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Marginalization American Dream

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The American Dreams of Disenfranchised Mice, Men, and Outsiders For hundreds of years people have come from all over the world to America, to chase a dream coined “The American Dream”. This dream follows the belief that America offers vast opportunities to everyone who is willing to work hard. While the American Dream is most frequently of improving life quality for these immigrants and those they care about, often having land or a business of their own, it is also quite frequently for fame and fortune. These ideals have the great power to give people hope, voices, happiness, and even life. However, when something that powerful is taken away, the damage caused is more often than not, substantial. As is shown in the novella by John Steinbeck …show more content…

In Of Mice and Men, this is shown by Candy’s change in voice when given the dream to go with George and Lennie and get a piece of land. Candy is the swamper of the ranch, and because of his old age and one hand, he is unable to do many tasks and is believed to soon be fired from the ranch. This dream was not only a place to stay for Candy, it was a place where he will have company, since he wouldn’t end up fired and dying alone with no job or home, as he has presumed. Candy had enough confidence in this dream, that he no longer felt as though he was walking on eggshells and trying to cling on to this job and chance at company. Upon losing the dream, Candy loses the voice and confidence provided by the dream. Without the dream Candy is submissive and easily gives in to others, but with the dream as his backbone, “Candy joined the attack with joy” (-page 62 of Of Mice and Men) even though they both know that Curley is more powerful. Candy’s loss in voice is clear and pointed, however, the loss of voice from The Outsiders character Darry Curtis, is more subtle. Only seeing him after the dream has been taken from him, it isn’t possible to see a visable change and are limited to what Ponyboy (Darry’s younger brother and the main character) tells. From Ponyboy learn that “he had been a real popular guy in school; he was captain of the football team and he had been voted Boy of the Year But …show more content…

As is the case with Curley’s wife and Dally. The wife of Curley, the cruel son of the boss who picks fightd on the ranch, from Of Mice and Men, is considered a tart by the ranch hands, and while she may be one, she is often just searching for someone to talk with. She doesn’t enjoy life on a ranch and is excruciatintly lonely the majority of the time. She likes to talk about a man who told her that “ ‘He was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it.’ She looked closely at Lennie to see whether she was impressing him. ‘I never got that letter,’ she said” (-page 88 of Of Mice and Men). Curley’s wife has lost her dream of being a movie star, and fame and fortune which she believes is due to her mother, causing her to walk into her loneliness. Due to this loneliness, she again walked into her own destruction, this time her death, when she joined Lennie in the barn even after seeing that Lennie has killed a puppy. Due to her loneliness, which was self-inflicted, she ends up dying, much like Dallas Winston from The Outsiders. Dally, the stereotypical greaser and thief, who is cold when it comes to all but Johnny, the second to youngest member of the gang, and the one who all feel obligated to take protect. Dally has lost most of his dream, knowing that given his social

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Darry Curtis from S.E. Hinton's the Outsiders is both a Greaser and Soc. Darry Curtis is part of a gang that consists of his brothers Ponyboy the smart and Soda Curtis the handsome, Two-bit Matthews the shoplifter, Johnny Cade the troubled, Dallas Winston the thug, and Steve Randal the car thief. Darry Curtis, the fatherly figure of the gang, has an average physical features, a weird role, and some, interesting personality Darry Curtis is a Greaser, except not your typical greaser.

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Misconception Curley’s wife, who was never to be named, was a complex and important main character in John Steinbeck's novelette “Of Mice & Men.”. She had a complicated past from aspiring to be a young actress but never getting the support needed from her family. She was practically forced into marriage with Curley; she never actually loved him. From the first time she was brought up in the novelette, she was portrayed as a flirtatious, ignorant tramp. This portrayal, however, is based on the viewpoints of Steinbeck’s male characters.

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Everyone on the ranch fears repercussions from Curley when interacting with her. Everyone goes out of their way to ensure that they don’t interact with Curley’s wife. All the men figure it is in their best interest to avoid Curley’s wife as much as possible. It also does not help that Curley’s wife is extremely flirtatious. Anytime Curley’s wife appears, the men at the ranch immediately believe that she has one thought in mind.

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Curley’s wife is one of the most alienated characters in the novel Of Mice and Men, if not the most alienated and isolated character as it is displayed through her being nameless, being very flirtatious, and the perception of her by the men on the ranch. Indeed, the author constantly is showing that how regardless if you are amongst people or have company, but however there is no sensation of love what so ever, it is just as equal to living a life through despair and desolation. Whenever Curley’s wife appears in the book she is either looking for her husband or other company to converse with, however it has a reverse notation and it pours out of her in resentment and disillusion as she states, “Why can’t I talk to you?I never get to talk to

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In John Steinbeck’s phenomenal novel Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife causes problems all over the ranch by interrupting situations everywhere because she resides in a loveless relationship. Curley’s wife produced the Curley-Slim conflict by always dodging him and never being around to see him which lead Curley to quick accusations. Then she goes snooping in the barn to find poor Lennie after he just killed his pup which leads to her death and downfall of some rancher’s American Dream ranch. Curley’s wife also finds herself in Crook’s room just looking to stir trouble when she starts tossing out insults embarrassing them and hurting their spirits. No matter what situation is transponding she always finds a way to create problems for everyone

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Curley’s wife in this novel represents loneliness. Moreover she often had no one to talk to. She was habitually rejected by the ranch hands. Curley’s wife was always looking for someone to bend an ear to; she was not trying to seduce them. Curley’s wife is looking for someone who will listen and talk to her.

