The American Dream In 'The Pursuit Of Happyness, And Of Mice And Men'

The American Dream is a term used to express the idea that in America, through hard work, someone can attain success and prosperity. The ideas of the American dream have been around for centuries. Everyone has their own version of the American Dream. Some believe the American dream is simply a myth, and some believe it is real. In “The Pursuit of Happyness” by Gabriele Muccino and “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, the authors have different views on the American Dream; Steinbeck believes the American Dream is unachievable while Muccino believes the American dream is attainable but only with hard work and enough ambition.
For instance, Steinbeck believes the American Dream is not real. Readers can see this in the book in many ways. Lennie …show more content…
Lennie is a good worker because of his strength. The workers have a hard time keeping up with him sometimes. When the workers talk to each other, they usually talk about how no one ever gets the dreams they have to be a reality. In the beginning of the book, George and Lennie were talking about how everyone fails at it and how they were going to be different. On the ranch, the workers would talk about how everyone who comes to work fails and they never get what they want. Crooks says, “I seen hundreds of men come by… with their bindles on their back an’ that same dream… An’ never a god damn one of ’em ever gets it”( Steinbeck 74). This was a part of the book where Lennie was telling Crooks about his dream to own a piece of land. After reading this, one would understand that the Steinbeck believes no one can or will have the American Dream. George ended up having to kill Lennie in the end of the book. Their dream kind of died with Lennie in a way. Not even one of the characters in the book ends up having their dream, even after all their hard …show more content…
Muccino believes that the American dream is achievable, while Steinbeck believes that no matter how hard or how long you work toward the American Dream it is impossible to get. Despite George and Lennie working hard their whole lives to get their ranch, they never got to have it. If Steinbeck believed the American Dream was achievable, George and Lennie would have been able to get their ranch. The same goes for Muccino’s story. If Muccino believed the American Dream was impossible, Chris would never have gotten his Dream. Since these two authors have different views on the American dream, their stories had completely different endings. Even though the main characters in the two stories are in very similar situations, the two stories have very different outcomes. The main characters in both stories are constantly on the move trying to find work and a home. The difference is only the character in Muccino’s movie got his dream. George and Lennie never got