The Quest for the Great American Dream
             "If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there." (Sterling Holloway, voice of Chesire Cat, Alice in Wonderland) That is the way George and Lennie live there lives. At first glance, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a tale of two best friends traveling the countryside looking for work. This would seem like the norm for lower class people trying to survive in the rat race of society. Yet, the story isn't merely George and Lennie's search for jobs. Rather, it is about their all out quest for the American Dream, the dream of owning their own stake of land and ending their subservience to their bosses. In order for this to happen, however, George and Lennie had to remain a team. They had to pool their resources as well as their manpower, something their apparent mutual love for each other seemed to take care of. Yet, an irrevocable rift between them sent the dream crashing down. The mistakes that Lennie makes caused George's feelings of love and understanding to change from being existent to non-existent.
             Since the passing of Lennie's aunt, George felt an obligation to take care of Lennie as well as to act as his guardian. George fulfilled this role with love and understanding. We first see change in George's attitude towards Lennie when they moved onto the ranch, their place of work. George immediately feels that he is jeopardizing his relationship with other men in order to defend Lennie's actions. George is further discouraged when he realizes, based on Lennie's behavior that he can never
             be left alone- even to go to the bathroom. Lennie can't even be trusted not to kill puppies while petting them. Lennie, in fact, goes so far as to kill the owner's daughter-
             in-law. By this point, George, a nice yet overly ambitious individual, could no longer control this growing contempt towards his
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