American Dream in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (Free Essay Sample)

The idealized American Dream has come to represent wealth, freedom, and happiness. However, many in America often search for the romanticized American Dream, only to find it unachievable. In Of Mice And Men, a 1937 novella by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck writes of two unlikely friends, George Milton and Lennie Smalls who are migrant workers and plan on owning a ranch of their own one day. The American Dream motivates the two men to get their ranch until George eventually shoots Lennie in the back of the head. Using George and Lennie with their ranch, Curley’s Wife with her dreams of being in pictures, and Crooks and Candy with their wish to be in George and Lennie’s dream, in his novella, Steinbeck exposes the American Dream as unachievable and destined to fail.

Throughout the novella, Steinbeck mentions several instances of the impossibility of the American dream. When George and Lennie arrive at the ranch, Steinbeck introduces us to two characters- Crooks, a black stable hand, and Candy a disabled swamper. Both of these characters ask George and Lennie to be included in their dream to try to escape the feelings of loneliness and isolation on the ranch. Candy says "I ain't much good with on'y one hand… An' they give me two hundred an' fifty dollars 'cause I los' my hand An' I got fifty more saved up right in the bank, right now… S'pose I went in with you guys. Tha's three hunderd an' fifty bucks I'd put in. I ain't much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How'd that be?"(61) Candy asks George and Lennie if he can be a part of their dream because on the ranch he feels as though he has no value, and like George and Lennie, he wants to belong somewhere and have a home. Similarly, Crooks says “If you . . . . guys would want a hand to work for nothing-just his keep, why I'd come an' lend a hand. I ain't so crippled I can't work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to."(77) Crooks wants to escape his miserable life on the ranch and sees George and Lennie’s dream as the only way to do this. On the ranch, Crooks is isolated from everyone due to racism and discrimination, causing him to feel extremley lonely. Both Crooks and Candy see the ranch as their only way out of their very isolated lives. Crooks, however, quickly realizes that the dream is just what it’s called- a dream, not something that could ever happen, and by the end of the book Candy realizes it too- that the dream was never actually going to happen.

Another instance of the impossibility of the American dream in Of Mice and Men is Curley's Wife. Curley’s Wife told Lennie how she wanted to become a movie star more than anything, and when it didn’t work out, she married Curley. She says “I coulda made somethin' of myself. Maybe I will yet…Well, a show come through, an' I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my of lady- wouldn' let me. She says because I was on'y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I'd went, I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet…Well, I wasn't gonna stay no place where I couldn't get nowhere or make something of myself, an' where they stole your letters… So I married Curley”. Curley’s Wife is focused on her failed dreams of becoming a famous actress. She wishes she was because she believes that if her dream did come true then she wouldn’t be living on the ranch with Curley. Her dream, however, is a little different from George and Lennie’s in that it’s quite grander than a little ranch of her own, but they all use these dreams as a coping mechanism for their difficult lives.

One of the last instances of the impossibility of the American dream demonstrated in the novella is the failed dream of George and Lennie. George and Lennie had dreamed of getting a ranch of their own and planned on saving up and getting it. George says “Sure. All kin's a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunt house.”(59) What George and Lennie want is simple and described right here- they want a place to belong. They want a place where they belong and won’t have to keep leaving. However, despite the simple beauty of the dream, it sounds like a bed-time story or a folk tale told to a kid, possibly referencing that they never believed that they going to get the ranch, and more re-told the story over and over again as a form of escapism, or the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy. At the end of the novella, George even says “-I think I knowed from the very first I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would."(94) proving that they all knew that they were never going to get the ranch, but it was a coping mechanism for them from their difficult lives.  

In conclusion, there were many instances in the novella that demonstrate the theme of the impossibility of the American dream. Crooks and Candy demonstrate this with their wish to be in George and Lennie’s dream and feelings of isolation and loneliness, Curley’s Wife with her failed dreams of being in pictures, and lastly, George and Lennie and their dream of owning their ranch. All of these characters demonstrated the theme of the impossibility of the American dream and mostly use these “dreams” as coping mechanisms for their extremely difficult lives, either consciously or subconsciously knowing they will never actually come true.