My 4/5 english class

In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays the American Dream in a way that is unattainable. He does this by telling the about Lennie and George's dream. Their dream consisted of acquiring land and living by there own means instead of those of someone elses, hence the idea of living off the "fatta of the land." The only reason it was made impossible for these characters to reach their dream is because they were living in a time of economical trouble. No one was making progress. Each of the characters had there own chain holding them back from their dream. They were not all the same. Lennie had a learning disability that didn't allow him to function like anyone else and had gotten him in trouble on several occasions. Examples of this is with Curly himself. Curly had started punching Lennie just because he was smiling and Lennie didn't know what to do so he grabbed his hand and crushed it. Another instance was the the one that ended his life because he was a danger to society and the world wasn't ready for a person with special needs like him. This occurred when Lennie was in the barn petting the puppy and realized he killed it, and Curly's Wife came in and she told him to touch her hair to see how soft it is and Lennie liking it kept on stroking till she screamed "You stop it now, you'll mess it up." pg91 But Lennie tense his "fingers closed on her hair and hung on." pg 91 She had continued to struggle and started to scream. Lennie told her to stop and grew angrier and shook her until "her body flopped like a fish" "for Lennie had broken her neck."pg 91. Once Curly had discovered what happened he sent his men out to  find Lennie to kill him for what he did. Crook's chain was different he was the barn hand most importantly he was the colored man which played the whole role of him not reaching his dream. Crook had no respect from anyone because of his color he points this out when he says "they play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black"pg 68  this is also shown when Curly's wife threatens him saying "You know what I could do?" "keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny." pg 81 making him diminish his dreams of ever leaving the ranch and being equal with everyone else. But even if these dreams are unattainable it still gives them the will to keep living and creating new bonds of friendship. This is shown when Crook allows Lennie into his room even though he's not allowed in his.