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Mice and Men Essay

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Through a variety of literary and cinematic techniques respectively, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men and Sean Penn’s Into The Wild illustrate how the fulfilment of one’s life, and their pursuit of happiness, hinge upon friendship, dreams, and one’s attitude towards life and happiness in general. Steinbeck’s 1937 novella Of Mice And Men illustrates the importance of friendship and dreams in a context of hardship and economic downturn. This is done by using George and Lennie and their dream of landownership and material possession to demonstrate how dreams give people the hope required to drive themselves, and how friendship offers them the ability to keep going even if their own spirit should break. Sean Penn’s 2007 film Into The Wild …show more content…

The ability for dreams, friendship and attitude to positively influence one’s life is conveyed through the repetition of George and Lennie’s dream about “living off the fatta the land”, and the way in which Candy and Crooks are pulled into the dream, giving them all a sense of hope in the otherwise hopeless context. Penn’s Into The Wild similarly demonstrates the importance and power of dreams and attitude, using Chris’ dream of reaching Alaska to illustrate the drive it can give someone, whilst Chris’ attitude towards freedom and escaping his materialistic society are conveyed through his manifesto and the diction he uses when speaking, demonstrating the power this instils in him. Chris’ eventual epiphany about friendship is mirrored in Of Mice and Men where George and Lennie have “somebody to talk to that gives a damn” and gives them the drive they need to hopefully achieve their dreams. Whilst these themes are comparatively balanced throughout both texts, the fundamental ideal of freedom is however demonstrated as a polar opposite of each other, with George and Lennie striving for material possession and wellbeing whilst Chris longs to get away from societal dependence on materialist and consumerist ideals.
Of Mice And Men and Into The Wild both share similarities in their expression of the importance of friendship, dreams and one’s attitude towards

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