Dreams, everyone has one, they are what keeps you going. Dreams are the light at the end of the tunnel. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck the protagonists were Lennie and George, the antagonist was Lennie’s strength. In the beginning the protagonists were fleeing because of an unfortunate misunderstanding, they found refuge at a farm. The entire story is the span of about three days, with twists and turns on every corner. They were working, earning money, towards a dream. One of which was shared with many farm hands such as them, but each individual had a different interpretation of the American Dream. Crooks, Candy, and Lennie all had their dreams of the ideal life. This ideal life is the theme throughout the entire novel. To begin I'll start with Candy and his version of the American Dream. Candy is a worker who, at that same ranch, lost one of his hands. Resulting in …show more content…
Throughout the novel Of Mice and Men Lennie has a terrible memory, but he remembers the promise of the rabbit owning. He loves to feel soft things; such as rabbits, mice, and puppies, which were things with fur and soft to the touch. The first night at the new job Lennie asks George to tell him, “about the rabbits (Steinbeck 13), which symbolized his american dream. George talked about “a little house and a couple of acres (Steinbeck 14) where Lennie would “have rabbits (Steinbeck 14). Through the hills and valleys of this novel Lennie kept talking about the rabbits. When he was having a breakdown near the end, thinking George wouldn’t let him keep any rabbits because of what he did, “out of Lennie’s head there came a gigantic rabbit” (Steinbeck 101). It started taunting him saying, “‘Tend rabbits...You crazy bastard...You’d forget’em and let ‘em go hungry” (Steinbeck 102), which symbolized how his dream was crumpling and falling apart. This was his American Dream to own and raise
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.
Hopes and dreams can be very important for peoples’ needs and survival. In Steinbeck’s story, Of Mice and Men, each of the main characters is driven by their hopes and dreams; it provides a sense of motivation and animation to each of their being. From Lennie and George being driven by their hopes and dreams of owning a farm, to Curley’s wife’s dreams of becoming an actress, having dreams plays an essential role in giving hope to the characters of Steinbeck’s story. Although dreams and hopes are essential themes in Steinbeck’s story, in a sense, Steinbeck does seem to emphasize that dreams are not meant to be achieved, and that there are other factors that are essential for survival. I believe Steinbeck included their dreams to give
You can judge a society by its treatment of the old, the weak, the helpless and the needy. Through the narrative conventions of foreshadowing and characterisation, John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice And Men, published in 1937, is able to effectively reveal the imperfections of America’s capitalist
Everyone has dreams, big and small. When one dreams, there is a scent of whimsical hope in the air mixed with the powerful drive for success to obtain their luminous goals. But, many times these luscious dreams end up in grief and pain instead of a promised joy due to the hurdles in life, such as the certain circumstances that society professes or the flaws in a person that restrains them from their aspirations. The writer, John Steinbeck, incorporates this ideology in his novella, Of Mice and Men by creating three pivotal characters. Lennie, Crooks, and George all have schemes that go wrong, and yet hope to illustrate their desires of fulfilling their American Dream and to be prosperous for their own independent purposes.
Dreams drive people to accomplish goals and live the life they want to, even if it means doing something that you won't normally do to make that dream come true. Dreams are the central idea and main theme in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. both George Milton and Lennie Smalls have the same dream of owning a place on a farm all to themselves and try to make their dream come true despite some big issues they encounter.
Dreams give a person hope, and hope makes life worth living. In Of Mice and Men, the author John Steinbeck chooses dreams as one of his central themes. As the reader digs deeper into the story and characters, the theme of dreams expands as the novel goes on. Lennie and George held on to their dream of moving to a farm. Even though George had his doubts, he kept the dream alive for Lennie. Candy, the swamper, is a dreamer too. He wanted to escape his miserable life working on the ranch to go with George and Lennie to their dream farm. Many of the characters in the novel had dreams about their future. Lennie, George, and Candy wanted to move to a farm, and Curley’s wife wanted to be admired. All of these characters were examples of how John Steinbeck
In today’s world, we have come to see that trial, error, pain, and the striving for living a glamorous life are common; we all know it’s an exhausting task. Everybody seems to “go through the motions” at one point or another; we all seem to have this point in life where everything seems like a black hole that’s going nowhere. In the book, Of Mice and Men, and play Death of a Salesman, we see this is common, among many other similarities. However, no story is ever the same between two people’s lives, and this is also shown in these two works of literature.
Does Steinbeck reflect a desperate society or does he offer some hope and optimism in his novel "Of Mice and Men"
“Hypocrisy is the mother of all evil and prejudice is still her favorite child.” In the three stories Of Mice and Men, Chrysanthemums, and To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme of Prejudice is uniquely enhanced by the use of symbols. Initially in the story Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, there are obvious times where unequal distribution of wealth, power and privilege between men and women is shown. On page 1 when Elisa is working with her flowers while observing her husband talking to two other men, it states “She wore heavy leather gloves to protect her hands while she worked.”
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, people are portrayed to not work hard enough to achieve long-term goals or dreams that they have set for themselves. This idea is shown multiple times throughout the story. It starts with Lennie and George wanting to purchase their own farm, to do this they will need to make enough money to get the farm started. They show no effort to make progress on this dream of theirs, they spend all the money they make on women and beer. Lennie’s dream is to tend to and take care of the rabbits on the farm they hope to one day own, his problem is that he has a problem with animals. When Lennie pets an animal he usually ends up killing it, and he makes no effort to show a little more care for the poor
In class we read Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck wrote chapter 4 for a lot of reasons, but before I say why, we need to know the plot. Chapter 4, takes place during the night, Most of the employees are spending their week's pay except for Crooks, Candy and Lennie. Crooks is alone and Lennie doesn't get the idea of racial segregation and finds Crooks. Crooks tells Lennie to go away, but finally lets Lennie sit and talk.
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.
Candy is aging and desperate and is willing to do anything to hop onto George and Lennie’s dream. Candy explains, "I'd make a will an' leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, 'cause I ain't got no relatives or nothing…" (Steinbeck 218-219). He is an old man in a young man’s world and is slowly becoming outdated and useless to others around him. If he does not find his place in the world he will soon not have a place to stay. This is why he takes such great interest in George and Lennie’s Dream.
When Candy hears of such a magnificent dream of freedom and self sufficiency, he is captivated and “his eyes were full of wonder”(60). Candy desperately latches on to George’s illusion, and offers up his every penny to append. All of a sudden, with Candy’s input into the dream, their notion becomes a reality “They all sat still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing, each mind was popped into the future when this lovely thing should come about”(60) The contagious dream, takes over its hosts, leaving the men naive and vulnerable. The men poured their heart and souls into the dream of getting their own place.
The story Of Mice and Men took place during the 1930’s. That time period was very different from today. Race and gender were very important characteristics that determined whether a person had the opportunity to make money. The 1930’s were also a time where people started questioning life and the American culture. Many people like John Steinbeck thought that life was very unfair and questioned whether if life was even worth living. In Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck demonstrates that mans dream is destined to be destroyed by a cruel reality.