The Pursuit Of Happiness In Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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This past year we have learned many different things about the Pursuit of Happiness. There have been many different authors, literary figures, and stories that have taught us a wide range of things. The Pursuit of Happiness is different for everyone, for many different things make different people happy. Happiness can be achieved in many different ways with many different emotions going toward the “final product.” This year, one of the biggest things I took away from our learning of American Literature is that the Pursuit of Happiness can be tragic.
Now of course you would not expect to have a tragic time trying to reach your happiness, however, tragedy strikes many different people. Many stories we read this year have portrayed the characters …show more content…
Lennie and George were a very tragic tale. They were two very hard workers who were just trying to earn enough money to have their own farm someday. No matter how hard they worked or tried, they couldn't seem to achieve their goal. Things never ended up working out for them. “‘They run us outta weed!’” (41). This is an example where Lennie and George were working, trying to achieve their goal, but it didn't work out at all. The people ran them out of the town and they didn't get enough of a chance to earn some more money for their dream. While trying to achieve happiness Lennie and George keep getting shot down and can't seem to get anywhere, and that is tragic. They had to do lots of things to get closer to their happiness, even some things they did not want to do at all. The main example of this is when George shoots Lennie. Slim says to him “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda” (148). Lennie was holding George back from a successful life and as harsh as it sounds, George had to take drastic measures. He most likely didn't want to do it at all but didn't see any other way. Achieving happiness, for George, included great tragedy along the way; shooting his best friend. Of Mice and Men is another good example of how striving for happiness can end up being tragic in the
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