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Of Mice And Men: The American Dream

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After the Great Depression in 1929, America’s economy was devastated. The increase of farming across the Great Plains states caused the precious soil to erode, turning the once fertile grassland to a desert like Dust Bowl. Hundreds of farmers and workers migrated to California in search of jobs aiming for the American Dream. The American Dream is the hopes and the goals of the characters in which they can obtain a better life through their hard work. In Of Mice and Men, the American Dream is portrayed to be extremely vital for the men as it serves as their motivation, yet ultimately proves to be unattainable through the memorable characters of Lennie, George and Curley’s wife. The unachievable nature of the American dream is hinted in Lennie’s …show more content…

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. This emphasizes that no one can break free from the vicious cycle, reflecting that all others who try to achieve their dream will get no farther than where they originally start. Even in such an awful situation on the ranch, she still tries her best to fulfill her desire and desperation for attention by having “full, rouged lips” and face “heavily made up” to attract the men. However the fact that she is often ignored and unwelcome signifies that no matter how hard she attempts to seek her desires, she will never reach them and people will never get their impossible dream likewise, gaining sympathy from the readers. Even though she fails to reach her dream for a number of times, she is still convinced that she can succeed eventually, convincing herself that she “coulda

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