What Are The Similarities Between Of Mice And Men And The Great Gatsby

" Both authors prove in the "Great Gatsby" and "Of Mice and Men" that the 'American Dream' is not only unattainable but also useless
" Steinback presents the message of struggling to attain the 'American Dream' is pointless. In Of Mice and Men he states "I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of em's got a little piece of landin' his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it"
" The message of both The Great Gatsby film and Of Mice Men is that the dream is rarely reached
"We can see in both the Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men, that both dreams not only end as unsuccessful but also a tragedy. Lennie accidentally

murder a woman, and George is forced to shoot him. This also takes place in the Great Gatsby when Gatsby believes he is almost at the green light at the end of the harbor that he most definitely believes that he'll achieve, until George Wilson kills him.
" Both books also portray the theme of corruption which plays a massive part whilst on the path to achieving the American Dream or mainly only seeking it.

In the Great Gatsby, we see that Gatsby most definitely doesn't entirely work his way up to the top, and Tom accuses him of cheating in order to obtain his wealth. Tom states "That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong." In Of Mice and Men, all the men are working towards buying land and gaining wealth. However, their other desires led them to spend their money on drinking, prostitution etc. This is exhibited in the book when a man says "Well, a guy got to have some fun

sometime"
" However, we can also detect many differences between the Great Gatsby film and the book Of Mice and Men. The Great Gatsby was set in the time in America when the economy and industries were booming. It was a chance for people to climb the social ladder and to spend as much money as they wanted to, believing in no repercussions. This setting is important to the context of the difference between the two because this clearly shows the difference between Gatsby, Lennie and George. Since the Great Gatsby was set in the 'Roaring 20s', Gatsby gained most of his wealth through illicit alcohol which was prohibited in America during this time. For Gatsby, we could probably say that it was a lot easier for him to make his money, but this most certainly doesn't mean he achieved his version of 'American Dream' that many people desired to achieve.
" We also see the difference between the John Steinbeck's piece of work and Fitzgerald's, when we realise that Of Mice and Men was set in the time of the Great Depression, a time when there was a shortage of jobs, crops and many other commodities that America now lacked.

Lennie and George still try to achieve their version of the 'American Dream', however, they find it a lot harder to make their wealth. The main difference between the film and the book is that George and Lennie are more humble in comparison to all of the characters. Both George and Lennie know how important hard work is and have never experienced or seen wealth in their entire life. The characters in The Great Gatsby were motivated by wealth and luxury so their dream was almost selfish in a way, the two protagonists in Of Mice and Men are motivated to achieve their dream due to more humble reasons, such as being able to take care of their family instead of, winning over a girl, for example, Daisy, with

wealth.
" Through these examples, we can see that both Fitzgerald and Steinbeck draw out the main theme of the 'American Dream' as being an incapability to achieve in both instances.