Of Mice and Men: American Dreams. Free Essay Sample

The 'American dream' by John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men is presented as being quite unattainable. This is mainly evident by the circumstances of the novel characters Candy, George, Crooks, and Lennie. All the characters are quite fascinated by the idea about the "American dream," the freedom for each character to chase their dreams, and untarnished cheerfulness. This essay aims at exploring how the "American dream" was unattainable as evident from the characters.

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Lennie's and George had a dream of owning a piece of land which turns out to be unattainable since Lennie is inconsiderate actions which are mainly influenced by his unawareness of using his bodily strength. Georges regularly cautions Lennie never to do any retaliation if he is distraught. George always knew it impossible for Lennie to act cautiously. Thus, this endangered them both from attaining their dream. This is quite evident from the time when George realized that Lennie had killed Curley's wife (Steinbeck, 2006, p.107).

This clearly shows the uncertainty and doubt George had towards achieving his dream and also because he was certain he would never own any land. From this evidence, it's clear that both Lennie a George 'American dream' was unattainable because of Lennie's inconsiderate and careless actions which result in George killing Lennie which correspond to eradicating their dream.

Candy was fascinated by the 'American dream.' His vision is to own a piece of land. However, he avoids to become solitary with the assistance of Lennie's, and George is shattered after the event when George kills Lennie. Candy, unlike George, believes that the 'American dream' was close to his reach from the start of the plan. However, he turns to a nightmare after George killed Lennie. This makes candy hope lost. This quite evidence at the instance when candy asks if George still had the intention of purchasing the land after he killed Lennie (Steinbeck, 2006, p.107).

Crooks, on the other hand, view the 'American dream' as a quite unachievable idea. The idea of becoming self-sufficient and also owning land was modest to Crooks. However, for most this was unbearable because of the instances of depression that took place in the year 1937. According to crooks, he states that many people had the same American dream of getting the piece of land but never had the chance to acquire the land. Crooks, for example, he strongly opposes the idea by George and Lennie of reaching their dream (Steinbeck, 2006, p.83-84).

In conclusion, the book by John Steinbeck's present the 'American Dream' as unattainable for various characters in the novel. There is evidence of their dreams being hindered by various factors that have resulted in them being unachievable. As we have seen for candy, Lennie and George case their dreams are hindered by Lennie's recklessness and ignorance. On the other hand, Crooks lack drive towards getting the dream; According to him owning land is quite impossible. This is because he understands that many have been trying to achieve the dreaming of owning land uncertainty; they all never get to this dream; hence, it could be impossible for him to achieve the American dream. Steinbeck in the novel intends to prove that the American Dream; was quite unattainable to those with the hope of attaining it.

References

Steinbeck, J. (2006). Of Mice and Men: American Dreams. Seed, 2013(6), 1- 50. doc: 10.12968/sece.2013.6.1802 https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/english-association/schools/resources-for-trainee-teachers-and-nqts/Of%20Mice%20and%20Men%2063.3.pdf