Curleys Wife's American Dream Failure

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During the 1930’s many Americans went to California in order to have a financially stable life, at this point, the Great depression caused a loss of jobs and home; however, the American dream promises to give everyone the opportunity to achieve anything as long as they are willing to put in the effort. In his novel “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck depicts many characters who have dreams of being someone greater and are willing to work for it. The main characters; George and Lennie, want to buy a piece of land to live on but their dream shortly collapsed. Steinbeck uses characters to reflect defects of society during the 1930’s being the American dream is just and illusion and will stay dreams because they live in a corrupted culture of exploitation, …show more content…

Curley’s wife had a dream of becoming an actress. “Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Say I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it” … “I never got the letter,” she said. “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it”. (Pg. 88) A well-known actor was in the movies promised to write her back saying she should be in be in the movies with him at Hollywood, her grandmother doesn’t believe that she could do it, this leads her to think she took it and hid it away. She had, even more, opportunities to be famous and have a better life outside of her home town Salinas. “Come there when I was a Kid. Well, a show come through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me … But the guy says I coulda. If I went, I wouldn’t be livin like this, you bet” … “So I married Curley. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night.” No matter how many opportunities she got, her grandma always said no because she was too young and didn’t believe in her, instead she married Curley. Curley’s wife never was given a name by Steinbeck but still plays a big role because she shows that even if you are talented and are given many opportunities it may not work out as you plan it to, in her case she married Curley because it was the best she …show more content…

John Steinbeck skillfully uses the characters in “Of mice and men” to reflect the problem with the American dream. Each character has or had a dream thinking they can do it as long as they put in the effort, however as it is shown many times throughout the novel it is not always true. George, Lennie, and Candy are hard workers but are never usually rewarded to enjoy the fruits of their labor, Crooks has seen many people out for the same dream but just couldn’t do it, and Curley’s Wife has been given so many opportunities to be famous or something greater but something was always stopping her. The definition of the American dream has been changed many times throughout history, during the setting of the story it was the pursuit of material benefits, but today it promises to ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to pursue a personal vision that promotes faith and happiness, it was more corrupt in the 1930’s than it is today so it is not as big as a defect but instead has been almost

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