Steinbeck’s novel presents the American Dream as a sad illusion. Discuss.

Of Mice and Men is one of the most powerful and symbolic books of its era. It is, as Steinbeck put it, “…a study of the dreams and pleasures of everybody in the world,” examining many different aspects of human existence. A theme central to this novel is the idea of the American Dream, and of its failure as a realistic possibility. The American Dream is one of liberty, untarnished happiness and self-reliance.

The protagonists, George Milton and Lennie Small, centralized their relationship over their dream. The dream was to ‘Someday…get the jack together…have a little house and a couple of acres…” (p.16) This displays George’s belief that one eventual day, their dream will come true, if they saved up their money. He also suggested to Candy that “S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing…We’d just go to her.” (p.61) This indicates that George yearned after the American Dream, wishing to be free and self-reliant, able to go anywhere he’d like at anytime. However, there are hints of the impossibility of this dream. George averred that on their land, “…the cream is so God damn thick you have to cut it with a knife and take it out with a spoon.” (p.57) Also, Lennie claims that they should get different coloured rabbits, and George agrees, saying, “Sure we will. Red and green and blue rabbits Lennie. Millions of ‘em” (p.18) These ideas show that the dream was unrealistic and thus unattainable. Even Crooks claimed that “I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’... Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” (p. 73) In the conclusion of the novel, George and Lennie’s dream was shattered when George was forced to kill Lennie. Although Candy and George were resolute and worked hard in order to attempt and attain independence and their own land, they still did not succeed in doing so. Their journey, which awakened George to the impossibility of this dream, sadly proved that the bitter Crooks was right: such paradises of freedom, contentment, and safety were not to be found in this world. Even Crooks, the bitter Negro stable buck, initially intended to partake in George, Lennie and Candy’s dreams when he first heard of it from Lennie. While having taken part in trying to attack Lennie and his ideal American dream, Crooks was, for a moment, swept away by the possibilities of the American Dream. Crooks alleged that, “I never really seen a guy do it… If you…want a hand to work for nothing-just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand.”(p.76) However, Crooks pride kept him from being part of their dream, saying that, “’Member What I said about hoein’ and doin’ odd jobs…forget it.” (p.82) Albeit having heard and believed that the American Dream was possible, he still refused to be drawn in due to his pride, and so the American Dream would always be, for him, a sad illusion, unattainable due to his ego. Curley’s wife, the antagonist of the novel, elucidated that she strove after the American Dream. She claimed that, “I coulda made somethin’ of myself …he was gonna put me in the movies… was gonna write to me about it… never got the letter…thought my ol’ lady stole it…coulda been in the movies…says I was a natural” (p.87) Portrayed as the main antagonist in the story, even she had a dream. Although she claimed that her ‘old lady’ stole her dream, symbolised by the letter, it appears that she had simply bee trying to make an excuse for why she had not yet attained her dream of being free, with untarnished happiness, wearing,“…all them nice clothes the like to wear…spoke in the radio…wouldn’ta cost me a cent” (p.88) We discover that she never had achieved her idea of the American Dream, and never would. The American Dream, strived after by all working on the ranch, remained unaccomplished even by the end. Even though George and Lennie came close to their dream, they still fell short, as did Curley’s wife’s alleged ‘success’ in her adolescence. “Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion.” Only Slim was content to the head of the dog, and was thus respected. The American dream, as the novel, showed, was the failed attempt of many to be the tail of the lion.