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Finally, Lennie’s strength is too great for him. Steinbeck writes “And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck. ”(91). Just like the mice that he squeezed too hard, and the puppy he shook too harshly, Lennie’s strength had gotten the best of him. Although he never intended to kill anything, he could not contain his own

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Other characters dreams can affect them because, sometimes it clouds their vision, surroundings, and judgement. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck,“I don’t want you to yell. You gonna get me in

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In the next couple paragraphs I am going to talk about the dreams of three characters from the novella “Of Mice and Men” Those three characters are: George, Curly’s wife and Candy. For George his dream is explained in extreme detail in the text mainly because Lennie brings it up on almost every page. Georges dream is to: move to a ranch with Lennie own a cow, a pig, some chickens, and a pen of Rabbits George also wants to own a couple of acres and have some wheat, barley, and alfalfa growing on them, the last thing that they really want to do is become their own bosses.

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In this scene, Curley’s wife talks to Candy, Lennie, Crooks, and Slim about how lonely and isolated she feels. She says “If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him. But just let to of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk” (Steinbeck, pg 77). Curley’s wife’s isolation builds her negative personality causing her to constantly guilt trip people and make them feel bad about themselves. This is caused by Curley’s controlling personality, always bossing his wife around.

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In the U.S., over 6.5 million citizens are labeled as intellectually disabled. In the novella by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, the story is set in the late 1930s and follows the journey of two migrant workers; an ordinary man named George Milton and his intellectually disabled childhood friend, Lennie Smalls. Because Lennie has uncontrollable monstrous strength plus the inability to think rationally in stressful situations, prevents George from obtaining his American dream, and gets himself in an inescapable death position, George killing Lennie was justified. To begin, Lennie has impressive strength that he cannot control, along with not being able to think reasonably in intense situations. When Lennie has something in his hands and gets startled, he has a tendency to start to use lots of force on the subject he’s holding.

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1271 Words | 6 Pages

Curley’s wife is described as an attention seeking woman who is desperate and yearns for recognition because of her loneliness and her unsuccessful dream of being an actress. In section 6, Curley’s wife desperately tells Lennie her story of when she was young, she was promised fame and a chance to be on a show, “but my (Curley’s wife) ol’ lady wouldn’ let me (Curley’s wife)”. This expresses that there are always obstacles that prevent people from succeeding just like how her mother refuses to let her be in the show and be an actress to get the attention she always yearns for. People start off with great potential, viewing their dream as obtainable and as their biggest motivation, but in this cruel world, they are only reaching for a tragic aim. Moreover, Curley’s wife expresses that she will never stay in a place where she “couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself (herself)”, but what she does contradicts what she says, instead of having a better life or gaining recognition, she marries Curley and is back into a similar or even worse situation she started from.

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1060 Words | 5 Pages

No matter who you are or where you have come from, you have undoubtedly heard of the American Dream. The idea that no matter who you are or where you have come from, you can do whatever it is you desire in America. What was once one the main driving forces for immigrants to flock to the new world, has slowly changed over the years, but still holds its value in the eyes of those who are looking for a promising new place to live. The American dream might not hold the same awe inspiring sound that it once did, but for many generations before ours it was a beacon of hope that helped build the foundation that the United States was built on. And, still, today the American dream might not be as achievable as it once was, but it is still an important

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1615 Words | 7 Pages

John Steinbeck explains how Curley, the boss’s son, is not involved in his wife’s life, because he spends all his time talking about the ways he is going to seek revenge, as a result Curley’s wife gets lonely and is tempted to flirt with the men on the ranch. When Curley's wife tried speaking to Crooks, but he also rejected her fiercely and she said to Crook “ Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever once in awhile, think I like to stick around in the house all time and listen to what Curley is going to do to the other men”(Steinbeck 77). Since Curley’s wife is not getting attention from her husband, she is forced to seek attention from other men in the bunkhouse. Curley’s wife is very loyal to Curley, but because Curley is not involved in her life she complains to other men like Lennie saying “I never get to talk to anybody. I get awful lonely”(Steinbeck 85).

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The Outsiders After reading about this book for a whie now I have decided to write about how innocence will fade with age. I chose this because I felt like in the book there were a lot of parts when the innocence faded as the boys became older Pony boy Curtis lives in a world where there are two types of people, the greasers who have no chance and the socials who have all the chances. One of the most important things fir the greasers is loyalty and trust and the only family the greasers have are themselves Darry is the leader and Pony boy’s oldest brother, Soda is pony’s second eldest brother and certainly the handsomest.

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