Of mice and men-Discuss the importance of the American dream Essay

Dictionary: the American dream An American ideal of a happy and successful life to which all may aspire: â€Å"In the deepening gloom of the Depression, the American Dream represented a reaffirmation of traditional American hopes†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Dictionary: dream a cherished desire The American Dream is a dream of success, fame and wealth achieved in the United States of America. It’s thought to be achievable by â€Å"hard work, courage, and determination†, or by â€Å"getting rich quick†. The concept often involves moving upward in the social classes, and may involve icons such as car, house, partner and pet. This definition of the American dream is universal, but it can have a different meaning for different classes of people. People have dreams The novel of mice and men, written by John Steinbeck, is set in 1930’s California during the Great Depression. The two main characters called George and Lennie are migrant workers travelling from ranch to ranch just to get by and make a little money so that one day they can live their own American dream. Throughout the book, Lennie always asks George to tell him and re-tell him their dream of someday owning their own land. ‘Someday we’re gonna get our jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs.’ The use of the word someday shows a sense of longing and uncertainty; he doesn’t know if it will happen soon or even at all. Because of the time the book is set or George and Lennie’s lifestyle, their dream is not the exact definition of the ‘American dream’. It is more to do with freedom and the amount of land owned which equals a higher status in society the more land you owned. George and Lennie’s dream is motivated by the fact that they have no stability in where they live or work. Being migrant workers, they have a very unsettled lifestyle because they don’t know how long they will be needed to work there. After they aren’t needed or if they get fired, it could take a long time to find another job. Their dream of owning a rural house on their own in the Salinas valley is a comforting thought of stability and not having to worry about nowhere to live. The Salinas valley is not a typical rural setting of America, but as George and Lennie have not traveled far, it is their idea of perfect. There are no comfortable houses, but vast orchards, vineyards, and ranched thoroughly tended. In the book, the Californian countryside is described in vast detail at the beginning and end of every chapter. Steinbeck uses description of the surroundings as he, like Lennie developed a close bond with nature. In my opinion, this is Steinnbeck’s dream Other characters living on the ranch also have similar dreams. The migrant worker candy for example is afraid of being alone and dreams of living out the rest of his life with company. When he hears about George and Lennie’s dream asks them if he can join them so he wont be lonely. ‘S’pose I went in with you guys. How’d that be? When they can me I wont have no place else to go an’ I can’t get no more jobs.’ He is desperate so he pleads with them even though he hasn’t known them very long. Another person on the ranch with a dream is Curley’s wife. Her dream is of fame and fortune †Nother time I met a guy-he was in the pitchers. He said he’d put me in the movies. Said I was a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it. I never got that letter. I always thought my ol’ lady stole it.’ She has this dream as an escape from her husband who is very sexist and discriminatory against women. At the time the book is set, women were treated poorly and only thought of as housewives for bringing up children and were used commonly for sex purposes. Curley treats ‘Curley’s wife’ poorly so she dreams about being rich and famous being a movie star. Ironically, this is the dream of many American people nowadays; to be rich and famous as they aspire to be the everyday celebrities we see today. Another dream of hers is also not to be lonely. She explains to Lennie ‘ I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’ This shows that she is lonely because she confides in him about her problem and she doesn’t know him at all. Crooks is the Negro stable buck. He has a separate room away from the white people living and working on the ranch. This also shows the amount of racism at the time the story is set. It seems his dream is to not be treated differently because of his skin colour. He says ‘ I ain’t wanted ’cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink.’ It is obvious that he doesn’t agree with these comments by the way he speaks. He ‘speaks sharply’ showing he is angry about these comments. He talks about everyone else except for him playing cards implying that he would like to play cards too, along with everyone else. In conclusion, I think that the American dream is important to different characters in different ways and different interpretations.