The American Dream in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay

If there was a favorable circumstance under which one could endeavour all their hopes and visions, wouldn’t one pursue it? The American Dream was introduced as an interpretation to cause the people of America in the early twentieth century to work tougher. The American Dream is the opportunity to reach the goals one sets for themselves. It is about having your dream job and life one has always fantasized about. The dream is also about having freedom and equality. In the novel, “Of Mice & Men”, John Steinbeck uses symbols and motifs such as the vicious slaughtering of virtuous animals, Crooks’ rubbish bunkhouse and Lennie and George’s deception of an ideal farm to exhibit the perception that materialistic success results in happiness is a major flaw in our thinking about the American dream, and it is this thinking which makes the dream unattainable for many.

George could have had a life if it weren’t for Lennie, and that was what he sacrificed. At the end of the book, George makes the decision to

John Steinback’s Of Mice and Men is a book that describes the chase of the American Dream. Although achieving the American Dream is a great desire for all, seldom does it actually come true. George and Lennie, the two main characters in the book, have a goal of pursuing their version of the American Dream, as do many other characters. However, due to relationships and other conflicts, that dream is not achieved.

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.” (Steinbeck 94). This shows that Lennie’s dream got George thinking too much that they would actually get what they wanted. This impacts George in a negative way and now he has to face reality and what has to happen now.

In the beginning of the book, George is impatient and angry with Lennie. George and Lennie stop on the side of the road to rest, after a long journey. They make a fire and stay the night. Lennie is anxious for George to tell him about their American dream. George talks about the plans of their dream. He exclaims, “So

George wanted a better line for himself and Lennie one day. Sooner or later, George starts to realize that with Lennie’s behavior issues and low IQ, that their dream was not meant to be. Therefore, George decided to end it. To live their dream, they would need to work a lot, and make a lot of money. With Lennie around, causing trouble, George could not keep a job long or make a lot of money.

The American Dream comes to mind to many people that want to achieve their dreams, find freedom, and also to be faced with the struggles the world put out at them. In the book, Of Mice and Men, we see how George and Lennie face the American Dream. The American Dream comes to mind to many people that want to achieve their dreams, find freedom, and also to be faced with the struggles the world put out at them. In the book, Of Mice and Men, we see how George and Lennie face the American Dream.

Steinbeck’s characters Elisa and George are shown to be hopeful towards a better future and the freedom to do whatever they want, in their American dream. Additionally, George is able to have a more positive mindset than the other workers due to believing that contrary to the other farmers, they “got a future” (Of Mice and Men 13) to be excited for. Furthermore, George’s belief that they were going to “get the jack together” and “have a little house and a couple of acres” (Of Mice and Men 16) motivates him to work even harder in order to gain the freedom to settle down and no longer be a ranch laborer. George’s American dream is to be able to keep him moving forward in the face of adversity where others would abandon hope due to having “nothing to look ahead to” (Of Mice and Men 15). This makes their hard work feel meaningful and gives their depressing lives purpose.

Even if he never outwardly says it, George loves Lennie like his own family. The closest he ever comes to admitting this fact is right before he shoots Lennie and he consoles him by saying, “I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know” (117). And despite his seeming ignorance toward the subject, it’s clear that Lennie understands George loves him as much as he has always loved George.

When Americans Dream “The American Dream, the idea of the happy ending, is an avoidance of responsibility and commitment.” (Jill Robinson, 1). The novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a story set in the 1930’s about two men named George and Lennie. George and Lennie continually find work in an attempt to raise money as they wish to buy a farm that they can live on.

What does it mean to live the American dream? How does that reflect on to Of Mice and Men? Lennie was a handful, and George dealt with all his problems that he caused and stuck with him and looked out for him when no one else would. George and Lennie were different from every other pair of guys, they had each other's back in the hardest times and they cared for each other.

George Milton’s ‘American Dream’ is to have his own land and live a better life with his best friend Lennie. George is pretty resourceful, he came up with a plan to procreate

The american dream is shown as almost unattainable for Lennie because he seems to be dependent on George throught

The two gentlemen alway had a big dream through the entire novel. Their American Dream was definitely alive. In the novel, there was a lot of talk about George and Lennie having a ranch of their own. Them living in luxury; to them anyway. "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted. (Steinbeck 14). As this conversation continues, George replies, " 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 goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and sat around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof." (Steinbeck 14-15). This quote demonstrates the imagination and the dedication to this dream that they had about getting their own little piece of land. Towards the end of the novel George is stirred up and he left the impression that the only reason this dream came about was because Lennie loved hearing about it, it was the only thing that made him happy. So I think that George's American Dream was dead before he even started. He was just trying to make Lennie

During the events the book was set in, the American dream was a symbol to the world but was gone to the majority of the American people during the 1930’s. The power of the American Dream was hopeless in the Great Depression as people started to realize that the American Dream was unreachable and thus unrealistic. George and Lennie’s dream was the most unrealistic in the novel, but George knew that and yet only kept the dream alive because of Lennie who in which strongly believed that this dream that they share would come true. This is why George told their dream in the end “Le’s do it now,” Lennie says. “Le’s get to that place now.”