The phrase “American Dream” is contradictory to its meaning. For most people, the American Dream was just that: a dream. However, these very people saw their hopes dashed and were lost forever. It could be argued that a much more appropriate name for the American Dream might even be the American Nightmare. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the American Dream was a beacon of hope and prosperity for anyone unfortunate enough to fall under its alluring curse, except for a handful of people. What was given instead of this promise of wealth and dreams, what was given was the deterioration of dreams, and usually lives. Unfortunately, Lennie Small, from Of Mice and Men, as well as Jay Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby were no exception. To better understand Lennie Small, the dream of a poor farm worker with mental problems, it would be a good idea to learn some important characteristics of Lennie Small. Owens Louis states how Lennie is constantly compared to an animal or described as childish (147), this shows that Lennie's mind was not like most people's, he was mentally ill. Lennie's psyche causes Lennie to act like a ten-year-old in the body of a grown man. Despite Lennie's childish nature, he was still incredibly dangerous. Owens also states that Lennie is monstrously powerful and that he has trouble killing things (148). What can be observed here is that Lennie is a force to be reckoned with. Now that there is a better understanding of who Lennie is, it will be even easier to understand his dream. Lennie had one dream and one dream only, to own his own farm with his best and only friend, George Milton. Joseph Frotenrose supports this by stating that George, Lennie, as well as some......middle of paper......the Daisy he once loved is no longer the woman he sees now, says Leone Bruno (99). The sad but undeniable truth is that Lennie and Gatsby's dreams were both unavoidably unattainable from the start, as the American dream usually is. People's dreams are the most important things for anyone. Mainly due to the fact that dreams determine who a person is at heart. Countless people have had and will continue to have their lives destroyed because they chased a dream, and unfortunately they didn't run fast enough. Among these people are Lennie Small and Jay Gatsby. These two gentlemen had the displeasure of chasing a dream that was unattainable from the start. This ultimately led to the death of these two young men. Ultimately, a more accurate name for the American dream keeps coming to mind. This is The American Nightmare.