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

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Title The score was one to nothing. We were ahead, but not by enough. My second varsity game was off to a good start. Close calls caused my nerves to sky rocket. We needed that second goal. Running up the right side, feeling the heat and rubber coming up off of the turf, created a sense of excitement. Running in to get the rebound, there wasn’t even time to think, before the ball was in the back of the net. Everyone has a dream, along with George and Lennie in the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. All they want is a happy life, and piece of land. The American Dream is prevalent in the novel because people don’t always get what they dream of in the unfair world of challenges.
Living life can be hard, when you have dreams that may never …show more content…
Crooks also lives life with dreams, that he prays will come true. While talking to Lennie in the barn, Crooks says, “‘Everybody wants a little piece of lan.’ Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land”’(74). Crooks has been at the ranch long enough to know what comes true and what doesn’t. Once again, Crooks is talking about land, but this time towards Candy too. Crooks said to them in the barn, “‘You’ll talk about it a hell of a lot, but you won’t get no land”’(75). Although Crooks is negative about the other men getting the land, he knows how amazing it would be to have, even though he doesn’t find it to be a possibility. Being on the ranch with negativity all around you, really makes an impact on men and their American Dreams, and Crooks is a perfect example of racism during the Great Depression. The men on the ranch all want things that they know they can’t have, but men are not the only ones with dreams. Curley’s wife talks to Lennie while in the barn and says, “‘I coulda made sometin’ of myself”’(88). Curley’s wife had a dream to make pictures, and wanted to be a big star. It was everything she had ever wanted and that was her American Dream that never came true. When the men came back from town, they talked about what they wished they could’ve done. Curley then said, “‘If there was a circus or baseball game, we would of went to her… just said ‘ta hell with work, and went to her”’(96).
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