The Ways in Which Steinbeck Explores the Concept of the American Dream in Of Mice and Men
The American Dream was a dream that nearly everyone had throughout thetwentieth century. It was hope for a better life and people believedstrongly that it would come true. The main characters in ‘Of Mice ‘ have a dream which was to get a plot of land and live on it andbecome self-sufficient. The American Dream was not an achievable goalfor many people. Steinbeck shows this failure through the charactersof Lennie & George.
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The American dream was a great thing. We first heard about it whenLennie and George were sitting by the river at the beginning of thebook. The dream was a hope that every rancher had an opportunity for abetter life. Lennie and George, the two main characters, had such adream, “Some day were gonna get a little place and a couple of acres”.The idea was to get a piece of land, grow crops and have an improvedlife there. They also new exactly what they were aiming for and whatthey wanted. They realised that their imagination should not be settoo high for fear of disappointment. The two men also knew that theyshould not tell other people about the plot of land in case it wassnatched from under their noses. This frequently happened then, as somany people were seeking the same desire., “Well it’s ten acres saidGeorge. Got a little win mill. Got a little shack on it and a chickenrun. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, peaches, cots, nuts, got a fewberries.” This shows that Lennie and George had ambition and again,knew what they wanted. It also shows that there were places where thedream had a chance of coming …
… work for nothing, justhis keep, why I’d come an lend a hand”. You can see also that peoplealways put down the achievement of the dream, but they all had asecret burning ambition to get it if the chance came around.
Through out the book Steinbeck managed to portray the conditions ofthe Great Depression in the 1930’s. He also gave us a glimpse of TheAmerican Dream that every one pursued and showed us that it was not aneasy achievement. Steinbeck has managed to show the different levelsof hardship and suffering that people faced during that period of timeand also managed to show more hopeless situations of people from aminority. The concept of the American Dream is at the heart of thenovel ‘Of Mice & Men’ and therefore allows Steinbeck to make commentson American Society and the time of the Great Depression.
