With racism it would go far beyond the book about why some people might not live the American dream, it might be jobs that people won't hire you for because of your race, or you're too young to do something, so until you reach that age you can't do it. All the characters' American dreams were influenced not by just one ism, but by two or three; which means no one is unique when it comes to things that concern them. And with all the isms piling up, it just became too much and their dream finally failed, and they were left with nothing. In the novel Steinbeck writes a dialogue for Candy in which he explains all the hope that the characters had for the American dream. “Of course everyone wants it. Everyone wants a little land, not a lot. Just something that was his. Something he could live off of and no one could throw away” (76). That's what the American dream is about, even though it didn't go well and in the end the isms just destroyed all the characters and dreams. It means that people are not the reason to blame for the failure of their dream, it is the innate traits they inherited that ultimately destroyed all American dream characters. drastic repercussions on the personality