Mice of Men Dreams of Commitment

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.

The author, Steinbeck, uses his own personal experience to “serve as an inspiration…” (Johnson 1) when writing this particular story. His past experiences also helped him for the future. Lennie, of all characters, is the least dynamic. He undergoes a significant amount of change and develops throughout the story. He has been isolated with George throughout his life. His sole purpose in life is to make George happy and to own a farm with George and take care of the soft rabbits. Lennie is the most innocent and defenseless. He also is the largest and strongest, which does not help in certain situations. Lennie is the protagonist in the story. He gains the readers sympathy by his intellectual disability and helplessness. Lennie murders things by accident such as the mouse in his pocket, the puppy and Curley’s wife. He enjoys the touch of and somehow uses those murders and experiences to scare him from doing it again. George’s opinion means the most to him.

For example, Candy, the older, one-armed, ex-worker who is now a permanent resident, bound to the ranch, offers to pitch in his savings in exchange for living with George and Lennie on the hypothetical farm that has kept the two friends together. Crooks, the pessimistic stable hand, previously made a comment on how the dream farm could never be a reality. "I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, … an' that same damn thing in their heads… They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it." (ADD CROOKS HERE) Candy and Crooks are both isolated, Candy because of his disability, and possibly his age, Crooks because of his race. However, Candy welcomes the idea of sharing a farm with Lennie and George, while Crooks sees the dream farm as an unrealistic ideal to help the workers cope with their current situation. Looking back, Crook’s statement foreshadows the events that take place later on. When Lennie is killed, the illusion of paradise, the farm’s possibility, dies too. Nothing truly separates Lennie and George from other migrant workers with heads full of dreams except for the seed of hope planted by Candy in their minds, and simultaneously, the reader’s mind. Candy, the optimist, made the farm seem close, and very possible. According to Jill Karson, in his article “The Need For Commitment”, he states: “...Steinbeck allows for no serious hope that George and Lennie will ever achieve their dream farm”(30-31). However, the statement is easily disproven because of the optimistic nature of Candy, and the money he offers, almost upfront (PUT PART OF TEXT WHERE CANDY OFFERS MONEY) throughout the novel. Candy, who has been bound to the ranch, finally has an opportunity to leave. His personality switches from a dull, filler character to a key part of

John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men follows the journey of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, who struggle through the navigation of working on a ranch in California and fulfilling their dreams together during a time of financial depression. The novel begins with George and Lennie traveling through the California wilderness to get to a new ranch just south of Soledad where they are going to begin new work. They had to leave their previous jobs in a town called Weed because Lennie had caused trouble with a girl by holding on to her red dress because he wanted to feel it, and this incident spiraled into rape allegations against Lennie. As George and Lennie make their way to the new ranch, Lennie; who is a large, but simple minded man; found a dead mouse and wanted to keep it to pet because he likes soft things. George, who is more serious and protects Lennie, takes the mouse away from him because even though it’s dead, he should not be messing with it. Lennie often does not realize his strength because of his mental incapabilities and as a result, he causes a lot of trouble and harm. George finds taking care of Lennie to be taxing, but he knows that their friendship is an important bond that he does not want to be without. In order to comfort Lennie in the wilderness, George tells the story of their shared dream to own their own ranch where they can follow their own rules and live as they please. When they finally arrive at the ranch the next day, George and Lennie

For the longest time they had both talked about their desire to become landowners and to grow their own crops. All Lennie wanted was to grow alfalfa to feel to his rabbits. Their shared dreams being out of reach is apparent to the reader until Candy comes into the picture. Candy, a hardworking ranch handyman comes in with a full-fledged proposal. He offers them all of the money he saved up to fund a bit of land George and Lennie had their eyes on. In return, he would like to live on the land with them. They all agree that this is what they will do and not to let anyone know. Lennie destroys this dream by accidentally crushing Curley’s wife’s spine. George, Lennie, and Candy’s dream fails to become reality because of Lennie’s ignorance and strength.

Do you still remember why does Lennie wants George to talk about the farm the first time? George first introduce that fine-nice farm to us was mainly because Lennie's really want George to quote “Tell about what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove” unquote. For George and other workers like the old Candy, as I mentioned, the farm mainly symbolized as a chance of freedom, but for Lennie, since he is not smart enough, it is just as simple as the soft things that he enjoys feeling over the course of the years. However, as the old saying says “Every coin has two sides.” , behind the symbol of nice and lovely rabbits, we also know that Lennie always hurts whatever he pets.

Owning a farm where you can “live offa the fatta the lan’” is George and Lennie’s dream (57). Where they can have crops,“a little house. . . a room to ourself[themselves]”,and of course animals especially rabbits (58). The farm for George will be a place he can be independent while still taking care of Lennie, he can be his own boss in a place of security and comfort. The farm for Lennie would be a sanctuary from a world that does not understand him. There would be a responsibility for him to tend the rabbits, the attribute of the farm that excites him most,while still being with George.

