Literary Reference Center - powered by EBSCOhost: CHARLOTTE COOK HADELLA ON ILLUSION AND THE AMERICAN DREAM - 0 views
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the Garden of Eden myth "looms large" in Of Mice and Men, and Steinbeck appropriates Edenic elements to convey his personal interpretation of the American Dream.
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Lennie had killed Curley, for instance, instead of Curley's wife, Steinbeck makes the woman the instrument of destruction of the land dream. The mythical discourse of the fiction dictates that a woman precipitate the exile from paradise.
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he intimates that the paradise of the land dream is doomed before Curley's wife ever enters the story.
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In a literary criticism by Charlotte Hadella, she states that the Eden biblical allusion plays a major part in the development of characters and the American Dream. Nearing the end, the Eden myth haunts Lennie and George because of Curly's wife, a woman dictates the failure of their Dream. Hadella claims that even before they enter the ranch that their Dream begins doomed. While in the ranch, the fact that the land owners that he wants to buy from have to sell raises a red flag on their Dream, that if they could make it off the land, how could they possible accomplish that same feat. Yet, that breaking point fact gets overlooked in the pursuit of their Dream because if they think on their plan George will see that they are banished from Eden before they can enter. Usable Quotes: "When George talks about the actual farm that he intends to buy for himself and Lennie, he explains to Candy that he can get the place for a really cheap price, "for six hundred bucks. The ole people that owns it is fiat bust." Apparently, the present owners of George's Dream farm are not able to live "off the fat of the land," a detail that both he and Candy conveniently overlook,"(Hadella). "The Garden of Eden myth "looms large" in Of Mice and Men, and Steinbeck appropriates Edenic elements to convey his personal interpretation of the American Dream,".