Dreams Have Changed In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Dreams Have Changed As society advances due to changes, individual opportunity as well as wants begin to change. The American Dream represents one’s ability to fulfill their aspirations in life. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the American Dream means nothing when it is experienced alone. In her editorial “The American Dream is Dead and Good Riddance”, Keli Goff explains that the old version of the American Dream that was coined at the beginning of the twentieth century no longer exists. Goff and Steinbeck both have two different versions about the American Dream. My opinion of the American Dream is that it is dead and people now want more than they can actually have. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck expresses his idea of the American …show more content…
Goff describes that the American Dream is dead, it is not what it used to be before. The American Dream is now based on an individual’s wants, hopes, opportunity and ability. “But over the years this definition of the American Dream has been lost. Instead, when talk about the American Dream, we often find ourselves talking about marriage, children, mortgage debt, student loan debt, stuff, more stuff and even more stuff (to fill up the house you owe the mortgage debt on).” Goff suggests that the American Dream today is nothing alike from the one in the past. The American Dream is now all about an individual. It is not about sharing or achieving dream with someone but rather being successful on their own. An everyday citizens lives the American Dream evolves around them. Everyone wants to have a good life and future. They want to be the best of the best and have everything that is not what they can actually afford. Every citizen today wants more than a car and house which proves that the American Dream Goff depicts is true. Both Steinbeck and Goff have two different perspectives of the American Dream. However, they both wrote in different time periods which makes their ideas of the American Dream reasonable. Though they do have some similarities of their American Dream. Both American Dreams have something to do with people wanting a
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