Upload
togay-balik
View
5.964
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
The American Dream: Harper Lee and John Steinbeck
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 Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and John
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
The American Dream: Harper Lee and John Steinbeck
In Harper Lee’s novel the story is about a young girl, 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 Scout’s 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 Steinbeck’s 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 long’s it gonna be till we get that
little place an’ live on the fatta the lan’-an’rabbits?’”
(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 Lee’s 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 anyway and you see it through no matter
what. You rarely 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.
WORKS CITED
“Benjamin Franklin.” Retrieved 1 June, 2007 from <http://fi.edu/franklin/economst/economst.html>.
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 <http://www.newi.ac.uk/englishresources/workunits/ks4/fiction/ofmicemen/llshort/factsheet.html>.
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 <http://www.americansc.org.uk/online/American_Dream.htm>.