of mice and men Essay

Submitted By ckclear
Words: 769
Pages: 4

In a place called America there lived three hardworking men that wanted to become independent and have freedom. Two men were relaxing in the sun on the porch, enjoying not being bossed around by anybody but themselves. One man’s dream was to recline and pet the cutest and softest rabbits; unfortunately this dream was not able to turn into reality. The other man’s dream was to possess their own beautiful stake of land. I think the American Dream may be different depending on the perspective of a person and depending on the time and place. But in the past and in current culture, American dreams are based on success of a person or what you possess. In the novel of Mice and Men Crooks himself has witnessed the failure of other workers not achieving their dream. Most of the past workers had just a simple dream of owning land like Lennie and George’s,
“I have seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn dream in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on every damn ones got a piece of land in their mind” (Steinbeck, 74).

Most of the workers that came from the ranch including Lennie and George, sort of fell under this same spell; the workers come in and have this dream of working constantly in the field to make enough money in order to fix themselves their own stake of land. One of the most common American dreams is based off of success.
From what I have witnessed most American dreams in modern society are having a good job, owning a good home, wealth and family; overall it’s all under the category of successfulness. According to Sally Edelstein from envisioning the American dream, “in the 1930’s most of everyone’s American dream was to survive day by day through the dust bowl. Until the day, people end living in poverty and own there own land for themselves and their family. And producing goods from their own farm.” (Edelstien, Sally). In other words the American dream kept people motivated every day to achieve their dream. In current culture most people have given up on the American dream. The stakes are set high, there’s more competition. Most competition arises due to the fear of failure; that someone has to try harder to be at the top and achieve their own dream. Another reason the American dream is fading away is because it keeps getting more expensive living in this country as we keep breathing. It was easier for the past generations to achieve their dream like first getting an education, going to College, having a stable job, owning a nice home and having a family. College wasn’t as expensive in the 1980’s as it is today. According to the Digest of Educational statistics simple four year college tuition was only $9,554 a year. In 2012 a simple four year