Explain how the idea of the American Dream is explored in Of Mice and Men.

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Explain how the idea of the American Dream is explored in ‘Of Mice and Men’. In this esaay I am going to explore how the ideas of the American dream is explored in ‘Of Mice and Men’ The title, Of Mice and Men, came from the saying “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray and leave us nothing but pain for what might have been”. This is such a well-chosen name for the novel because it explains the factors leading to the characters’ dreams. The novel was written during the Great Depression of 1930 in the USA. It tells the tragic story of George and Lennie, two displaced Anglo itinerant farm workers in California during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The story is set on a ranch, a few miles from Soledad in the Salinas Valley. In the following essay I will also explain their dreams and show how they plan to fulfil these dreams. Near the end I will clarify what finally happens to their dreams. It is human nature to have dreams, or the hopes one has for the future. Even dreams that are never accomplished are good, because they keep people going on when they normally would have given up. Dreams are something to look forward to, something to fantasize about. A dream is something one indulges in, to escape momentarily from life. In the book, Of Mice and Men, dreams are what every character seems to be craving. In George and Lennie’s case, that something is land. It is natural for men in their situation, itinerant workers in the Great Depression, to imagine working on their own land and being their own bosses. Their dream is simple in some ways yet very complex in others. The dream apparently began as just a story that George told Lennie, perhaps as a way of calming Lennie down, or to keep him focused on working, but after some time, it seemed that George started to believe in the dream himself. George’s dream, although it was basically the same as

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