Comparing The American Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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In a recent poll conducted by PBS, results showed that nearly half of Americans who once believed in the American dream thought that it didn’t exist. This portrayal that the American dream no longer exists is shown in the novel “Of Mice and Men,” written by John Steinbeck. The book focuses on a dependent relationship between two characters. George is a very smart man, but struggles with companionship. Whereas Lennie is a very dumb man, that thrives with making friends. During the start of the novel the author introduces both Lennie and Georges dream too own a ranch. But as the story progresses the author throws events into the story that make their dream seem hard to attain. John Steinbeck, Steinbeck portrays the American dream as something…show more content…
He inserts these conflicts the characters which introduce tension between them and Lennie and George several times in the novel. The first type of conflict that reaches Lennie and George is from Curley. The conflict between them and curley brew up from a persistent hatred from CUrley towards Lennie. This hatred also affects George because it makes george become protective of Lennie. This conflict between Lennie, George and Curley is shown in this excerpt from the novel: “‘Let the big guy talk.’ Lennie twisted with embarrassment. George said, ‘S’pose he don’t want to talk?’ Curley lashed his body around. ‘By christ, he’s gotta talk when he’s spoke to. WHat the hell are you gettin’ into it for?’... ‘Well nex’ time you answer when you spoke to.’ (Steinbeck 28). In addition from conflict arising between Lennie, George and Curley, COnflict also arises between Lennie and Curley’s wife. The conflict between Curley’s wife and Lennie is caused by her persistent lonlinesses. This loneliness makes her jump at someone that could potentially become her companion, because Curley is not fulfilling that duty. Therefore she makes herself vulnerable to Lennie, by letting him pet her hair. When she allows Lennie to pet her hair, this causes a panic between Lennie and Curley’s wife, which leads to her death. This specific conflict between Curley's wife and Lennie is shown in this excerpt from the novel, “‘Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughy’n to. I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.’... She moved closer to Lennie … She jerked her head sideways, and Lennie's fingers closed on her hair and hung on. ‘let go,’ she cried. ‘you let go!’... her body flopping like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” (Steinbeck 97-100). After Lennie kills Curley’s wife it causes him to
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