Of Mice and Men

At school, we have been reading the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. The story centers around two migrant workers in the U.S. during the Great Depression. George is small and clever, while Lennie is big, and has an intellectual disability. They share a dream of owning their own land some day, a typical American Dream.

"The American Dream" is the idea that all people, no matter how poor they are, can succeed through hard work. I think that Steinbeck was critical to this idea. One way he shows this is that the story starts and ends in exactly the same place. He is trying to say that you will most likely end up where you started, not necessarily physically, like in the book, but mentally and economically. He uses  this place to symbolize the state that they are in- no richer than they were when the book started.

Throughout the book, Lennie and George constantly talk about their dream. The readers are wondering the whole time: will they fulfill their dream? The fact that they end up where they started shows Steinbeck's attitude towards the American Dream. He clearly thinks that it does not matter how hard you work or how much you dream of a better life- you cannot change your fate. Even though Lennie and George work very hard throughout the book, they have made no progress toward their dream when the book ends.

Lennie and George have a typical American Dream- owning a piece of land. Steinbeck shows that he is critical to this idea by having the book start and end in the same place. Like the character Crooks says, "They all have the same damn thing in their heads. A piece of land. And none of them ever gets it." (Pg. 68).