American Dream Essay

Every citizen and immigrant in this country has worked as hard as possible to fulfill their American Dream since its inception. In The Great Gatsby and in Of Mice and Men, the American Dream is criticized. This novel takes place after World War I, during the Roaring Twenties.

Nick Carraway moves from Minnesota to New York, where all events of matter occur to him. Specifically, he learns about Gatsby’s extravagant parties from his neighbors. In addition to the affair between Tom and Myrtle against Daisy’s husband, Nick learns many stories about the people he meets.

Gatsby invites Nick to one of his parties, where he meets the man and discovers that he is hosting all these parties for Daisy, the love of his life. Gatsby takes the blame for killing Myrtle, and Myrtle’s husband kills him for it. Lennie and George are a pair of buddies in the story Of Mice and Men. Their constant running is due to all the trouble Lennie puts them in.

Lennie is not to blame, he is just slow, and hurts things he cares about without intending to. In order for George and Lennie to be able to buy land and live peacefully away from everyone, they want to save enough money so that they can buy land and live peacefully without being harmed by anyone.

Their goal is to gain enough money to purchase the land they want. Their American Dream, they believe, can be fulfilled if they can acquire this income. A conflict arises in the story and Lennie kills Curley’s wife, the tart, by accident. Any trouble would require them to run to the river if they were ever in need.

Whenever they find themselves in trouble, they have to run to the river. George learns about all that happens, and makes a decision he will regret for the rest of his life. According to these authors, searching for the American Dream is exhausting, painful, and leaves us with sadness and disappointment in the end.

Our livelihood as people is corrupted by the American Dream, and we witness it before our eyes. In The Great Gatsby, Tom accuses Gatsby of gaining his fortune through wrong and illegal means. According to Tom, “I immediately thought he was a bootlegger.” Gatsby’s wealth and goals were achieved in a very wrong way, as it is very apparent.

Those who pursue the American Dream believe that no matter what means they have to reach their goals, they must use all the means at their disposal. According to Steinbeck, the majority of the ranch workers in Of Mice and Men have a clear goal to achieve.

The goal is to accumulate money so that they can buy property and improve their lives. In spite of that, their more basic desires lead them to waste their money on things generally viewed as wrong, like drinking and buying off women.

They are not directly driven by their pursuit of the American Dream to do these things, but it seems they are indirectly led to such behavior by their inability to control how much they spend their money on. It is clear from the books that the pursuit of the American Dream leads to morally wrong actions.