The American Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Dreams shape us to be who we want to be: freedom is grated in our dreams because we control where we end up. Society uses dreams to drive their minds to do the unthinkable. John Steinbeck has a predominant theme for the American Dream in his novella Of Mice and Men. In his novella, George, a man on the smaller side, clean-cut, and very serious states his goal is to earn enough money to buy a house with land. Steinbeck exposes George’s common dream of a lonely farm where he is freed from the enslavement of working under a boss. Steinbecks repetition of this dream shows how dedicated. Although Steinbeck and George share the same serious earth attitude, Steinbeck uses George as comedic relief before a tragic event. Likewise in Ann Sihlyer’s article,

Although Steinbeck is known for his very dark demeanor in his writings, he starts Of Mice and Men with a calming tone. He uses his diction to give us a picture of the stereotypical American Dream. His very first page opens with, “ Golden foothill mountains, water is lined with trees, willows fresh and green” (Of Mice). As they read it is easy to picture and provides a warm feeling inside representing the freedom just out of reach of George and Lennie. George’s dream was to reach a point where he had his land, his own house, his animals, and his own money. All around the world, most people share the same goal of a house, a job, and a way to own their things. Just like Taylor, she wanted to “turn her life around” (Sihlyer), but she didn’t start changing to help other people she did it for herself. “I changed because I wanted to, Taylor says” (Sihyler). However, she proves Steinbecks underlying theme that our choices affect the people around us. After Taylor had changed her life, she worked to help other young kids to not follow in her footsteps in gang life, but to show how to avoid that “pit”(Sihlyer). Either way, Steinbeck and Sihlyer show we have to put in time and effort to reach our goals: the ending of our plotline will not only affect us but everyone around

Every man that could work back then worked long hard hours every single day for very little profit. Men worked in unclean factories and had long days doing work on farms that did not belong to them. While their boss got rich from the product they were lucky to get enough to live on. Steinbeck uses the article The Harvest Gypies to show how people would flock to Californian farms to work just like George did. “Californian Agriculture requires that these mirgrants exist, and requires that they move about” (Harvest). George fueled his work by dreaming of a place he could own, he struggled and fought hard days to get what he wants. Likewise with the “gypsies” in California, and how their desperation fueled the large fams there. Steinbeck shows us we need to chase our dreams because our dreams not only fuel our will power, but can effect those around us. He also proves that not everyone is willing to work for their goals which also affects the community. Setting goals for ourselves changes our patterns every day, just like in George’s life he has to make large sacrifices to reach his end goal. George ends up killing Lennie because Lennie killed Curly’s wife. In the same light of “the butterfly effect” as mentioned earlier. Most people see this as unfair, but George wasn’t living he was alive, but he was chained to Lennie. Lennie was a huge man who did not know how to