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

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The American Dream is written into the Declaration of Independemce in the most famous quote, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The American Dream means different things and there is not one definite meaning in the American Dream. It is an ideal that all citizens of the US should have an equal opportunity to achieve success through hard work and determination. Though that’s not the case. The American Dream is ruined or in my opinion is dead now because of inequality, racism, violence, and amongst other things. People have destroyed the American Dream to the point where people actually would rather live somewhere else. Once people achieve the American Dream, they abuse it. Whether that be using wealth to their advantage, or using their skin color to make others feel inferior to them. …show more content…
For instance, “”I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bundles on their backs an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of them of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em gets it.”” (Steinbeck 74). As cruel and harsh as Crooks was to Lennie by saying this; he was right. Lennie and George aren’t going to be the first people to have an American Dream nor will they be the lasts to not have it. They were just dreams that will never come true and will just hit those who believe in the American Dream with cruel harsh reality. For example, the quote ““Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.”” (74) Crooks compares the thought of people wanting to have land to people wanting to go to heaven. He’s saying that no matter how hard they dream to yearn for something, it will never happen because no one will ever get