The Reality of the American Dream

The Reality of the American Dream

Throughout college and high school, many people have a specific idea of what they want to do in their life. This idea may turn into reality, or it may not. There are many factors that play into this idea of the American Dream. The American Dream is based off of many aspects, some of the most prominent being acceptance, worth, usefulness and freedom. These are illustrated by many texts like Of Mice and Men, Death of A Salesman, and various other poems. The characters in these texts represent these different aspects of the American Dream in their own different ways.

One of the main elements that is represented in the texts about the American Dream is the idea of acceptance and belonging with others. One of the characters that represents this the best is Willy in Of Mice and Men. Willy is talking about how much he loves his wife, then he has another mood swing, saying “I get so lonely…” (Miller 25), which shows just how lonely people can seem when striving for success. Sometimes, when trying to achieve the American Dream, someone can be so caught up in goals and what they have to get done in a certain amount of time. This can cause them to lose focus on what’s important. This can result in not being able to spend time with loved ones, and one may completely cut out time for them to relax. Death of a Salesman also represents this well. Willy is reflecting back on his life and says “Charley, you’re the only friend I got” (Miller 76). This shows the harsh reality of the American Dream sometimes. One can seem so caught up in work and what they have to do that they may lose all their friends. When that happens, a person may suddenly want to be accepted again and belong with a group of people. One has to focus on balancing life between loved ones and work.

In addition to the idea of acceptance being illustrated in Death of a Salesman, it is also illustrated in Of Mice and Men through the character of Crooks, who is not accepted into the bunkhouse society. Because of his skin color, he is isolated from the rest of the group. Everyone in the bunkhouse is white, except for him, so he is not accepted into this society and feels abused and isolated by the other men. Even though this may seem cruel for them to do this to him, he does the same thing. It is said that “he kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs” (Steinbeck 67). While someone may feel bad for him, they have to keep in mind that he rested the same burden on other people. All he wanted to do was to belong to a group of people, but he didn’t make it easy for himself.

Just like some people aren’t accepted into the American Dream, others are seen as useless or worthless to share in the American Dream because of a mental or physical defect. One character that is a relevant example of this is Candy from Of Mice and Men. He lost his hand in an accident, which makes him useless in terms of the American Dream. He can no longer work or be of physical use to anyone. Because of this, all hope he had of achieving the American Dream was gone. This is why the dream of George and Lennie was so appealing to him. It allowed him to still have hope and potentially to still be useful in terms of society.

Just like Candy, the boy in Robert Frost’s poem lost a hand and was useless in society’s opinion. Towards the end of the poem, he was going to the hospital to get his hand amputated and he was begging them not to amputate it and take his life. He was crying and was scared, “But the hand was gone already” (Frost 27). Just like Candy, all hope of the American Dream for him was gone, so it is not only that he literally died, but he figuratively died as well. When he died, most people “since they\were not the one dead, turned to their affairs” (Frost 33-34).

While Candy and the boy in the poem had a physical defect, Lennie from Of Mice and Men had a mental defect, so to speak. He wasn’t the smartest, but he was physically useful, which allowed him to kind of participate in the American Dream. Lennie and George made the perfect package because George was scrawny but smart and Lennie was dumb but strong. He couldn’t speak well, but “he can do anything you tell him” (Steinbeck 22). His usefulness lied in his physicality, not his mentality.

If, like George, one was useful and could be a part of the American Dream, then freedom was one of the prime motivations for completing and achieving the American Dream. One character that was a great representation of the need for freedom was George from Of Mice and Men. Freedom seemed to always be on his mind and seemed to always be his focus when thinking about his dream. He wanted his own land “an’ it’s [his], a’n [he] c’n go to it” (Steinbeck 79). The whole concept of being able to do what they want when they want is appealing to them.

There are also many characters from Death of a Salesman that represent this well. Some of these characters are Willy, his wife, and Happy. Willy wants freedom from his income and the stress from having to earn money. He wants to be free of the problems that arise from trying to pay off insurance and his house. He also wants to die the death of a salesman. He wants to be remembered as an amazing person, and he wants to travel the world, and just, well, be free. Happy’s main ambition is also freedom. He wants to come out as the #1 man, and he wants to just have a bunch of girls and money so he can do whatever he wants without having to have permission from anybody. Willy’s wife also wants to be free, kind of from the same thing as Willy. She wants to be able to pay off the insurance so the Loman family didn’t have to stress out anymore.

In order to have freedom in the American Dream, one also has to have worth. One has to be valued by other people in order to achieve their goals and make their dreams reality. For Willy from Death of a Salesman, his worth was found in business. To his standards, he didn’t succeed at this, so he ended up being “worth more dead than alive” (Miller 76). He also finds his worth in acceptance, which he didn’t think he had throughout most of the book, which could be why he ended up committing suicide.

After considering this, one needs to notice there are many elements that fit into the American Dream. Some of these are acceptance, belonging with a group of people, freedom, being able to do what someone wants when they want, worth, and usefulness. All of these elements can be represented in many different ways with characters from various books and poems. Some people achieve the American Dream and some people may not, but it is something everyone strives for in their lifetime.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited
Frost, Robert. “Poetry: The American Dream in Verse.” poetryfoundation.org. 30 October 17. Web.
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Penguin, 1998.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. Penguin, 1993.