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Alexander Sim
12/19/10
English 8A
Ms. Wood
Not All of the Mice Got the Cheese
!
Nice lead
The American Dream is something that many people often associated, and
associate, with America. It consists of the freedom and liberty that the country promises
and the possibility of a successful and prosperous life. One aspect of the American
Dream that creates a dichotomy between the upper and middle economic classes and
the lower economic class is the concept of home or property ownership. In John
Clear and interesting thesis,
Alex!
creates a
Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck seems to be using his literary skill as a
form of commentary about how the American Dream was extremely difficult to reach
during the Great Depression, no matter how hard one exerted themselves. Steinbeck
reflects this ideology through George and Lennie’s hopeful dream, Candy and Crook’s
with?
omit
He
promised
omit
omit
I would use their last names
here-they are so important...
immediate captivation, and the novella’s symbolic title. By using these four aspects of
his novella, John Steinbeck effectively captures the difficulty in attaining a life that the
American dream promises during the time of the Great Depression.
!
The first method in which Steinbeck alludes to the difficulty of the American
dream during the Great Depression is through the unreached dream of protagonists
George and Lennie. This novella revolves largely around George and Lennie’s primary
life goal, which is to “have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some
pigs” (Steinbeck 13) and to “live off the fatta the lan’ ” (Steinbeck 13). This aspiration is
reflects the ideal life in
America.
extremely similar to the ideal life in America. George and Lennie’s goal is about gaining
their own house with a patch of land, and ultimately to be free of control from others, or
interesting insight
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have individual liberty. Both of these elements of George and Lennie’s dream are
omit
omit
parallel to those of the American dream, which describes a life that promises individual
freedom and possibly materialistic wealth (in this case, possession of land). Later in the
novella, Steinbeck captures a scene in which George and Lennie reveal their
vivid vocab!
well placed appositive-you
introduce your character briefly
and accurately
clandestine ambition to Candy, the crippled ranch handyman (Steinbeck 53-56). Upon
hearing this, Candy immediately offers to go with them (Steinbeck 56), and says that if
he dies, he will pass all of his life earnings to George and Lennie to help them purchase
their patch of land. Candy’s immediate infatuation and dedication towards the goal of
create a possessive hereGeorge and Lennie’s goal
cite where you found this
information-interesting
observation
from where
omit
omit
George and Lennie alludes to the notion that many were instantly attracted to what the
American dream had to offer, which is a reason that many international and domestic
migrant workers chose to come to America. Additionally, Candy’s crippled condition is a
representation of all the unfortunate situations that migrant workers came to America
from, which reflects yet again the irresistible promises that America is said to offer to
This
comma/interrupter
those in “crippled” circumstances. Another instance in which Steinbeck discusses his
skeptical attitude towards the promises that the American dream offers is when Lennie
reveals his ideal future to Curley’s wife. When she hears this, Curley’s wife says “I think
you’re nuts” to Lennie (Steinbeck 85). This seems to be Steinbeck speaking through
Curley’s wife; he uses her to blatantly state his doubt towards the American dream and
who
nice metaphor
describes
really interesting
observation-”instant gratification”
distracted the workers-maybe
because they saw the long-term
gratification as unattainable.
Nice paragraph, Alex-
those that believe in it. He also uses Curley’s wife to represent the distraction that litters
the path to attaining an ideal life in the United States. When Lennie is in the process of
describing his goal, Curley’s wife begins to let Lennie stroke her hair. This is an
underlying reference to the sexual and materialistic distractions that were prone to
prevent one from reaching their goal of an ideal life during the Great Depression. The
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final, and perhaps most important, instance in which Steinbeck alludes to the difficulty of
succeeding in America (by definition of the American dream) is the moment before
George shoots Lennie. In the minutes immediately preceding Lennie's death, George
starts to talk about their goal, and in an overtly emotional segment of the book, Lennie
begs "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now," to which George responds by saying
"Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta" and then killing Lennie with Carlson’s Luger
(Steinbeck 101). This stage when George and Lennie get as near as they have ever
gotten to reaching their dream is instantly extinguished when George makes his crucial
decision. This reflects vividly that, no matter how close one gets to the achieving the
dream, the final result is usually failure, as is the case with George and Lennie.
Through George and Lennie’s dream, Steinbeck portrays the difficulty of reaching the
American dream during the Great Depression.
omit
!
Another group of characters that Steinbeck uses to capture the difficulty in
also
captures the difficulty of
reaching....through the characters
of...
reaching the American dream during the Great Depression are Candy and Crooks.
