Discuss How the Protagonists Are Similar to What Has Come to Be Known as the American Dream
The American Dream of every individual'south correct to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" has been ingrained within American club since the writing of the Declaration of Independence, when the phrase made its start appearance. George and Lennie'due south dream of working hard and saving enough money to buy their own farm and "live off the fatta the lan" symbolizes the concrete means in which the American Dream serves every bit an idealized goal for poor and working-class Americans even in the darkest and hardest of times. Through Of Mice and Men, however, Steinbeck argues that while throughout American history—and especially during the Neat Depression—the American Dream has at best been an illusion and at worst a trap, unattainable dreams are still necessary, in a way, to make life in America bearable.
The Groovy Depression represented the terminate of an era of the American Dream—the artistic and economic innovation and prosperity of the "Roaring Twenties" came to a short, decisive finish, and American society went into crisis mode. In the midst of this sudden shift, many felt similar the carpet had been pulled out from under them—this sentiment and perspective is echoed in George and Lennie's insistence on pursuing their dream of a peaceful, sustainable life of ease and independence even every bit they are in the depths of an economic crisis which threatens not just their plans, but their very lives. Though little is known of George and Lennie's groundwork, it is clear that they grew up together in Auburn, a Gold Rush town that boomed in the late 1800s but suffered by the 1920s every bit gilt prices dropped. Families hoping to make their fortune in gold continued to flock to Auburn, and soon Auburn was overrun past people camping past the river, hoping to pan for gold in the water in lite of the closed mines in boondocks. George and Lennie, and then, appear to be fleeing a town where at that place'south zilch left for them, chasing their ain dream fifty-fifty every bit they shut out the noesis that there are countless people similar them—many in their very own hometown—pursuing dreams just as broken and hopeless as their own.
George and Lennie encounter hostility and calamity, it seems, nearly everywhere they go. In this manner, Steinbeck portrays the gritty reality of trying to make it in America as a poor itinerant worker. Their struggles are about always as a consequence of Lennie's inability to function normally within the bounds of social codes and contracts. His childlike nature draws him to soft, pleasant, cute things—just his immense strength and huge concrete frame make him an object of fearfulness. Lennie is unable to understand why people keep rejecting him, or why he keeps killing the mice, puppies, and other soft animals he enjoys holding and stroking. George, rather than helping Lennie to control his forcefulness or his impulses, continues stoking Lennie's dream of having limitless rabbits to tend and pet whenever he wants. George knows, on some level, that for either him or Lennie to face up the truth almost Lennie—that he is a brunt, and a unsafe one at that—would tear them apart. As a result, he retreats into a dream of he and Lennie having their ain farm: a distinctly American dream of self-made independence, plenty, and harmony. Candy, another laborer on the ranch where George and Lennie find piece of work, is also swept upwardly in the romantic vision of owning a farm, offering up his savings to aid secure a plot of land. This dream is unrealistic by any standards, and in light of George and Lennie's fiscal insolvency and social struggles, impossible. In order to brand their rootless, dangerous, and directionless being more bearable, nevertheless, George and Lennie cling tightly to the dream of America they've manufactured together. Lennie and George were raised on promises of prosperity and independence tied to a sensibility rooted in the expansiveness of the American W—but the dreams they were led to believe could be their reality have evaporated every bit the Due west has turned from a identify of potential and riches to one of dust, emptiness, and squandered potential.
Even though George and Lennie never achieve their dream, information technology is what keeps them going in the darkest of times. Indeed, even every bit George prepares to execute Lennie with Carlson's rifle in the novella'south final pages, George urges Lennie to stare off into the distance as George narrates the familiar details of their shared dream: a "footling place" all their own. Steinbeck closes the novella with George shooting Lennie to protect him from a worse death at the hands of the aroused ranch laborers who are out for vengeance. This tragic act of violence in the midst of George and Lennie's "dream" shows that for George, this vision of the America he was promised is ultimately just a fantasy—unattainable however necessary in lodge to bear the hard reality of life.
The American Dream ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of The American Dream appears in each chapter of Of Mice and Men. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
chapter length:
The American Dream Quotes in Of Mice and Men
Beneath you will observe the important quotes in Of Mice and Men related to the theme of The American Dream.
"Well, nosotros ain't got whatever," George exploded. "Whatever we ain't got, that'due south what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go become a job an' work, an' no trouble....An' whatta I got," George went on furiously. "I got y'all! Y'all tin can't keep a job and you lose me e'er' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the state all the time. An' that ain't the worst. Y'all arrive problem. You do bad things and I got to get you lot out."
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. […] With us information technology ain't like that. We got a future."
[…] Lennie broke in. "Only not us! An' why? Considering...because I got y'all to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why."
Page Number and Commendation:
Explanation and Analysis:
"Well," said George, "we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build upwardly a fire in the stove and set around information technology an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof."
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Assay:
"We could live offa the fatta the lan'."
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Assay:
"S'pose they was a funfair or a circus come up to boondocks, or a ball game, or any damn thing." Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. "We'd just get to her," George said. "We wouldn't ask nobody if we could. Jus' say, 'We'll go to her,' an' nosotros would. Jus' milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an' go to her."
Page Number and Citation:
Caption and Analysis:
"I seen hundreds of men come past on the route an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads [. . .] every damn one of 'em'due south got a little piece of land in his caput. An' never a God damn ane of 'em ever gets it. Only like heaven. Always'body wants a little slice of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to sky, and nobody gets no land."
Related Characters: Crooks (speaker)
Folio Number and Commendation:
Explanation and Analysis:
"I call back I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never practise her. He usta similar to hear about information technology so much I got to thinking maybe we would."
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
"No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I own't now. That'southward a thing I desire ya to know."
Page Number and Commendation:
Explanation and Assay:
Requesting a new title requires a free LitCharts account.
With a free LitCharts account, you'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes.
Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts business relationship.
You can access all of your notes and highlights by logging into your account.
Source: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/of-mice-and-men/themes/the-american-dream
0 Response to "Discuss How the Protagonists Are Similar to What Has Come to Be Known as the American Dream"
Post a Comment