Of mice and men coursework -- I have been given the following question what does the novel show the reader about the authors view of the American dream?

Of mice and men coursework

I have been given the following question what does the novel show the reader about the authors view of the American dream?

The novel mice and men written by john steinbeck examines two main characters George and Lennie who are travelling together in the hope of a successful dream. In my opinion the book strongly refers to the American dream and portrays how desperate they are for the dream to materialise.

The American dream is constructed on the theme that anyone can achieve success so long as they work hard enough. The dream originated when many people immigrated to America. The majority of people leaving the countries were lower class people. The conditions virtually meant that the country would make them lower class for life. When Europeans left for America they were told that everyone would be landowner, they would live like kings and the streets were paved with gold. Everybody would live equally. This was a wonderful dream for the Europeans fleeing from the class system of their home countries. This soon became known as the American dream and had a huge influence on the American society, with hard working and strong willed people.

In the book George and Lennie share a dream together, and this dream has several elements that refer to the American dream. George and Lennie believed that if they worked hard enough and ran up a stake they would be in a position to own their own farm. In the very first chapter George describes the dream when he tells lennie “we are going to have a little house and a couple of chickens and a couple of acres of land and a cow and some pigs.” At this moment lennie would interrupt and shout “ an live off the fatta the land”. An have rabbits”. Lennie was most excited and enchanted by the dream, as he would constantly ask George to tell him about rabbits. George tells lennie not to tell anyone about the dream; you almost get the feeling that George thinks that if the dream is shared the dream will be lost. This is shown when George says to lennie “Don’t tell nobody about it. Jus us three an nobody else. They li’ble to can us so we cant make no stake.”

However, because of the special bonding between George and lennie there is an aura about them that says the dream will be successful. This is typified when lennie says that the dream will have an happy ending because “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you and that why”. This continues to show that they have the belief and desire for the dream to succeed.

In the novel candy an old swamper who works on the ranch also has a dream Candy’s dream is to have security. Security in his job, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

In the novel candy an old swamper who works on the ranch also has a dream Candy’s dream is to have security. Security in his job, that he wont be sacked because he’s getting too old, or because he’s useless because he’s only got one hand, this normally wouldn’t effect someone now but in the time the book was set Candy’s chance of getting a job if he was sacked from the ranch would be minute. Because of this insecurity Candy is very scared of Curly and the boss. In the book when Curly first meets George he speaks nicely about the boss and said that at Christmas he gave them whisky. I think he lied to George about the boss in case George told the boss what he had said which would have been true but nasty. When the boss comes into the room Candy quickly makes up an excuse why he’s talking to George and Lennie and gets back to work. He did this because he doesn’t want to get in any trouble with the boss because the boss might sack him. Then Candy will have no job and will be too old to get another one in addition to this he cant retire and because he doesn't have any family to go to he’ll probably have to live on the streets. When he accidentally overhears George and lennie discussing the dream Candy wants to go along and be involved to. Now Candy thinks he’s going to be leaving the ranch soon to go with George to his dream farm, his attitude towards Curly, the Boss and Curly’s wife changes. When Curly starts on Lennie, Candy quickly rushes to his defence.
‘“Glove fulla Vaseline,” he said disgustedly’ Referring to the glove Curly wears on his hand to keep ‘soft’ for his wife. He is not scared of Curly and the boss anymore because if he gets sacked he feels he can just move on to George’s dream farm. With Candy’s newfound confidence he starts sharing his views and sticking up for other people such as Crooks the black stable buck. Curly’s wife is verbally attacking Crooks, telling him how she can get him killed if she wanted too. Candy retaliates by saying,
“If you was to do that, we’d tell... We’d tell about you framing Crooks.”
He sticks up for Crooks, which shows he wasn’t racist and that he also had a dream for a better society. This is that when you have worked and are getting old you would have money, a pension, and that everyone is treated equally like him and Crooks. This shows that the book reflects the time its set because Candy would probably have a pension and wouldn’t have been able to get sacked without out a just cause in our time.

Crooks is an illustration of the way in which loneliness can corrupt and destroy a man. Crooks has a double burden, he is not only a Negro in a society that immediately relegates non-whites to a sub-human status, but also a partial cripple in a society that values human beings simply on their ability to provide a service. Crooks dream is to be treated like a human and be accepted in society. Because he’s black he’s always been bullied and picked on by most of the others. Candy, George and Lennie are the only ones who don’t regard Crooks as sub-human. Candy describes him as a ‘nice fella’. He is never allowed to go out with the other people in the ranch and has to stay in his own room in the barn, he hates everyone at the ranch because they treat him badly, he says to Lennie,
“They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all stink to me.”
While talking to Lennie, Crooks reminisces of his childhood. How his father owned a chicken ranch and the white children used to come and he would play with them, and how most of them didn’t care about the colour of his skin and that they were nice to him. He recalls Instead of how he slept all alone now, he used to sleep with his two brothers.
“They was always near me, always there. Used to sleep right in the same room, right in the same bed-all three.”
He was happy in the past, dignified, because he wasn’t alone and he was treated equally and he wants that back.

In the whole novel we never hear the name of Curley’s wife, she is always referred to as Curley’s wife. This makes her sound like she is Curley’s property, like Curley’s shoes or Curley’s horse. Maybe she doesn’t deserve one, maybe that if she married Curley she would get a name. This reflects on her dream of equal rights for women. She is a very lonely person; she has no one to talk to except the men on the ranch who don’t really listen to her. So to make them listen to her, or pretend to in most cases, she dresses provocatively to get attention. However Candy and others see her as a ‘tart’ and she’s always giving the ‘eye’. Even Curly doesn’t notice her; he still goes out to the ‘cat houses’ with the other ranch workers, instead of staying with his wife. She seems to be hurt by this, she says. “Think I don’t know where they all went?. I know where they all went.” Curley’s wife’s dream is to be a star, when she was young, she was asked to go on a show, but her mother wouldn’t let her. Film work was one of the few types of work you could get as a woman, it was every girl’s dream, but it was often only a scam to take advantage of young women. Curley’s wife remembers how a man in the ‘pitchers’ said he was going to write to her about being in the movies. But she says her mother stole the letter when it came, when really it didn’t come at all.
When Lennie killed her the writer says. “The meanness and..... the ache for attention were all gone from her face.” This means that she didn’t have to try anymore and life wasn’t just one long struggle for recognition. She had been released and was now more beautiful and alive than ever.

However, from the moment Curley’s wife’s neck was broken George realised that Curley will want Lennie lynched and, even worse, that their dream had been shattered by Lennie's actions. When George finally caught up with Lennie they discussed the dream one last time before George took Carlson’s lugar and shot him. He was dead.

To conclude I would say that the author has a very negative view of the American dream. All these dreams failed, George will never get his farm with Lennie, Crooks and Curley’s wife will never have equal rights to a white man and Candy will always be in fear of losing his job.

By Adam Gibson