However the story dives deeper than just Lennie and George after leaving a town called Weeds because Lennie was accused of rape. The two were forced to run away which lead them to a ranch where they meet a character named Candy. Candy is an old aging handyman who lost his hand due to an accident. The life on a farm is hard and it is represented through Candy, he says “"A guy on a ranch don 't never listen nor he don 't ask no questions" (Steinbeck 2.67). The isolation he is put through often makes him feel hopeless. The only hopes Candy had was in his dog and in the dreams of getting paradise with

. . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” In this passage , after Lennie shares with Crooks his plan to buy a farm with George and raise rabbits, Crooks tries to deflate Lennie’s hopes which creates dangers that may lie beyond our understanding. He relates that “hundreds” of men have passed through the ranch, all of them with dreams like Lennie’s. Not one of them, he emphasizes with bitterness, ever succeeds to make that dream come true. Crooks shows a sense of reality, telling again of Lennie’s childlikeness , and that the dream of a farm is, after all, only a dream. This moment show’s off Crook’s character, and how a lifetime of loneliness and cruelty can lead to bitterness. It also furthers Steinbeck’s disturbing thought’s that those who have strength and power in the world are not the only ones responsible for cruelty. As Crooks shows, even though he was hurt by others, he seeked out Lennie and attacked him because he is even weaker than Crooks is.

Of Mice and Men, a novella written by John Steinbeck, is the story of two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, who dream of owning their own farm. The two men secure jobs at a ranch and soon meet a swamper named Candy and Curley’s wife. Like George and Lennie, these characters also dream of having a better life than what they can accomplish while

Loneliness is present throughout this novel. For example, this isolation is shown when the ranch hands go into town on Saturday night to ease their loneliness with alcohol and women. Similarly, Lennie goes into Crook's room to find someone to talk, and later Curley's wife comes for the same reason. Crooks says, “A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you”. (72) Even Slim mentions, “I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean.” (41) George’s taking care of Lennie and the dream of the farm are attempts to break the pattern of loneliness which is part of the human condition. Lennie's desire to pet soft things comes from his need to feel safe and secure, to touch something that gives him that feeling of not being alone in the world. For Lennie, the dream of the farm parallels that security. However, George and Lennie are not the only characters who struggle against loneliness, the theme of loneliness is most notably present in Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife. They all fight against their isolation in whatever way they can. For example, until its death, Candy's dog stopped Candy from being alone in the world. After its death, Candy struggles against loneliness by sharing in George and Lennie's dream. Curley's wife is also lonely

Their dream also sets George apart from the others because it means he and Lennie have a future and something to anticipate. Unlike Lennie, George does not see their dream in terms of rabbits; instead, he sees it in a practical way. Their farm will be one where they can be independent and safe and where he will not have to worry about keeping track of Lennie 's mistakes. They can be secure and in charge of their own lives. However, Lennie is the one who adds the enthusiasm because George never really believed they could swing this farm of their own. He mostly uses the story to give Lennie something to believe in for their future. Only when Candy offers

Sprouted, only to suffer from a one-sided loving & passionate state of mind, an illness is born - where flowers petals are wheezed out and regurgitated and can only be surgically removed, also severing all perceptions of emotions along with the petals; thus, forcing the individual into isolation, these effects are descriptions of the hanahaki disease (花吐き病). Within the petals folds, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck illustrates the beauty of passion and enthusiasm through the examination of the text that serves as a social action, also known as rhetoric, with the use of antanagoge and epanalepsis. Upon other petals, fluttering past swollen lips and tear stained cheeks; a petal depicts the use of amplification and symbolism through a racial perception.

The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, written by John Steinbeck is a truly fascinating novel based upon the theme of dreams. This novel was published in 1937, which was towards the end of ‘The Great Depression’ that hit the United States. The novel was set in Soledad, California, during the same time period as published. This was an era in which the economy collapsed; many Americans lost their jobs, therefore leading into a lot of poverty and despair. Although many people were depressed, this was also the era of dreams. This is what Steinbeck’s novel is all about, dreams

A type of literature which concerns itself with the direct engagement and intervention in the problematic social conditions in the society; social realism was the primary purpose based on Attell’s essay that serves as a central nucleus for Steinbeck’s work as well as his historical background. As reported by Attell, Of Mice and Men takes its subjects and protagonist from the farm laboring class of California during the Great Depression; where the two main characters, George and Lennie, area facing social crisis and looking for a new occupation that needs a specific task to be done. From there, the reader witnesses George and Lennie on the move for