The American Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, expresses many real-life themes. The most distinguished theme is definitely the American dream. Steinbeck exploited that everyone has a dream, but he makes the American dream an impossibility, which is the malicious reality of life. Steinbeck uses many examples and personalities of his characters to effectively exhibit this theme. The American dream is the belief that, if you are an American citizen, you should have an equal opportunity to achieve their ambitious dreams and success if you work hard, have initiative, and stay determined. Steinbeck establishes a more pessimistic side of this delusion, and proceeds to expand on that through his text and personalities of characters. For example, Crooks …show more content…

At For example, Curley’s wife had aspirations of becoming a movie star, but she ran off to get married to Curley instead. George and Lenny were both idealists at the beginning of the novel. They dreamt of owning a farm with many rabbits for Lennie to pet. George longs for the day in which he can leave work to watch a baseball game. George longs for the day in which he and Lennie can safely exist away from people like Curley, who seem to only exist to cause pain towards people. However, as the novel progressed, George began to discover that the world preys on the weak and people like him have nothing to look forward to. He went as far as telling Lennie, who was a recurring optimist throughout the book. "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to." (13-14) George had always been a realist, but his pessimism increased gradually as the book went on. The prime example is at the end, when George shoots Lennie. He spares Lennie the inevitably gruesome death at the hands of Curley and his men, but his perfect dream died with

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