Of mice and men †dreams Essay

Many of the characters in of mice and men spend a penny inhalations. What are their inhalations and how near are any of them to achieving what they want?Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men in 1937 during the Great stamp in America. He came from California and the farmland and the spreadheades around Salinas, where the apologue is set. The novel Of Mice and Men is based on the earthy view on America, by Steinbeck allowing hallucinations to fail, because in the real world dreams do non always arrive true. He also wanted the novel to seem real so it would have been unrealistic to march plurality succeeding and achieving the American dream.Steinbeck was writing during the Great Depression and wanted to show that the Great Depression was an era when peoples lasts were most difficult. The depression was between 1929-1933. It all started from Black Thursday when 13 million shares were sold on 24th October 1929. This lead to the Wall Street Crash when shares fell and Americans were doing anything they could to change their shares as it was affecting their savings. Even people who didnt have shares were affected as many banks went bankrupt, as people could non pay back their loans. This all added to the depression which left 25% of Americans unemployed, people were pressure to travel around to look for work and many were homeless with no welfare.Steinbeck chooses to focus on twain migrant workers, Lennie and George. At the start of the novel, they are ab let on to start work in a facing pages near Soledad. They are victims of the economic situation. George spends most his flavour looking by and by Lennie and dealing with Lennies actions. Lennie is mentally challenged so he needs some superstar to look after him. George manages to get a job for Lennie and himself. as luck would have it Lennie is very strong which is helpful for his work at the ranch. However he doesnt know his induce strength, which causes several incidents in the novel. George is a sma rt footling guy who has a dream but Lennie holds him back.A number of the characters in the novel have dreams. Thinking about their dreams gives Lennie and George a goal to aim for. The dream is also a form of escape, of avoiding the reality of their lives. They are not happy with their lives.George and Lennies dream is that one day they allow for take their farm with a cow, a pig and some rabbits for Lennie, we could live mop up the fatta the lan an have rabbits mentions by Lennie. George says to Lennie that theyll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit-hutch and chickens. And when it rains in winter theyll just say the hell with going to work. But there is a very little chance to succeed their dream together as Lennie gets caught up in many incidents. One beta incident, which ruined Lennies chance for achieving his dream, is when he accidentally kills Curleys wife. Not being aware of his own strength he strangled Curleys Wife without knowing he is hurting her.When she died a nd everyone else found out, Curley went after Lennie to kill him. Instead George, Lennies only bloke, shot dead Lennie straight after having an another(prenominal) saving about their dream. Lennie arguably fulfills his dream towards the end mentally. When the others found George and Lennie, Slim says, come on, George. Me an youll go in an rod cell a drink. This shows look forward to for a new friendship for George and Slim and even higher hopes for achieving his dream. This tells us Steinbeck did not let Georges dream totally fail. George dreamt for independence, security, stability and freedom, which he succeeded when Lennie died.Curleys wifes dream was to become an actress. She wanted to be in the pictures but thinks her mother stole a letter from a director asking her to come to Hollywood. Instead she married Curley to get back at her mother although she didnt actually love him. She mentioned in the novel what she wanted, an I coulda sat in them big hotels, an had pitchers took of mean all them slender clothes they wear. Because the guy said I was a natural. She often says the phrases I coulda, I woulda and I shoulda. Steinbeck chooses these actors line for her as she often thinks it is too late to do or have done something, meaning she has no hope for her dream. Because she married Curley, a controlling man, she ended up with someone she didnt love and feels lonely(prenominal) and trapped, as she has nobody to guggle to about her thoughts and feelings.This is because there are only men on the ranch and Curley would not have allowed it. She also dreams for friendship and not being abandoned. Just before her death she does achieve a glimpse of this part of her dream when she talks to Lennie about her thoughts and feelings. She gets to tell him what she wanted in life and how she feels in her life. Steinbeck does not allow her dream to totally fail, as she is able to talk to someone and does not feel lonely. She also would probably feel happier th at she has died, as she does not have to suit Curley and his controlling actions anymore, And the tightness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. glazes dream in the novel is to be wanted and to have friends. He does however foster some friendships with the men on the ranch. Candy thinks he is useless because he cant work anymore like his mouse click. His only companion was his old follow, but his dog gets shot as he is too old and smelly to live with for the men sharing a room with Candy. This was a very tragic time for him as his dog was the main part of his life. Candy suffers ageism, which drags him down. He constantly tries to make friendships, spose I went in with you guys howd that be? He also experiences pessimism just like many of the other characters in the novel.Candy wants to be useful and admired. He does not want his age to take everywhere him and wants people to see the inside instead of focusing on the outsi de of him. Slim says, I wisht somebodyd shoot me if get old an a cripple when referring to Candys old dog which makes him feel old and useless. He wants his own land but would rather prefer friendship. Steinbeck makes him fail when Lennie dies because Lennie was the strongest friendship he had in the novel. Now Lennie has died Candys friendship with him fades out.Crooks is a character who most promising suffers the most. In Steinbecks words he is a Negro, which is a very difficult seat to be because at that time there was a lot of racism towards blacks. His dream is to be interact equally just like the rest of the men in the ranch, to have friends and to be accepted for his color. The stable-bucks dream is very much like Candys because they dream for similar things. Steinbeck shows Crooks is not accepted, as he is not allowed into the bunkhouse because of his color. Like Steinbeck he is cynical and knows that his dream is most likely to fail. Crooks has a pungent and bitter ton e to his voice, you talk about it a hell of a lot, but you wont get no land. He talks like this because he wants other to feel the cruelty he is going through. In the novel there is a point when Crooks feels happier and is a little closer to his dream, Crooks face lighted with pleasure in his torture. This made him feel in control for once.He loses his hope when Curleys wife drags him back down again well you keep your place, then Nigger. I could get you draw up on a tree so it aint even funny this brings out a cruel part of Curleys wife and makes us feel sympathetic for Crooks. This sympathy follows our overtone dislike for him after he becomes cruel. He makes fun out of Lennie, a guy can talk to you an be sure you wont go blabbin. He is tragically well aware of his place on the ranch, if I say something, why, its just a nigger saying it Momentarily he believes he will achieve both his dreams live with the others (George, Lennie and Candy). This is how crooks and candy join Lenn ie and Georges dream, as they have dreamt they will live with them on their land. Crooks gives up on the dream. Steinbeck has allowed him to fail because Crooks is cynical and knows that achieving the American dream is extremely marvellous to happen in the American society.In conclusion dreams are important to these characters because it means they have a goal to aim for in their lives. The point Steinbeck is making is that in the realistic world dreams do not always succeed and wanted to show how futile the American dream was. He represents the prejudiced reputation of the American society in the novel. He is critical of this because he knows these were the boundaries that stopped Americans from achieving their dream. Readers respected him for his honesty. There is hope offered to the reader for George as Slim offers physical and mental support at the end giving us an idea that a friendship can begin. The title Of Mice and Men represents small people (mice) and big people (men) i n the terms of status positions. Steinbecks purpose for writing the novel was to show the American dream and the reality of it.