Explain The Improbability Of The American Dream In Of Mice And Men

The Improbability of the American Dream In 1931 James Truslow Adams created the term “American Dream” in his book The Epic of American. He defines it as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” At the time America was in the Great Depression where unemployment, poverty, debt, hunger, and homelessness was the normal. The American Dream gave people hope for a future where hard work and sacrifice would result in the realization of their dream. In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, set in the 1930’s, we witness the struggles, disappointments and hopelessness of his characters in their search for their dreams. Steinbeck reminds us of the need for dreams to give us a sense of purpose, and the impossibly of reaching our dreams because of life’s circumstances. Throughout the book, Steinbeck calls attention to the dreams of his characters. George just wants to be “somebody”, to have a ranch and be his own boss. Lennie wants to be with George to rise his rabbits and meet his addiction to soft objects. In chapter one, we first learn of their dream when Lennie begs George to tell him about their dream. “O.K. Someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-“(Steinbeck 14). At the end of George telling Lennie about the dream, Lennie asks George if he can have different colored rabbits and millions of them. This is where the reader starts to ask themselves if George actually believes in their dream. This ‘dream’ is more like a story now because Lennie constantly asks George to tell the over again. George meets this old ranch hand, Candy, who also has a dream. His dream is to not die alone and when he over hears George and Lennie talking about their dream, Candy laches himself on to that dream by offering George money and helping on the ranch. “ ‘S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hundred an’ fifty ucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some’ “ (Steinbeck 59). With Candy’s offer, we see George beginning to believe his dream can come true. Candy is excited that his dream will also come true because now there is a possibly of him moving in with George and Lennie, and not dying alone. Lennie is extremely happy to because now he can have his rabbits. In chapter four, when Lennie accidently exposes their dream to Crooks, the stable buck, he is quick to tell Lennie that the dream is impossible. “I …show more content…
Steinbeck foreshadows in the beginning when George and Lennie are run out of Weed because he touched a girl. Curley’s, the boss, wife comes to see Lennie when he was sitting in the barn alone with the dead puppy he killed. By comforting him, she lets Lennie touch her hair because it is soft, but it starts trouble when his hand gets entangled in her hair. “ ‘Don’t you go yellin’, he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck” (Steinbeck 91). Now that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife, he knows he did something dreadful and that George will not let him tend to the rabbits. When George finds Curley’s wife’s body, after Lennie fled the scene, he knew he has to kill Lennie before Curley go to him. It was probably a hard thing for George to kill the only person he had in his life. “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). George had to let Lennie go. He needed to kill Lennie after the accident happened because if he did not, Curley and the others could have beat him and killed him brutally. Whereas when George killed him, Lennie was happy and in peace. After Lennie dies, Candy still has hope for the land. “ ‘You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George? You an’ me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we,