Hope In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Crook’s is used by John Steinbeck to highlight some aspects of American society in the 1930s. He is the only black character we are introduced to in the novel and is the only one on the ranch. Steinbeck has described his character’s personality, personal history, social class and appearance each time we see him in the novel. This can all be reflected to some bigger aspects of American society in the 1930s.

Because of his mental disability he does things that further put him out of the “normal” group of ranch hands. Lennie has a good friend in George but he is portrayed as being lonley in the book anyway. He just wants to be like every one else on the ranch.

To them it was a dream but to me it would have been a nightmare. The book took place place in the Great Depression and the two main characters of the book, George and Lennie, set out to make a living for themselves by working on a ranch. The ranch the two boys were working on was only a temporary plan before the got enough money to get there own farm and fulfill their american dream. The book Of Mice and Men by “John Steinbeck” shows three different conflicts racism, loneliness, mortality.

The character of Crooks is a victim of intolerance and discrimination throughout the novel. Society takes advantage of Crooks and neglects him because of the stereotypes of his skin colour. Crooks is not allowed to enter the bunk house where the white men sleep, or dine with them. He is left with the animals, isolated from everyone and exploited by most of the men on the

Crooks is a minority character introduced in chapter 4. Page 66 reads “negro stable buck.” Crooks’ character is introduced exactly the way he would be seen by other ranch workers. Steinbeck’s intentions of presenting

Of Mice and Men teaches a grim lesson on the difficulties of migrant workers in the era of the Great Depression. Loneliness. Isolation. Hopelessness. Three of the strongest factors Steinbeck explores about the nature of human existence, and the impossibility of the American dream. Steinbeck illustrates the loneliness of migrant workers in the early 1930's and shows how people are eager to try and find friendship in order to escape from their loneliness, and focus on something other than their unrealistic dreams.

The character Crooks is not accepted due to the fact that he is an African American male in a white dominated society. The ranch owner has Crooks segregated from the rest of the workers, and in his own separate room. All of the people treat him unfairly by the things they say to him just because of the color of his skin. Referring to Crooks as the n-word quite often, they only see this situation from their point of view. “‘Sure. Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger’” (20). Because of these characteristics of Crooks he is lower than the typical man in society. Crooks also does not fit society’s ideal image of a person because he is also handicap. When Crooks was younger he was kicked in the back by a horse, and now he has a crooked back. “‘Got a crooked back where a horse kicked him’” (20). One night, when George and all the other guys went out to town, they left Lennie behind at the barn with the puppies. Later on, Lennie found his way into Crooks’ bedroom in the back of the barn. Of course it was different at first, and they did not seem

The most important dream in this novel is that of the two main characters Lennie and George. They

with George where he can take care of rabbits. One night, before arriving at the ranch, Lennie and George camp by the Salinas River and talk about their hopes for the future. Lennie says to George, “Tell about what we’re gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits,” (14). Later in the story, Lennie is in the barn with Sometimes dreams don’t come true

Aspirations of success often drive individuals toward success. However if one only focuses on their dreams and not on working to achieve their goals, they will not be successful. Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck in their respective novels Great Expectations and Of Mice and Men, use their main characters failures in manifesting their aspirations to warn about the dangers of aspiring about the future and not focusing on success in the present.

Crooks is mentioned in chapter four as the black guy who has his own living area due to the color of his skin. Because of Crooks’ age and race, readers can learn that he is isolated from from white people and made “invisible” by society. Despite his experiences, Crooks longs to

“There is no way to be completely happy without being oblivious to the world around you” (Maredith Close). Everybody is oblivious, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not, though it tends to be beneficial. As said by Maredith Close, true happiness can not be achieved without oblivion, but in extreme cases, too much happiness for someone can cause less for someone else. Being oblivious can cause calm thoughts, but when conceived in extreme, can cause confusion and lack of comprehension, perhaps leading to irrational actions.

“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.

“And when they gone, Candy squatted down in the hay and watched the face of Curley’s wife. ‘Poor bastard,’ he said softly.” Sometimes through false hope, we tend to get to sucked into unrealistic dreams which can lead us to becoming a victim of our own vulnerabilities. Throughout the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, false hopes and dreams have impacted our society and how some people live their lives today. John Steinbeck uses metaphors and foreshadowing to show how false hopes and dreams can sometimes result in something not as great as it was once believed to be, which can ultimately impact our society.

George and Lennie’s dream of the farm is just out of their reach which motivates them to continue to work tenaciously so their dream will become a reality. As the novel progresses others start to join in on the dream of the farm to bring them some hope as well. Crooks, though at first was hesitant, asks if the “guys would want a hand to work” and that he can “work like a son-of-a-bitch if [he]” wants to. The dream of the farm is wish that George and Lennie would “have a little house”, “a cow and some pigs” and that they would “belong there”. Their dream is also a symbol of their brotherhood, claiming that they have “got a future” and somebody that “gives a damn about [them]”.