Essay On Of Mice And Men American Dream

In Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ the American dream plays a pivotal role in the lives of many characters as well as ranch workers in 1930s America as a whole. George and Lennie have their own view of the American dream, which is to, read from what is written. However even though this dream is shared between them, the belief whether it will actually happen differs greatly between the two men. Lennie who is mentally very slow and lacks in other areas shown by George’s statement, “he ain’t so bright”, fully believes the dream and believes that it will come true. Whereas George is the more astute and savvy individual for the majority of the book never fully believes that the American dream will really happen. This suggests that while the American
Lennie who has learning difficulties has problems speaking, and so when talking normally he frequently stutters, with pauses in his speech, “I...I ain’t gonna say nothing”. In addition to this Lennie rarely speaks on his own shown by his encounter with Curley’s wife in which he speaks sparsely and almost only talks about George and the rabbits, “he ain’t gonna let me tend the rabbits”, “I can’t tend no rabbits”. Both of these nuances in Lennie’s speech suggest that his American Dream, having their own farm, is an idealistic, perfect world. This is implied because when speaking about the American Dream the stuttering and pauses in Lennie’s speech disappear. “Tell me how it’s gonna be”, “Now tell how it is with us”. Consequently the American Dream is perceived as a place where Lennie is not different and is as able as any other man. Moreover Lennie speaks predominantly about the American Dream due to not being confused about it. Society has condemned Lennie to be a social outcast due to his disabilities and therefore he struggles to speak about current events in case he says something wrong and is duly punished by George. However in the American Dream there is nothing to be mistaken about as everything is