American Dream Essay

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows American dream as an unreachable goal for the characters. Of Mice and Men is a novel based on two childhood friends, Lennie and George, who travel together in search of work. Lennie, the gentle giant, has a mental disability and an obsession of petting soft objects. One day, while stroking a girl’s hair, Lennie accidently kills her. And eventually by the end of the novel, George is forced to shoot Lennie. Steinbeck shows American Dream as an unreachable goal because of a character’s standing in the society, their dreams to be unreal and their dependency on other characters.
American Dream is unreachable because of the different levels created in the society leading to discrimination. Firstly, Curley’s wife goes through gender discrimination that stands as an obstacle in front of her from living her American Dream. After her marriage with Curley, her dream is shattered into pieces. We come to know how her life is horrible when she admits that she “(does not) like Curley” (100) because he “ain’t a nice fella” (100). And Curley being overprotective over her, he wants her “to talk to nobody but (him)” (98) or else “he gets mad” (98). But getting “awful lonely” (98), she tries to start a conversation with the people in the bunkhouse. And in return, all she ever gets is being called a “tart” (31) or a “tramp” (35). So if Curley forbids his wife to talk to anyone, there is no way he would let her pursue her dream. Therefore due to all the discrimination that Curley’s wife suffers, she is unable to reach her American Dream. Secondly, Crooks goes through racial discrimination. Crooks’ American Dream is to be treated equally by everyone. But he “ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse” (77) because ...

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...deal with them that together, they could “get a big stake” (63) in order to buy a “little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’” (63). Candy says he would “cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some” (67). However, after Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife, Candy in “his greatest fear” (107) asks George if they could still “get that little place” (107). But he knew it was no, and right at that moment his American Dream comes to an end. Therefore if Candy would be all by him following his American Dream without depending on George and Lennie, he would have been successful.
In the end, even after working so hard, none of the characters were able to reach their American Dream. In conclusion, Steinbeck shows American Dream as an unreachable goal because of a character’s standing in the society, their dreams to be unreal and their dependency on other characters.