The American Dream In the novella “Of Mice and Men”, written by John Steinbeck, George Milton, one of the main characters, is a little, clever man who watches over his large, naive partner Lennie Small. Together they share a dream of one day owning a tiny piece of land and living “off the fatta the lan’”. Steinbeck uses the American Dream to motivate the characters and give them hope that they can one day escape their dreaded lives, while also showing the reader that the American Dream is unreachable. To the characters in the story, the American Dream represents freedom, happiness, and the right to do whatever they want, whenever they want. For example, when George tells Lennie about their future dream farm, George says, “And when it rains …show more content…
Its main purpose is to motivate and give the characters something to work for. For instance, when George, Candy, and Lennie realize they only have a month of work left until they can afford the dream farm, George says, “Look, if me an’ Lennie work a month an’ don’t spen’ nothing, we’ll have a hundred bucks. That’d be four fifty. I bet we could swing her for that. Then you an’ Lennie could go get her started an’ I’d get a job an’ make up the res’, an’ you could sell eggs and stuff like that”(59-60). From this quote, the reader can see that the dream farm inspires them to work and gives them hope for something greater than they already have. They center everything they do around one day being able to afford a nice piece of land and live prosperously on it. The farm gives the characters a purpose and a goal to work towards. Additionally, when Candy tells Crooks about the dream farm, he says, “Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Som’thin’ he could live on and there couldn't nobody throw him off of it. I never had none. I planted crops for damn near ever’body in this state, but they wasn’t my crops, and when I harvested ‘em, it wasn't none of my harvest. But we gonna do it now, and don’t you make no mistake about that”(76). The quote here shows that to Candy this farm is an opportunity he’s never had before. He has worked his entire life for many other …show more content…
When Lennie asks Crooks, “Why ain’t you wanted?”(68), Crooks responds saying, “ ‘Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me”(68). The reader can determine here that Crooks is bitter at the white men for excluding him from their games and even their living area. Crooks would like to be respected and treated equally, instead of being ostracized and looked down upon from the group. Crooks continues on to say, “I was born right here in California. My old man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres. The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn't like that. But I know now”(70). Crook’s shows here that not only did he once have the American Dream, but he also lost it. Additionally, he shows a deeper hatred for the white man that’s rooted back into his childhood. Crook’s American Dream and George and Lennie’s American Dream both involve expanding their current freedoms and boundaries. However, Crooks would like to have the freedom of not being a slave and being seen as a human being, while George and Lennie want the freedom to be their own bosses. Crook’s American Dream is the life that George and Lennie currently
Crooks also feels a great deal of loneliness, as he is an outcast on the ranch. He lives in his own room where hardly anybody ever bothers him. He is never invited to play cards or do anything fun with the other guys. One day a curious Lenny asked, “Why ain’t you wanted?” Crooks replies “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They think I stink. Well I tell you, you all stink to me” (pg. ). Crooks’ attitude towards this is shown when he saw Lennie playing with his puppy outside of Crooks’ quarters. Crooks states that “if me, as a black man, is not allowed in the white quarters, then white men are not allowed in mine” (pg. ). However this is merely a front as the more open side of Crooks is shown later on in the book.
“The best laid schemes o’ mice and men, Gang aft agley often go wrong, And leave us nought but grief and pain, For promised joy!” Robert Burn’s quote makes us believe that even the best laid out plans for joy often go wrong and brings us grief and pain. George and Lennie’s plan was for a better future. The future where they didn’t take commands from someone; where they took care of themselves. As George and Lennie keep talking about the farm and more people joining in on the plan, it looks like it might happen. But with the foreshadowing through this quote: “Look, Lennie. I want you to look around here. You can remember this place, can’t you? The ranch is about a quarter mile up that way. Just follow the river. (15)” This quote foreshadows Lennie messing up and it creating a larger gap between the dream farm and them. When Lennie kills Curley's wife, the idea of the dream farm slowly starts to disappear. As George finds out about what had happen, he realizes that plan for a farm was just an idea, an illusion. “—I think I knowed from the very first. 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”
Dreams give people motivation and a sense of hope to not give up when life's hard conditions get in the way of success. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, George Milton has his own “American Dream” where he will live in a house, that he bought with his hard earned money, with Lennie. They will grow their own crops and own farm animals to feed themselves. This dream keeps George motivated to find new jobs when Lennie gets them into trouble. George does not want to give up on working hard and making money on ranches.
