Compare the American dream with the reality of a migrant worker (Steinbecks - Of Mice and Men)

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COMPARE THE AMERICAN DREAM WITH THE REALITY OF A MIGRANT WORKER

Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck in 1937, this novel concentrates on the lives of migrant workers. Steinbeck's purpose is to show the reality of achieving the American Dream- as the title suggests. 'To a Mouse... The best laid schemes o' Mice and Men, Gang aft agley,' is the source of the book's title. It translates roughly into 'no matter how well we may plan the future, things often go wrong.

The American dream posed the idea that every individual - through hard work and personal sacrifice could achieve success, by being their own boss on their own land. The American government started this concept; they encouraged the idea by giving out free land. But unfortunately the Wall Street Crash crushed the dream in 1929. The U.S entered a period of economic depression, and during this period hoards of migrant workers came to California in search of work, the dream on their minds. Most of these migrants were men who traveled alone; they had no friends or family around. They moved from ranch to ranch working for a short time at each never able to settle. They worked very hard in poor conditions on poor pay, therefore Migrant workers had to dream of a better future in order to survive. Without dreams no one would have a reason to keep going.

Steinbeck's main task is to show the reality of a migrant workers life, to achieve this he must make the story seem as real-life as possible. Steinbeck does various things in the story to create an atmosphere of reality. One thing is he uses a geographical setting- the places are real and the storyline is in a chronological order; chapter 1 is Thursday night, chapter 2 is Friday morning, chapter 3 is Friday evening and so on. Real life items are used like the pulp magazine. Steinbeck uses dialect and colloquial language, which helps to add to the realism of the story. For example 'Awright,' he said brusquely. 'Gi'me that mouse!' says George Milton.

The purpose of this essay is to compare the migrant workers reality with their dream. I will start by looking at their dreams. George and Lennie are the two migrant workers's who are the focus of the story.

Every migrant worker would dream of a better future. George and Lennie represent any migrant of their time. Their dream is to save up enough 'stake' money to buy their own small ranch, thereby escaping from the poverty, insecurity and inevitable loneliness of the life of a migrant worker. George and Lennie see themselves different from other migrants. When they first recite the dream, George describes the life of a migrant worker who has no future: 'Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family, they don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They aint got nothing to look forward to.'
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George and Lennie however travel together; they have someone who cares about them. 'We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all nobody gives a damn, but not us'. 'But not us', as Lennie says 'I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.' George and Lennie are poor homeless migrant workers, doomed to a life of wandering and labour. George and Lennie desperately cling to the thought that they are different from other ...

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