Dreams And Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Ever since humanity has come into existence, the world has allowed dreams to blossom into beautiful flowers or be rejected and die like a fly swatted in a household. Each dream may end in a success or a tragedy, but it is up to the discretion of the cruel, but rewarding world humans inhabit. In the novel of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, a myriad of characters all have dreams that they passionately want to fulfill. Curley’s wife, who remains unnamed in the book, has a dream of becoming Hollywood’s biggest star. Crooks, the black stable-hand only dreams of being able to have friends and be seen as an equal to others. Lennie and George are a pair of migrant workers who want to live the American dream and have their own ranch. Each of these characters’ dreams were all torn down by the world, illustrated by Steinbeck as a cruel place where dreams cannot come true, no matter how passionate a person may be.

Dreams in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck A dream can be described as an ambition or the aspiration to reach a goal in life. In the novel "Of Mice and Men" John Steinbeck creates characters to have an optimistic dream. These dreams are ones which they would all like to make a reality. They all have a longing and desire to fulfil their dreams.

In Of Mice and Men, the hopes and dreams of the men on the ranch are a continuous focus and theme throughout the novel. John Steinbeck portrays the effects that dreams, or lack of them, have on the lives of the characters and the outcome of the novel. Steinbeck uses the concept of dreams at once to show hope and aspiration, as they invoke companionship with united determination for a better future, and to illustrate the difficulties of survival, with unrealised dreams illuminating the dark despair of society at that time.

“Hopes and dreams help people survive, even if they can never become real.” This statement plays an enormous part in Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. An abundance of the characters in this book all have something they want to accomplish, even if what they want to reach isn’t necessarily the most practical thing under the circumstances. Each character in the book has obstacles to overcome, and in the end, we don’t really find out the denouement of most character, we only find out the true ending to two characters.

To begin with, the conflicts affect the character's hopes and dreams. The story states, “Lennie watched in terror the flopping little man whom he held. Blood ran down Lennie's face..George slapped Curley in the face again and again, and still Lennie held on to the closed fist” (Steinbeck, 31). Earlier in the story, We discovered that Curley is the ranch owners son, so this fight between Lennie and Curley could’ve cost Lennie and George their job. If they were fired, it would’ve been harder for them to follow through with their dream. The text stated, “George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head.. He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck, 53). This quote explains that George killed

gives a damn about us…. An' why? Because I got you to look after me,

“ ‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place.’ ” In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is about two men in the 1930’s looking for a job to fulfill their dream which is to get ranch of their own. A major theme the author tries to tell in the novel is that hope is precious because it helps people keep pushing forward in life, no matter how hard life gets. Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to show hope in many parts of the novel.

In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George’s and Curley’s wife’s experiences prove that even when people plan carefully, their dreams do not always come true. 1st paragraph~ George: George has kept his dream of maintaining a friendship with Lennie through his good and bad times, but his dream eventually never becomes a reality, which declares Steinbeck’s theme of dreams never coming true. When Lennie was considering living by himself because he thought he was a burden to George, George stated, “‘I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself.

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe” (“ Dreams Quotes”). The saying in this quote is that one must dream ,but also believe that is what Lennie, George, and Crooks did. For Lennie, George, and Crooks their dreams were harder to reach. Dreams affect the characters of of Mice and Men through Lennie causing trouble, George choosing to care for Lennie, and Crooks being limited by being African American.

Throughout life people use dreams as something to motivate them or to look forward to. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, John uses dreams to show what George and Lennie wish to have. George and Lennie find work in Salinas, California on a ranch as migrant workers. In order to obtain the dream that they have, they must work hard and not let anything come in their way. In the book Of Mice and Men dreams play roles in various characters’ lives as well as affect other people.

There is a question that has plagued me for quite some time, not just because of what we are reading, but in life as well. Are we working to live or living to work? Everyone was either jut working from job to job in the book, or they were just working the days away. Then what was the point of Dreams?

When we try to chase our dreams, we end up in our own diminutive lonely world. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, has taught readers that the American dream can only ever be accomplished through hard work and determination. More times than others, we are distracted by the dream itself, and don’t chase the reality, which can then lead to high expectations, and without hard determination, that can then failure. In the end, we have been lonely for so long, chasing a dream, that when reality hits us, we become isolated and lonely. For George and Lennie, they have each other, until the American dream seemed too hard to chase.

Myles Chung Mr.Tavares Language Arts honors 21 October 2017 Dreams Dreams play a very important role in “Of Mice and Men”. They play a very important role in all of the characters lives, especially George, Lennie, and Crooks. Their hopes and dreams affects them throughout the story.

The theme of dreams is introduced at the start of the book through George’s description to Lennie of the farm that they hope one day to own together. They continue to discuss this throughout the text, with Candy also becoming involved and making it finally seem possible. This dream is very important to the men because it represents freedom and having control over their own lives, which they do not have while moving around looking for work. Dreams in Of Mice and Men are linked to the ‘American Dream’. This is the idea that in America, it is possible for anyone to achieve success and improve their lives through hard work.

At first, obstacles of the dream’s materialization do not appear unbearable: they simply need to save money, continue working at the ranch, and keep out of misfortune. However, both Lennie and George keep receiving trouble from Curley and Curley’s wife to the end, and it seems as though the very purpose of these characters is to create suffering for the protagonists. It becomes clearer that the contextual social realism—feelings of loneliness and homelessness—tied to George and Lennie’s vocations as migrant laborers places limitations on both their lives and their dream. More specifically, the book’s climax occurs when Lennie encounters Curley’s wife and, in an attempt to silence her, accidentally kills her. When Curley finds out, he assembles a lynch mob and swears to murder Lennie if he is found; knowing this, George meets Lennie at their confidential spot and suddenly shoots his friend. Afterwards, nobody else apart from Slim understands what happened; nobody understands that George killed his only true friend out of mercy and, in the process, killed their dream. The dream of owning a farm can be seen as the typical American dream because it holds pure happiness, safety, and the freedom to live completely. George is eventually convinced of the bleakness of this fantasy not only by their journey, but also by Lennie’s