Americans live a beautiful paradox all their lives without knowing the truth about anything and then are amazed when they reach the real world. This idea expressed in the essay “Paradox and Dream” written by John Steinbeck. Which leads into the idea of ​​what is John Steinbeck trying to say about Americans and what is his literal meaning? Americans do all the things that any other person in the world would do, but because of their history they think they can do things that no one else can do. This is where John Steinbeck's early idea that Americans contradict themselves too many times in our lifetimes just to get what they want comes into play. An example of this from "Paradox and Dream" is that when they do something they step on anyone to get it, but we always want help. This is one way the idea can be shown by showing how Americans are crude but at the same time seek approval and help from the people around them. Another way the idea can be shown in “Paradox and Dream” with “We are able to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest, and inefficient, and a...