Of Mice and Men and the American Dream Essay

John Stienbecks novel Of Mice and Men is to the highest degree the death of the American ambition. George, Lennie and sweetens breathing in is to own their own break up of land to work and live independently on. This inspiration is done for(p) by Lennies ignorance and Lennies might, which he cannot control. Curleys wifes dream is to be a famous Hollywood actress. Her dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who promised to contact her around her acting career except neer has. Crooks dream is for equality. Racism and the attitudes of others destroy this dream.Lennie and Georges dream is to own a piece of land to work and live where they can have cows, pigs, scandalmongering a vegetable patch with alfalfa and rabbits. O. K Someday were going to get the seaman together and were going to have a little house and a couple of body politic and a cow and some pigs and An live off the fatal the land Well have a vauntingly vegetable patch and a rab bit-hunch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter well just say the hell with going to work, and well pretend up the fire in the stove and set around it an listen to the rain coming low on the roof. (Steinbeck 193718)This quote illustrates the dream have around owning their own land and living independently on it, growing and harvesting their own crops in the vegetable patch, farming cows and goats for milk, pigs for ham and bacon and chickens for eggs. When Candy hears about this dream, he wants to become part of it by offering his saved money to fund the purchase of the piece of land and be able to work and live on the land with George and Lennie. George, Lennie and candys dream is destroyed by Lennies ignorance and Lennies ignorance of his own dominance.When Lennie is in a stressful situation, like when he wanted to pat the girls dress and she screamed, Lennie panics and doesnt know what to do. Lennies strength and ignorance ruins their dream when Lennie and Curleys wif e are talking in the barn. Curleys wife invites Lennie to feel how soft her haircloth is. Lennie patted her hair very hard. Curleys wife, not wanting her hair to be messed up, jerks her head away. Because Lennie is confused he grabs her hair and tries to make her stop yelling.But because Lennie does not know how to control his own strength, he squeezes Curleys wifes neck too hard and crushes her spine. Lennie then flees the ranch because Curley wants to kill him for what he did to his wife. So Lennie is not brutally murdered by Curley, George finds Lennie and, because he cannot get him out of trouble, shoots Lennie. Lennies uncontrollable strength and ignorance destroyed his, George and Candys dream Curleys wifes dream is to become a famous Hollywood actress.She dreams of fame, fortune, fancy clothes and large, expensive hotels. Curleys wife is waiting for a Hollywood director to mail her about becoming an actress. This dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley because once she is married she is not allowed to pursue an acting career because she has to look after the house, because Curley will not allow her to leave behind the ranch to become an actress. Her dream is to a fault destroyed by a Hollywood director who believed she had the strength to become a film actress.Curleys wife meets this director at a dance and he promises he would send her a letter about acting in one of his films, but she never gets the letter so she does not become an actress which is her dream. Her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who has not mailed her about her acting career destroys her dream. Crooks dream is to be equal. Because he is black, he is treated differently than others because of their racist attitudes. Crooks must not go in the bunkhouse so he has to sleep in the harness room.He is also abused by the foreman of the ranch whenever the boss gets angry. Crooks dreams that he can be treated the aforesaid(prenominal) as everyone else, so he does not ha ve to sleep in the harness room rather of the bunkhouse or by abused by another man. And he gave the stable buck hell, too get through the stable buck hell? he asked Sure. Yak see the stable bucks a nigger. (Steinbeck 193722)This quote shows how Crooks is mistreated by the farm boss because he is a black man. The ranch boss thinks he can ill-treat and discriminate against Crooks because he is black.Crooks dream of becoming equal is destroyed by the racist attitudes of others The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is about the death of the American dream. The dream of George, Lennie and Candy is to own their own piece of land to work and live on. Lennies ignorance and Lennies uncontrollable strength destroy this dream. Curleys wifes dream is to be a famous Hollywood actress. Her dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who promised to write to her about her acting career but never has. Crooks dream is for equality. This dream is destroyed by ra cism and the attitudes of others.