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The American Dream: Harper Lee and John SteinbeckResearch
Compiled for The Paper Store by J. A. Rodgers, June 2007 For More
Information On How To Use This Paper Properly, Please Visit
www.paperwriters.com/aftersale.htm Introduction The American Dream
ultimately means many things to many people. In many ways it can be
argued to have originated with the ideals and success of Benjamin
Franklin. As one author notes, Franklin believed that the only true
way to wealth was through hard work. This noble idea became the
soul of the "American Dream," the idea that all people are created
equal and each person has the same opportunity to achieve success
(Benjamin Franklin). However, that ideal of the American Dream
became more associated with wealth and material wealth than it did
with hard work and noble goals. So, the American Dream means many
things to many different people. With that in mind the following
paper compares and contrasts the American Dream presented in Harper
Lees To Kill a Mockingbird and John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men.
The American Dream: Harper Lee and John Steinbeck In Harper Lees
novel the story is about a young girl,*No Portion of the Document
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1-800-90-WRITE 2 her brother, and her father who is a lawyer. This
girl, Scout, grows and learns about many things through the course
of the novel and it is often considered to be a coming of age novel
as Scout grows up in many ways, seeing truth wherein she used to be
innocent. When speaking of the American Dream in this novel one
must perhaps look at Scouts father. He is a man who is noble,
honest, and humble. He fights for the rights of an African American
accused of raping a white woman even though the small town despises
his involvement. He fights for justice and equality in the world
and one could well argue that this is his American Dream. In
Steinbecks the American Dream is far more readily defined. The two
main characters, George and Lennie are essentially wanderers during
the Great Depression, seeking work and trying to survive as best
they can. However, they are not necessarily happy with this reality
for George and Lennie dreamt of their little house and a couple of
acres (Of Mice and Men Factsheet: Background to Of Mice and Men by
John Steinbeck). Throughout the story, up until the demise of
Lennie, Lennie constantly dreams of this American Dream and while
George wants it he perhaps does not feel he will ever attain it.
Lennie, for example, always seems to be asking George, George, how
longs it*No Portion of the Document May Be Reprinted Without Proper
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1-800-90-WRITE 3 gonna be till we get that little place an live on
the fatta the lan-anrabbits? (Steinbeck 53). As can be seen, both
stories offer a very different look at the American Dream. However,
at the same time both books present main characters who are not
wealthy and as such seek a simple American Dream in terms of
material realities. One author notes, For many the goal was not
extravagant wealth, but, rather, economic independence and the
opportunity for social advancement through financial gain (Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire: Changing Conceptions of the American
Dream). This could well be related to be stories although
differently. For example, in Lees novel the father, Atticus, is
happy in his economic success, though they are honestly relatively
poor. He was economically independent, however, and is happy enough
with that. He pushes his American Dream to involve all people,
dreaming that people can truly see justice done no matter who they
are, and perhaps dreaming that people were not so ignorant or
fearful of what they did not understand. He is an honorable man
fighting for honorable reasons, as evidenced when he tells Scout, I
wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea
that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when
you know you're licked before you begin but you begin*No Portion
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1-800-90-WRITE anyway and you see it through no matter what. win,
but sometimes you do (Lee 128). In the case of George and Lennie
all they want is simple economic independence so that they can live
off the fat of the land and grow their own food and live their own
life humbly and simply. They are not necessarily asking for social
advancement save through existing and not having to struggle every
day to find food and work. Like Atticus, they are, or would be,
happy with simple stability in terms of economic gain and like
Atticus they are not afraid to work for it, which is the ultimate
foundation of the American Dream. 4 You rarely
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1-800-90-WRITE 5 WORKS CITED Benjamin Franklin. Retrieved 1 June,
2007 from . Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Of Mice and Men
Factsheet: Background to Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
Retrieved 1 June, 2007 from . Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men.
Penguin; Steinbeck Centennial edition, 2002. Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire: Changing Conceptions of the American Dream. Retrieved
1 June, 2007 from .
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