The Great Gatsby
By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jay Gatsby was organized he always had a goal. He would do anything he had to do to improve himself and accomplish his goal. He was elegant and formal with tanned skin and short hair. Gatsby's American Dream was to become rich so that he could have Daisy, the love of his life. Gatsby was poor and didn't have money to provide for Daisy. He solved this problem by getting into the bootlegging business and other illegal side jobs. Another problem was that Gatsby didn't know how to get Daisy to attend his parties so that they could meet. He found his solution when Jordan told him that Nick was Daisy's cousin. He arranged for Nick to invite Daisy over for tea and then he would come over and talk to her. Gatsby got his American Dream but it all ended because his dream girl was reckless and not responsible enough to own up to her mistake. She let him take the blame and because of his love for her he did. His mistake was believing that Daisy would stay with him. Because of that mistake his life ended abruptly.
Of Mice and Men
By: John Steinbeck
Lennie Smalls is not small at all he is a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders. He has a huge heart, he doesn't mean to hurt people, or even animals but he doesn't know he own strength. Lennie's American Dream is shared with George's in which they want a ranch but Lennie is more focused on tending to the rabbits. Lennie has a mental defficiency which makes it difficult for him to think for himself and to act like a normal person should. So he gets in a lot of trouble not knowing right from wrong. There is no way for Lennie to overcome his defficiency, the only option would be for him to go to a mental institution. But George doesn't want Lennie to be tied up like a dog just for being different. The only way for him to stay out of trouble is to listen to what George tells him to do. George is there for Lennie he tries to help him and guide him even if he feels like Lennie might sometimes a burden. Another problem that Lennie faces is the fact that Lennie and George are poor so it becomes difficult to buy the ranch with the rabbits he wants so much. They start to believe they can actually get their ranch when Candy wants to be a part of their dream and offers to put in his $350 dollars and with Lennie and George's $50 dollars they have $450. But everything goes downhill when Lennie kills Curley's wife and knowing that they were going to kill Lennie, George kills him. George killed him because he knew that if Curley got him he wouldn't have mercy on him. When Lennie died the dream died too. George and Candy knew this, they knew that Lennei was the one keeping the dream alive because he believed in it so much that it started to sound like it might actually work out. Their dream motivated them to work for what they wanted.