Essentially everyone has dreams, dreams of love, freedom and happiness. These dreams can be powerful enough to motivate an individual to push through hardships and struggles. However many of these dreams are impossible to achieve in reality and the pursuit for these dreams can lead to disappointment and corruption. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the illusion that is the American Dream is explored. The main characters in both novels begin to question the American Dream after their experiences throughout the novel. Nick, in The Great Gatsby realizes that the American Dream is a façade after observing issues with pursuing the past whereas George, in Of Mice and Men, realizes that the American Dream is a façade after his attempts to pursue the future. Nick starts to wonder if the American Dream really exists after witnessing Gatsby’s failure at pursuing the past, whereas George first starts to have doubts after he is forced to run away from a town because of Lennie’s actions. When he first meets Gatsby, Nick believes that Gatsby has achieved the American Dream. However after he hears Gatsby complain about Daisy, Nick believes that Gatsby will never fulfill his dreams: He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’ Just as if it were five years ago. ‘And she doesn’t understand,’ he said. ‘She used to be able to understand – He broke off and began to walk up and down a desolate path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and crushed flowers. ‘I wouldn’t ask too much of her,’ I ventured. ‘You can’t repeat the past.’ (Fitzgerald 91) Daisy disappoints Gatsby because she could not live up to his expectations of her, it is disappointing to him that she doesn’t understand anymore. Gatsby has unrealistic demands of Daisy such as discarding four years of her life so that Gatsby can be with her just as if it were five years ago. De Velera offers insight as to why Gatsby thinks that he can attain the past: “Time seems to mean nothing to Gatsby and perhaps this is because he believes he can repeat history” (De Velera 8). Nick however, can see that it is pointless for Gatsby to pursue the American Dream because he is pursuing something intangible and tells him that no matter how hard he tries he simply can’t repeat the past. Observing Gatsby’s delusion and failure to pursue the past makes Nick start to believe that the American Dream is a façade. George did not watch over Lennie carefully enough in the last town they were in resulting in the two of them having to run away, this time however George is extra cautious: “You jus' stand there and don't say nothing. If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won't get no job [] ‘An' you ain't gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed, neither.’” (Steinbeck 6). George is worried that the boss will see what a crazy bastard Lennie is and deny them the job. He tells Lennie to not do any bad things like he did in their old town, Weed. George strictly tells Lennie to just stand there and don’t say nothing when they go to meet the boss because he does not want him to see Lennie’s mental state. Migli explains Lennie’s situation further: “Lennie has the mind of a child and acts as a one as well. His character is helpless without the help of his friend George.” (Migli 1). George acknowledges that Lennie has the potential to do terrible things, things so bad that they have to run away from their old town. Despite George’s realization of Lennie’s potential to be dangerous, he continues to travel to this new ranch to