Both men are immediately drawn to the notion of working on a patch of land with
George and Lennie. The first instance of this occurs in the bunkhouse with Candy,
George, and Lennie. In the bunkhouse, Lennie begs George again to recount the story
of their future (Steinbeck 53-58). Candy, the old ranch handyman, listens in to their
conversation. He then joins in on the conversation (Steinbeck 55). After this, Candy
then begins to passionately contribute to their conversation, and then offers to pass
down all of his life savings to George and Lennie (Steinbeck 56). From this point
in hopes of escaping/
attaining...
to
omit
forward, Candy becomes an incredibly strong companion towards George and Lennie.
This reflects how attractive the idea of the American dream is, but again, as Lennie dies
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at the conclusion of the novella, that life of prosperity that the dream promises is never
reached. Another character in which the attractiveness of the American dream is
mentioned is Crooks. One day, Lennie and Candy start to tell Crooks about their plan
with George to buy their own patch of land (Steinbeck 71). At first, Crooks reprimands
omit-awkward
for
nice adverb
the pair at their stupidity (Steinbeck 72). However, he then timidly offers to join the trio
when they purchase their patch of land (Steinbeck 73). This reflects that even those
who are doubtful will eventually try to believe that the dream can be attained. Using
both Candy and Crooks, Steinbeck alludes to the attractiveness that many had towards
attraction
the American dream during the Great Depression.
!
Although not a character, Steinbeck uses the title of his novella to capture the
difficulty in attaining a life that reflects the American dream during the Great Depression.
The title bestowed upon the novella, Of Mice And Men, was extracted from the Robert
Burns poem “To a Mouse” (Wikipedia To) (Wikipedia Of). This poem is supposedly
written from Burns’s perspective as a letter of apology to a mouse whose home he
unintentionally destroyed by running over it with his plow in a wheat field (Wikipedia To).
The penultimate stanza contains the line that Steinbeck used:
But little Mouse, you are not alone,
!
In proving foresight may be vain:
!
The best laid schemes of mice and men
!
Go often askew,
!
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
!
For promised joy! (Wikipedia To)
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!
This stanza consists of Burns telling the mouse that the future is unpredictable,
and that even the most carefully planned actions of both “mice and men” have a
tendency to yield haphazard ramifications. Additionally, Burns states in the last two
lines that even though joy and prosperity can be promised, “nothing but grief and pain”
omit
It sounds like you are saying
Burns was referring to the
American Dream-
will be the result. “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew” refers to the
fact that, although one can think through how they are going to live in America
completely and fully, their actions have a propensity to provide unexpected results. This
is largely due to variables that lay out of one's control. Ultimately, the actions of others
nice insight- but maybe
“greatly contributes”-
is a huge contributor to the outcome of one's efforts. This is a key section of
?-This reflects Steinbeck’s
message...
Steinbeck's ideology. The phrase “And leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised
joy!” alludes to the notion that the life of prosperity and freedom that the American
dream promises to all (the promised joy) will usually end up resulting in terrible
consequences (the grief and pain). This is why Steinbeck chose to use the phrase “of
mice and men” as the title for his novella; that line and stanza fully captures both the
plot and themes of the novella and the idea that the American dream was very difficult
to obtain during the Great Depression. By carefully choosing the title Of Mice and Men
very nice
for his novella, Steinbeck gives an introduction to his social commentary before one
begins to read the novella.
!
is it four?
Using all four of these literary elements, John Steinbeck clearly alludes to how
difficult it was to achieve the American dream during the Great Depression. Due to the
Great Depression, people such as the characters in Of Mice and Men were thrown into
an economic debacle which hindered their ability to reach their goals. However,
Steinbeck's insights say that no matter how hard one exerts themselves, the chance of
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success is largely impacted by exogenous variables, and these variables have a gross
impact on whether one's efforts will result in success or disaster. Whether through the
unaccomplished dream of George and Lennie, the passionate attraction of Candy and
Crooks, or the discreet symbolism of the title, Steinbeck intended his novella Of Mice
well said!
and Men to be used not only as a cornerstone work of literature, but also as an
insightful social commentary. This commentary can be used to say that, as the
circumstances between the time of the Great Depression and today are similar to a
certain extent, the American dream continues to be difficult to attain. This is true
because, although the economic situation is not as dire and relevant (although it is to a
degree), the concept of uncontrollable exogenous forces that control whether one
reaches success or not continue to preside over the ultimate outcome. Although the
comma
American dream was a goal that many strove for during the Great Depression, not
everyone was able to attain it, or in other words, not all of the mice got the cheese.
Alex,
I really enjoyed reading your essay. It is original, insightful and thought-provoking. It is
also well-organized and well-written. Nice job!
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Works Cited
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York, New York: Penguin Compass, 2002. Print.
Wikipedia. “Of Mice and Men.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia, 10 Dec. 2010.
Web. 14 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌Of_mice_and_men>.
- - -. “To a Mouse.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia, 5 Dec. 2010. Web. 14 Dec.
2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌To_a_mouse>.