Similarities Between Of Mice And Men And The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck are both novels that display the theme “The American Dream.” The Great Gatsby takes place in the 1920s during the roaring twenties where business was booming and people were going out and doing things like watching movies, buying fancy clothes, and driving fancy cars. On the other hand, the story of Mice and Men takes place in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, many didn’t have money after the stock market crash. Many were doing many different little jobs to keep afloat. Many worked so much just to receive very little. The American Dream is displayed differently between the two books. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby's Whole Lifestyle is The American Dream. Gatsby owns many expensive items like his “Rolls-Royce [that] became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains” (Fitzgerald, 39).

In this story, the American Dream for most of the characters is wealth or fame, but Gatsby’s American Dream is Daisy. Daisy is a beautiful rich girl, but not everyone can have Daisy. Gastby becomes wealthy to win his dream, but he takes a wrong path which causes him to become a casualty of the American Dream. Gatsby tries to win Daisy back, but Tom gets jealous and he reveals his affair with Myrtle which causes Daisy to kill her. Gatsby gets blamed for it and George, Myrtle’s husband, kills him. Gatsby just wanted to be with Daisy, which ultimately led to his death. In Of Mice and Men, the American Dream for George and Lennie is simple, they want to own their own ranch. Of course, Lennie wants his