Mrs. Lutrell
English 11
5th February 2018
Lennies devastated American Dream Of Mice and Men was a story beloved in American Literature with the setting of 1930’s and John Steinbeck at the helm. However, this beloved story comes with some startling discoveries as the underlying narrative is one of despair, alienation, and even dehumanization of the human body. As seen with Steinbeck's description and characterization of Lennie throughout the tale. Lennie is written as a giant dehumanized soul to enforce how his mental and physical handicaps will lead inevitably to his inability of him attaining his American Dream. Lennie is always nice as described by George suggesting he could eventually reach his American Dream, however …show more content…
For instance, in the scene where Lennie wants to sleep with the dogs like the filthy animals that they are, Steinbeck uses his Characters to say “ I don't know how we're …show more content…
This would be correct except for that fact that both Lennie and George make strides toward their goal of living off the fatta the land with a deal from Candy. This deal was to buy a place to live on and even putting up 350 dollars toward the total 600 to buy the little place (Steinbeck 59). This all seems good until Lennie's mental state gets him into some trouble as he breaks Curley's hand. This stops their plan dead in its tracks. Furthermore, Lennie has to run off as a result of his childlike state of mind and Curley's wife’s conniving attitude which prompts him to accidentally kill her. This proves how Lennie's mental handicaps lead directly to him shying away from his American Dream as he abandons his plan made with Candy to our run his trouble caused by his mental retardation. Some stories end with a happy ending, however John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is not one of those stories. Steinbeck demonstrates how unfair the world can truly be as seen with nice Lennie Smalls. He works hours on end and supplies companionship to George, yet in the end George is forced to kill Lennie as a result of his childlike mentality and the encounter with the whore of Curley's wife. Lennie thus forfeits his American Dream as he is shot down by his best friend trying to attain a dream that