Themes Of The American Dream In Of Mice And Men

Uncertain Yet Fragile American Dream

Everyone has a dream; it can be either short term goals or a long term desire for something extraordinary. Despite the circumstances, Americans during the Great Depression are longing for the better life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. American Dream is a significant recurring motif in the novel, Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck, the author of the novel, predominantly portrays the characters, George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife chasing their dreams with their fantasies of attaining freedom and eternal happiness. Thus, Steinbeck views American Dream as fragile and fanciful hope from workers during the Great Depression. He portrays loneliness, power and weakness and inequality as a way to comment

The dream of owning a land is desired by George and Lennie; George further uses this dream to keep Lennie away from the trouble. Even though they are both lonely, they have true friendship which others lack in Steinbeck’s perspective. George often mentions about their dream of having their own place. He comments on how “guys like [them] that work on the ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” (pg.13). However, he differentiates themselves from other workers, suggesting that “with [George and Lennie] it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us” (pg.14). Both George and Lennie believe their dream to be real and rely on each other to achieve the goal. Therefore, they are pursuing their dream together to resist sinking into miserable loneliness. Moreover, Candy’s loss of his dog and joining George and Lennie’s dream further models the friendship through shared dream. Candy, an old disabled man, experiences a deep sense of loss and loneliness after the death of his dog. Since he has “got no relatives nor nothing” (pg.59), he is empty as he loses his last and only companionship. As soon as Candy overhears George and Lennie talking about their dream, Candy instantly looks for new companionship to fulfill his emptiness. Candy convinces George:

Curley’s wife, the only woman on the ranch, dreams of becoming an actress in Hollywood. Therefore, she always looks for attention which certainly makes her feel as if “[she] was in the pitcher.” (pg.89) By asking for attention, it gives her a sense of being popular just like being a movie star. Since she is the only woman, the gender inequality hinders her from getting attention on the ranch as everyone seems to avoid Curley’s wife. This is evident when George warns Lennie to “keep away from [Curley’s wife]” because “she’s a rat-trap if ever seen one.” (pg.32); workers preconceive women as causes for trouble. For this reason, her desire of getting attention cannot be attained due to the existing prejudice of female. Crooks encounters social obstacles that make him a victim of racial discrimination. Crooks is called “the negro stable buck” (pg.66). This already illustrates inequality as he is being treated differently by his name. Furthermore, the discrimination becomes more evident through the lack of importance in his speech. Based on his experience, he realizes how “it don’t make no difference if he don’t hear or understand” (pg.71). Therefore, even if Crooks says something, it is “just a nigger talkin’ … So it don’t mean nothing.” (pg.71). As a