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Achieving The American Dream In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

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Achieving the American Dream

"The ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved" (Oxford Languages) is the idea of the American Dream. This idea is exhibited through all walks of life and in many books throughout the height of the 20th century. "Of Mice an Men" by John Steinbeck conveys this very well through the goals of the migrant American worker. In the book George and Lennie must work as ranch hands in the hope of saving up enough money to buy a small farm and work on their own. As the American Dream says itself, achieving it is possible for anyone no matter their mental deficiencies that somebody has or the job they do to achieve it.

The American Dream is obtainable even for people with mental deficiencies like Lennie. Lennie was described as how " he ain't mean, but he gets in trouble alla time because he's so God damn dumb. Like what happened in Weed" (page 41). The only thing in between George, Lennie, and Candy and their dream, was to keep Lennie out of trouble. If more care was taken to keeping Lennie in line, then his altercations with the girl in Weed and Curley's wife later in the story most likely wouldn't have happened. With a little more care, people with mental deficiencies can still accomplish great things. …show more content…

George talks about buying that place from those old folk and says, "If me an' Lennie work a month an' don't spen' nothing we'll have a hundred bucks. That'd be four fifty. I bet we could swing her for that" (page 60). If nothing went terribly wrong, the group of three migrant workers could achieve their dream in just over a month. Even from easily attainable jobs, achieving a dream is well within reach for

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The work ethic that both George and Lennie have is enough for them to eventually achieve their dream of a little farm house with rabbits, but not all of the work they do is on the ranch. George and

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This dream halts to a stop when reality sets in and they realize that they aren’t qualified for this. George and Lennie still hold hope, but it will be difficult to navigate through their issues. “We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us” (Steinback chapter 1). To even be able to afford the land they need to work early mornings and late nights to earn money.

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George reassure Lennie that they are only focus on making money at their job. George Hilton and Lennie are working very hard and are determined to get their own piece of land to get out of the ranch. Throughout the book george and Lennie dream about living off the land. Living off the land is both of their dreams. Another quote from mice and men state's “ Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world.

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This, in addition to political and religious freedom, attracted many people to America. People wanted financial security and a clean start and they believed this would be achieved by moving to America. The American Dream was the hope that the underdog could make something of themselves in the unforgiving world. George and Lennie’s story is a microcosm of the harsh realities of trying to achieve the American Dream. They are two migrant workers trying to earn

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Of Mice and Men Dreams help motivate people to keep moving forward with a goal in their life. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie travel together as migrant workers through California looking for a job. Their dream is to own their own ranch after finding a job that pays well. But impossible from the challenges that they gain along the way. The dreams in the novel affects the characters lives on how they feel towards one another, and themselves.

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He envisions a life where he and Lennie can work for themselves and no longer has to jump from job to job. He tells Lennie, “We’d have our place where we belonged… no one could tell us what to do” (Steinbeck, Chapter 1). George

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As evidenced in Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, and “American Dream” by Will. I.Am, the American dream is achievable based on how one faces their goals and strives to make them a reality. In Of mice and men,two friends George and Lenny travel the country working towards owning their own land to live free from job jumping and hard labor. Right when their dreams of owning land start coming into possibility with their friend Candy willing to help out on the money, Lenny kills Curley’s wife, which makes George finally give up on their dream and shoot Lennie to protect him from his own repercussions. Lennie’s and George's dream to own land was not only ruined by the death of Curleys wife, but also the loss of Lennie, which made George lose interest

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He knew” (Steinbeck, 94). George is heartbroken after what Lennie has done; Candy asks if their broken dream would work out. Candy’s dream became a broken dream because he has been rejected from the idea of sharing the ownership of the

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One example is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men illustrates how certain people perceive the American dream. For example, the book features a multitude of people who are heavily discriminated against, like an African American man named Crooks and a man with a mental disability named Lennie. These two are unfortunately faced with a lack of opportunity, which makes achieving their idea of the American dream seem futile. However, Lennie believes heavily in his personal ideal, and it motivates and inspires him every day.

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Both Lennie and George have a similar idea of what they want for their American dream and that is to someday owning a farm. If they achieve this it would offer protection and financial care. Crooks tells them that they won’t be able to achieve their American dream and this ends up being true for them. Lennie explains their dream and says " 'Well, ' said George, 'we 'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we 'll just say the hell with going ' to work, and we 'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an ' listen to the rain coming ' down on the roof... '"

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The American Dream is only attainable to those who are privileged and considered truly American. Though many immigrants believe that they can grasp the American Dream, it is always out of reach and can never be achieved. The American Dream can never be accomplished through working hard and determination. Often, people chase the American Dream with high expectations for a new life, and they are often disappointed when failure strikes. Because of this, many of the characters in Of Mice and Men struggle to achieve the dreams they’ve been longing for.

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Everybody has a dream. Everybody has some version of their own all American dream in their head. Very few ever achieve that dream however. This is what author John Steinbeck writes about in his 1937 novel Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men takes place in California in the 1930’s, and it follows a pair of two friends, Lennie, a large cognitively impaired man, and George, a smart small man, as they try to obtain their version of the American dream as migrant farm workers, to no success.

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Everyone aspires to achieve the American Dream: an opportunity to be successful by working hard. Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the American Dream brings hope for a better life for those who hold onto it. George Milton and Lennie Smalls, traveling ranch workers called bindle stiffs, dream of owning their own piece of land where they create the rules. They are not the only characters with hopes and dreams. But Steinbeck shows the American Dream is, in fact, sometimes just a dream through the hopes and actions of Lennie, Candy, and Curley’s wife.

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American Dream Dying Everybody has the absolute, ultimate goal of succeeding. Most people who leave everything behind and come to America come for that exact reason; they want to follow the American Dream. For Lennie and George from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the American Dream seemed very distant and hard to reach for them but, they wouldn’t give up hope. Both characters show how the American Dream slowly came to an end through their actions.

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Throughout the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the theme of the unrealized dream is displayed through characters such as Lennie, George, Candy, and Curley’s wife. The unrealized dream, also known as the American Dream, is portrayed differently for a few different characters in the book. Best friends George and Lennie have a shared dream which is to have a serene farm ranch, even if it is small, with a mediocre house, a rabbit pen, and a garden where they can grow their own vegetables and herbs. They long to live independently away from rude bosses and harsh ranches. This is seen differently for a character such as Candy who only wants to keep his job even though he is disabled.

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