Theme Of Growth In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Imagine if you had almost no money, only had 1 true friend, and one goal that you will do anything to achieve. That's the life of George and Lennie, two farm hands who are about to start working on a ranch in Salinas, California. It seemed like everything was going well for the two of them, or at least they thought it was. Steinbeck argues, throughout Of Mice and Men, that we as humans need to be able to comprehend the fact that the American dream is impossible, so when we fail at that, we won't fall as hard as we might if we had full faith in it, and he develops this stance using diction choices, imagery, and characterization.

The author continually exemplifies the negative effects of dreams and hopes, specifically the “American Dream” throughout the book. This dream can also be explained by an individual overcoming all obstacles and beating all odds to one day be successful. However, in the setting of Of Mice and Men, it interprets more commonly in relation to owning land, leading a better and richer life, and living an independent lifestyle. Steinbeck uses Of Mice and Men to show how although the

Believe it or not, there’s a lot of problems in the novel, Of Mice and Men, which portrays plenty of different social issues within the text and the movie. There were loads of racism, sexism, and ageism presented both in the film and in the book, these issues paved the way to the theme and essence of the overall story. The book Of Mice and Men, is about two different people, Lennie and George. There’s numerous of evidence to show how these three problems are bestowed in the narrative.

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.

A white picket fence, a family with kids, a dog, a pristine house, a bountiful garden, to live off of the land: This is what most Americans in the 1930s hoped for. Sadly it was a dream rarely fulfilled. In Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice & Men each character has a dream that is important in influencing their actions and opinions.

John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.

not be the case for anyone else as George and Lennie were the only two

In John Steinbeck’s novel, of Mice and Men, there are a multitude of motifs that corresponded with the real life problems they were facing in that day. Reoccurring elements in this narrative include the predatory nature of human existence, corruption of women, loneliness and companionship, and the different kinds of strengths and weaknessses.

The poem “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns clearly reflects the naturalistic themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men because a naturalist would state that elements such as survival of the fittest, the struggle against forces beyond our control and individual lives being governed by impersonal natural laws.

The book Of Mice and Men, there are several themes. One of them are consisting of the strong vs weak. Of the many characters, protagonists and antagonists, Lennie and George are some of the most used in the book. Lennie and George are an example of strong vs weak. The strong are the people who strive and don’t give up just because of someone else. The weak are the people that live by the basics of life or just to get by. In some cases, George is the strong one while Lennie is the weaker one, but sometimes it’s vice versa.

Another way, Steinbeck shows How Gorge is a true friend to lennie is through how reliable he is to Lennie. An example of this is Lennie was left alone with Curley's wife in the barn and accidently killed her, by him doing this it made all the workers want to kill him. But instead of them killing Lennie George went off and “pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again, Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand and lay without Quivering,” (106) This quote shows how Gorge is a true reliable friend because A true friend will do whatever they think is good for you. Just like how George went off and killed lennie, so that way he didn’t have to go through even more hell. This shows readers that

The American dream has been a great motivator for many. It is for every person to have a place of their own, to work and earn a position of respect, to become whatever his/her hard work and determination can make them. The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck unmasks the harsh, and the vicious reality of the American dream. Set in Salinas, California during the 1930s, the book is based on Steinbeck’s experience as a migrant worker when he took a summer off from writing. He writes a novel about the difficult lives of migrant workers in California as he knew the subject from personal experience. Throughout the novella, the migrant workers on the ranch embodies the struggle to live through the Great Depression with dreams and aspirations, however,

America is always been known as a land of opportunity. Migrants move to America, passing down to generation after generation, hard work will end up in the American Dream. Like the fore fathers express, America is also the land of equality, therefore making it possible for anyone to get rich as long as they were willing to work hard for it. Still, many American writers illustrate that in the harsh realities of life there is no society where only a handful of people become rich. In a miserable 1930’s California, most people have very little money and no opportunities to become successful economically. However, the belief that the American dream and opportunities existed still created an incredible feat to which people can look forward too. In the novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck depicts the lives of migrant workers in California during the 1930’s. George, an everyday worker, has an idealistic view of what is to come in the future. He dreams, Lennie, his lifelong friend, and him can buy a piece of land, which they could call their own. Curley’s Wife, the ranch owners, daughter in law, dreams to become an actress. Lastly, Crooks, the “Stable Buck” dreams to have a purpose in life. The American Dream is a common goal between the characters in the novella. Throughout the novel, John Steinbeck cleverly shows the proximity between the principles of the American dream and the harsh reality of boundless poverty. In Of Mice and Men, the author, John Steinbeck uses the characters of

Dreams are meant to be dreamt but are never attained. In the riveting novella of Of Mice and Men, two “bindlestiffs”, George and Lennie (the protagonists), search for a job in Soledad, a small town not too far from Salinas, during the poverty-stricken era of the 1930s. During the 1930s, many “Okies”, unemployed and impecunious migrants from the Midwest, traveled to California in search of a dwelling and an occupation. All of them aspired to be wealthy and have all the fancy goods and chattels in life, but very few could accomplish such a breathtaking endeavor. Throughout the entire novella of Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck conveys a universal message which states that the American dream is simply unachievable. Lennie and Crooks, people

Steinbecks novella “Of Mice and Men” tells the tale of two migrant ranch workers, George and Lennie, with a dream of getting their own farm. The genuine catastrophe in “Of Mice and Men” is that Crooks, the pessimistic stable hand, was right as “nobody gets no land. It 's just in their head. They 're all the time talkin ' about it, but it 's jus ' in their head.” Crooks is alluding to not only the literal possession but also to the fantasy of satisfaction about which these simple men dream of. Implied in the theme of the American dream is the ironic idea that the development and maturity of the characters leads to the obliteration of ones aspirations. George “matures” by killing Lennie, and in turn killing the dream that they fantasized. George survives on the grounds that he deserts his unreasonable dreams. Dreaming, then again, is mankind 's only protection against an aloof world. The title of the novella itself suggests that individuals are helpless in changing their destinies and thus foreshadowing the hopelessness of the American dream.