American Dream 16

* Discuss the idea of ‘American Dream’ and how the author uses the characters in this novel to convey this idea.
John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” is about the death of the American dream. George, Lennie and Candy’s dream is to own their own piece of land to work and live on. This dream is destroyed by Lennie’s ignorance and Lennie’s strength, which he cannot control. Curley’s wife’s dream is to be a famous Hollywood actress. Her dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley. Racism and the attitudes of others destroy this dream.

Lennie and George’s dream is to own a piece of land to work and live where they can have cows, pigs, chicken a vegetable patch with alfalfa and rabbits. “ O.K Someday – we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs and…” ‘An’ live off the fatta the lan’

This quote illustrates the dream have about owning their own land and living independently on it, growing their own crops in the vegetable patch, farming cows and goats for milk, pigs for ham and bacon and chickens for eggs. When Candy hears about this dream, he wants to become part of it by offering his saved money to fund the purchase of the piece of land and be able to work and live on the land with George and Lennie. George, Lennie and candy’s dream is destroyed by Lennie’s ignorance and Lennie’s ignorance of his own strength. When Lennie is in a stressful situation, like when he wanted to pat the girl’s dress and she screamed, Lennie panics and doesn’t know what to do. Lennie’s strength and ignorance ruins their dream when Lennie and Curley’s wife are talking in the barn. Curley’s wife invites Lennie to feel how soft her hair is. Lennie patted her hair very hard. Curley’s wife, not wanting her hair to be messed up, jerks her head away. Because Lennie is confused he grabs her hair and tries to make her stop yelling but because Lennie does not know how to control his own strength, he squeezes Curley’s...