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The American Dream: Harper Lee and John Steinbeck

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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,

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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

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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

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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.

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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/ficti
on/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>.

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