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The American dream:
"All people can succeed through hard work, and all people have the potential to live happy succesful lives." Source
This was a very important way of thinking in the old U.S.A. It affected many peoples lives. Some in a good way, and some in a bad. Today I'm going to have a look at Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men", and how it is a critic of the american dream.
I think that Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" is a reaction to the american dream and the United States political system. It was written during the great depression, where lots of people were homeless, unemployed and poor. Therefore alot of people wrote books about the american dream, and how unrealistic it was.
Of Mice and Men is a book about two men named Lennie and George. They are homeless and looking for work. They start working on a farm, and hope that the money they will get can make them afford a new place to live, without all the hard work. They meet a lot of trouble on the farm. Will they make it?
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Lennie and George meet many different people on the farm. Crooks is a black man that works hard to become successful. He is lonely, and can't be with the other workers because he is colored. It is to me really clear that he will live a hard life and never get enough money to get a better life, no matter how hard he works. We also meet Candy. He is an old man who have been working hard for big parts of his life. From all the working, he has made an ok amount of money. Still, he has worked hard all of his life, and I got the impression that he doesn't have alot of time left. Another character is Curley's wife. When she was younger, she got an offer from a hollywood film maker because she was such a good actress. Her mom wouldn't let her go, and therefore she got married later, so her life would have some sort of meaning. She doesn't like her husband, and feels lonely. Every single day, she dreams of the life she could have lived.
It is no secret that Lennie and George never succeed. For a while, they thought that the their dream could come true, but I think most readers understood early that they would never make it.
I think what Steinbeck was trying to say through this book is that many people were unable if becoming succesful, even if they worked hard for it. He thought the american dream was unrealistic, and that there was a problem with the american politic. You would need a lot of luck to succeed with nothing but hard work. And a lot of people were unable of reaching success. Black people is a good example.
On another side of the story, many people actually had success coming to America to live the american dream. I still think that Steinbeck had a good point. Everybody couldn't make it with just plain hard work. Steinbeck was still very negative about the american dream. Maybe because the book he wrote was written in such a bad economic period as the great depression?
Sources:
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-american-dream.htm
