Comparing George And Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, begins with the introduction of two characters: George and Lennie. George uses Lennie for companionship despite Lennie’s mental handicap. They travel together during The Great Depression. George dreams about owning land. However he is very impoverished and struggles to keep a job, so his dream is very unrealistic. Steinbeck uses George’s character in order to prove that the impoverished are excluded from the american dream. Although George is white some may argue that he had a chance to attain the american dream. However George’s only dream was to own his own property. Due to being impoverished, he had no real chance to attain his american dream. George knew that people like him had no chance.

He’s poor, struggles to keep a job, and seeks desperate companionship when he would be better off alone. However George thinks that if he had more intelligence that it would fix everything. “An’ I ain’t so bright neither, or I wouldn’t be buckin’ barley for my fifty and found. If I was bright, If I was even a little bit smart, I’d have my own little place, an’ I’d be bringin’ in my own crops, ‘stead of doin’ all the work and not getting what comes outta the ground,” (39). Little does he know that being smart will not fix every problem. It will not help him attain his american dream. If everyone who was smart could attain the american dream, would it still be a dream? It has nothing to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with being a rich white

Along with the rich white male are the people who find gold. George fantasizes about this. “For two bits I’d shove out of here. If we can get jus’ a few dollars in the poke we’ll shove off and go up the American River and pan gold. We can make maybe a couple dollars a day there, and we might hit a pocket,” (33). He fantasizes about striking it rich so that he can finally attain his dream. However it only ever happened to a small quantity of people. Which means his idea of striking gold is very unrealistic. He would have more of a chance of reaching his dream if he keeps working for Curley. The lure of the american dream is so strong that George is often entranced of his own ideas of his dream. He is often found preoccupied daydreaming about what it might feel to own his own land. “They all at still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing, each mind was popped into the future when this lovely thing should come about,” (60). The american dream is very appealing that it affects them that it takes them from away from the real world. When in reality George has no real chance of ever actually having what he