The American Dream

[which doctor]

I just got finished reading Of Mice and Men for english class and now I have to write a paper about one of it's themes. Trying hard to find a meaningful leftist topic, I chose the impossibility of the american dream. I just got done writing my intro paragraph, so critique it however you want. Criticisms encouraged. I will post the rest of it later. It helps if you have read Of Mice and Men.



The American Dream


The American dream for many, is just that, only a dream. An ideal life that we just can't seem to obtain. There are too many obstacles that get in our way of living a happy and fulfilled life. George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife all flirted with the idea of the American dream in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. In fact we all flirt with the idea of the American dream for ourselves, only to be faced with the hardships of reality. Very few of us seriously pursue this dream and even fewer of obtain it.

[which doctor]

UPDATE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS

I'm still working on making the first paragraph sound less like a rant on capitalism and make it fit in better with the topic.

When we grow up our parents tell us that we can be whatever we want, but is that really true? If it were true then there would be no people to clean up our garbage, take our money at the cash register, or make our clothes in sweatshops because these our lives that no one wants to live. We can't all go to college, graduate with degrees, and expect to get good paying jobs, because there just aren't enough jobs for college graduates. We need unskilled people to help the the world work, but why can't these people live the American dream? Because society sees their jobs as less valueable compared to others, but in realty all of our jobs are equally important because they all work together to make the world work.
George and Lennie were ordinary people working in the fields of California making meager wages. They had their own American dream of owning a small patch of land to farm and a little cabin to live in. Lennie would have all the rabbits he could want and George would have the peace of mind knowing that he doesn't have to worry about Lennie getting in trouble anymore. Candy also shared the same passion and even pledged his money for the cause. Even after he knew that Lennie was in trouble he asked George if they could still have that land. Crooks also briefly pondered the thought of owning land together with George and Lennie. However he realized the impossibility of that dream, “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. Hunderds of them. The come, an' they quit an' they go on; an' 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’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head.” (pg. 74). George and Lennie's dream was shattered when Lennie killed Curley's wife. George knew the best thing for him would be to shoot Lennie, before the rest of the guys could get to him. Crooks' pessimistic view on their dream turned out to be the reality.

[which doctor]

UPDATE ROUGH DRAFT IS FINISHED

I'm still working on paragraph placement.

Curley's wife wished for an extravagant life full of glamor and fame. She wanted people to know her name. She didn't want to live a lonely and isolated life on the ranch that her husband worked on. She craved attention from all the men who worked on the ranch, attention she would've gotten if she was an actress. She wanted to be a movie star all her life and blamed her mother for not letting her dream come true. She confided in Lennie and told him that she wasn't happy with Curley and that she wanted a life where she could wear fancy clothes and her name could be known. Her dream ended when she married Curley and started living out at the ranch.
Millions of immigrants have come to America throughout its history in search of the American dream. They're often seeking refuge from war, poverty or persecution in their own country. However even in America they still find class war, poverty, and persecution from racists. They come here looking for a new life and a good paying job, but all they find is a life where they live paycheck to paycheck. A few escape and become successful, they're the ones that keep the thought of the American dream going for the rest of us.
History has shown that in this current world that we live in the American dream is impossible for most. No matter how much some of us work on it, it is a goal that remains out of our reach. George, Lennie, and Candy's dream ended when Lennie killed Curley's wife and then George killed Lennie. Curley's wife's dream ended when her mother refused to let her pursue her dreams,so she married Curley and moved to his ranch instead. And everyday in real life people's dreams are shattered by a variety of reasons. The sad reality is that the American dream is not what it used to be, it is now a distant goal, too far for most to reach.


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