American Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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

(GS1) Lennie is a man that doesn’t mean to do half of the things he does, because of his ableism; only it doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen, like Lennie murdering Candy’s wife. (DS1a) Lennie says, “I like to pet things. Once at a fair I seen some of them long-hair rabbits. An’ they were nice you bet” (90). (DS1b) Lennie loved soft things, though he was always brutal with them; which is what happened with Candy’s wife, her hair was soft and Lennie accidentally got brutal and killed her.(GS2)Lennie was almost like a force of energy for George, Candy, and his dream; though when he died all the hope once built up for the dream was lost because of what George said. (DS2a)“ -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” (94). (DS2b) Lennie was the centerpiece of the entire plan, he believed so much that he was able to convince George and Candy that it was actually possible for them to achieve.(GS3) George was Lennie’s best friend and he was the one who had to kill Lennie because he knew that all the others would have been cruel.(DS3a) Lennie and George talk for the last time, “‘No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s the thing I want ya to know.’ The voices

With racism is would go far beyond the book as to why some people might not live the American dream, it could be jobs that people won’t hire you for because of your race, or you are too young to do something so until you get that age you can’t do it. All the American dreams that the characters had were not affected by just one ism, they were affected by two or three; meaning that no one is singular when it comes to things that affect them. And with all the isms piling up it just became too much and their dream just ultimately failed, and they were left with nothing. In the novel Steinbeck writes a dialogue for Candy and it explains all the hope the characters had for the American dream. “Sure they all want it. Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’ thin’ that was his. Somethin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it” (76). That is what the American dream is all about, though it didn’t go right and the isms just destroyed all the characters and dreams in the end. It means that the people aren’t the reason to blame for the failure of their dream, it is the born traits they inherited that ultimately destroyed all the characters American dreams. drastically personality repercussions