses arise in different characters in the novel. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck utilizes the deaths of Candy’s dog, Curley’s wife, and Lennie to reveal that weaker people are eradicated because they cannot defend themselves against others.
James Truslow Adams defines the American Dream as the “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (The American Dream). An idea sought after by millions of people is the American Dream; they believe there is a reward for hard work and that that reward is happiness and prosperity. The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, and The Crucible are all works, which portray the pursuit and destruction of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby’s American dream was to marry the woman he loved. This is evident throughout the novel; Gatsby is determined to transform his life from dirt to diamonds all to be a suitable man for Daisy.
In John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men, the reader feels more sympathy towards George, rather than Lennie or Curley's Wife. Steinbeck depicts an authentic representation of the Great Depression's challenging times and how they impact people like George. The hardships he experienced surpassed those of Lennie and Curley's wife. George had Lennie, a responsibility which caused him unnecessary trouble. He ended Lennie's life and thus lived with it on his conscience.
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... '"