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Of Mice And Men American Dream Essay

586 Words3 Pages

During the Great Depression, many unemployed workers moved to California to look for work on the ranches. This was because they had a dream to become successful, which is also called “the American dream”. In John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie, the two main protagonists, worked on a ranch chasing the american dream just like many other americans who dreamt of becoming successful. They tried to save money to buy their own land and live a life where they were successful. However, they never accomplished that, and like many others, did not realize they would never accomplish it. Steinbeck portrays the american dream through motif and irony to show that chasing the american dream leads to poor judgement of reality. Steinbeck …show more content…

At first George believed that he could accomplish his dream but later doubts it right after he discovered Lennie did another “bad thing”. “Before George answered, Candy dropped his head and looked down at the hay. He knew.”(Steinbeck 99). After they discovered what Lennie did to Curley’s wife, Candy asks George if they can still buy their land but all their hopes dropped as they suddenly returned back to reality and realized what was and wasn’t possible. Furthermore, George talks to Lennie about the land and their dreams in a cold voice before he shoots Lennie, showing the signs that he didn’t actually believe in what he was saying anymore. “George shook himself...his voice was monotonous and had no emphasis.”(Steinbeck 103). George speaks in this tone which shows how he did not believe what he was saying to Lennie was true. George realized his dreams would never come true after being blinded by his own ambition to become successful for quite a while. Steinbeck uses motif and irony to show that chasing the american dream leads to ones misjudgement of reality. Steinbeck uses motif to show everyone 's misjudgement and irony to show a character transition from being blinded to realizing what is actually possible and what isn’t. The message one can take away from the story is knowing what is possible and what is just a fairytale dream. In the story, many characters believed the american

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