What Are The Similarities Between Of Mice And Men And The Great Gatsby

John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are very similar in the theme of the American Dream as both novels portray the character’s dream as an ultimate goal of their lives they must achieve when things get in the way. In The Great Gatsby, one of the main characters, Jay Gatsby, has a “dream” to reestablish the love of a previous relationship with Daisy Buchanan, a prosperous married woman whom he loves. In novel, Gatsby is shown as living his best life, he has loads of money, throws bizarre weekly parties, knows everyone and everyone knows him, and he can purchase anything he could ever want. For example, “On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between

George, looks after Lennie because he has a disability and cannot take adequate care of himself. George and Lennie have a dream of having their own farm one day when they have the money to buy the land, and they talk about it numerous times in the novella, such as, “Someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-” (Steinbeck 1). This dream, however is far out of reach for the two men because of their social class, wealth, and because of the people that get in their way. Curley, the boss’s son, is the antagonist of the novel. He continuously tries to pick fights with Lennie and George and pushes them around because he has more power than them, even though Lennie is physically bigger and considerably stronger than Curley, Curley has more influence due to his position. The theme throughout this novella is that the strongest will be in charge and has all the power, which is why Curley believes he is allowed to take advantage of the other men. While Curley pushes Lennie and George around, it makes the men want to leave the ranch and fulfill their goal of their dream farm even more. In particular, George feels inferior to Curley because he has so much power over him and the other men, “He ain’t no cuckoo. . .dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy.

Throughout this portion of the novella, George and Lennie’s dream seems to be coming true, and with the help of new companions. For example, when Candy asks to accompany the men and he feels a sense of comfort and accomplishment, “”I ain’t much good with on’y one hand. . .An’ they give me two hunderd an’ fifty dollars ‘cause I los’ my hand. . .fifty more saved up right in the bank, right now. . .Tell you what--S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hunderd an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. . .How’d that be?” (Steinbeck 4). Candy feels that once he abandons the ranch he will be able to amount to something in his life and believes that he will be happy. Crooks, feels a similar way when the men start to spend time with him and offer him to come to the ranch with them, “Come on in. If everybody’s comin’ in, you might just as well.” It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger.” (Steinbeck 5). However, at the same time a chain of events happen that seem to crush and bring an undeniable end to the men’s dreams. Lennie does not his own strength and kills a puppy when being too rough with it, “Suddenly his anger arose. “God damn you,” he cried. “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice.” He picked up the pup