The novel is an exposé of the harsh and vicious reality of the American Dream'. George and Lennie are poor homeless migrant workers doomed to a life of wandering and toil. They will be abused and exploited; they are in fact a model for all the marginalized poor of the world. Injustice has become so much of their world that they rarely mention it. It is part of their psyche. They do not expect to be treated any different no matter where they go.
The American Dream is a dream that everyone imagines to be picture perfect. The American Dream means having freedom, equality and opportunity’s to achieve the dream that you conceptualize to be right by you. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck did not want to just illustrate the American dream as being easy, but he wanted to point out the American Dream as being difficult too. Steinbeck made a work of art by composing a great novel to make the reader understand that life can be difficult and at times dreams are hard to achieve. Of Mice and Men was written and based on the settings of the Great Depression (Anderson). The Great Depression was a very dire time that left multiple of people despondent and the unavailing to move on with their lives. The Great Depression created a world where everyone had to seek and survive for themselves. In the novel Steinbeck wanted to explore and point out how powerless people where during the time of the Great Depression. Steinbeck purposely incorporated his characters to depict the life struggle of what people go through during grim times. In the novel, Steinbeck illustrated a great set of characters Lennie, George, Candy and Crooks. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck discusses handicaps, hardships, and friendships of the characters.
Although there are many important passages in Of Mice and Men, this passage is particularly important to the novella as a whole for a number of reasons. Steinbeck uses this passage to describe, and build up hope for, the dream that George and Lennie have, displaying the hope and naivete hidden beneath George's rough-and-tumble countenance. One major point of information we can glean from this passage is a connection between the title and the events of the novella. This passage displays George acting as a protective guardian or parent figure, a recurring theme throughout the story. The simple, almost childlike, optimistic excitement about the “future” reveals a side of George he doesn't normally allow himself to show. The farm that George describes acts as a sort of catalyst for the rest of the action in the book.
Crooks dream is to work in Lennie's garden. However, it remains only a dream for them and they are awakened by the fact that they can't have the perfect American dream. Another way that this idea is used in the book and by characters is that Lennie and George keep faithful to the American dream as a way to give them hope and something to look forward to in life. The book takes place in the great depression where power was everything and if you were weak you were killed off by the strong so that they could survive.
Every person has an American dream, no matter how big or small, everyone has one. Their dreams however, vary from person to person, based on past experiences. While some people will chose to try to own a small farm in California, others will want to go to Hollywood and become an actress. Though American dreams are commonly found in living people they are also able to be within fictional characters as well; such as in Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Only American dreams can go astray due to problems that were not foreseen. In Of Mice and y Men, Lennie was the unforeseen problem with George, Candy, and his American dream because of his ableism. His mental ableism made him love to touch soft things such as hair, even though he could end
This became the. The ‘American Dream’ is the dream of George and Lennie. For George, the dream serves two main roles. The first is that it makes him strive towards something, giving him ambition and a fantasy of betterment. The snare of the snare.
The American Dream is a thought that everyone has at some point. Some are bigger than others and some are harder than others, but everyone hopes to accomplish their American Dream. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows that the American Dream is a myth, not a reality. John Steinbeck shows the American Dream being a myth through a few of the characters in Of Mice and Men. For example, Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and Candy all have American Dreams, but they also have some obstacles that stop them from completing their American Dream.
George and Lennie have a dream, even before they arrive at their new job on the ranch, to make enough money to live “off the fatta the land” and be their own bosses. Lennie will then be permitted to tend the rabbits. Candy, upon hearing about the dream, wants to join them so that he will not be left alone, especially after they killed his dog. From the 17th Century, when the first settlers arrived, immigrants dreamed of a better life in America. People went there to escape from persecution or poverty, and to make a new life for themselves.
The farm is a very important symbol in the novella it is important because it is repeated throughout the novella it is reminding the reader of the comforting dream that Lennie and George have created. It is a symbol of brotherly love. The dream in some ways is like the whole “Depression era” it reminds the reader of freedom and homely pleasure.
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.
Consequently, Lennie’s end goal of a secure home with financial freedom only leads down a grim path. His dream is to have sustainability for himself and George, which is the ultimate dream in American society. “The dream of the farm originates with Lennie and it is only through Lennie, who also makes the dream impossible, that the dream has any meaning for George” (Lisca 1). Lennie cannot help but to pursue this goal due to his innocence. He believes that this dream of attaining his and
“‘We’re gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an’ live on the fatta and the lan’’(69). The only reason George and Lennie continue to work on farms is so one day they can achieve their goal of owning their own farm. This shows how determined they are to reach their goal and the work they’re willing to do to vigorous labor to achieve it. Again, the only reason they were working was to eventually reach their