of mice and men - dreams
Many of the characters in 'of mice and men' have dreams. What are their dreams and how near are any of them to achieving what they want? Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men in 1937 during the Great Depression in America. He came from California and the farmland and the ranches around Salinas, where the novel is set. The novel 'Of Mice and Men' is based on the realistic view on America, by Steinbeck allowing dreams to fail, because in the real world dreams do not always come true. He also wanted the novel to seem real so it would have been unrealistic to show people 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 people's lives 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 sell their shares as it was affecting their savings. Even people who didn't have shares were affected as many banks went bankrupt, as people could not pay back their loans. This all added to the depression which left 25% of Americans unemployed, people were forced to travel around to look for work and many were homeless with no welfare. Steinbeck chooses to focus on two migrant workers, Lennie
OF Mice & Men - Dreams
Many of the characters in 'Of Mice and Men' have dreams. What are their dreams and how near are any of them to achieving what they want? 'Of Mice and Men', written by John Steinbeck is a classic novel set in a ranch town in Salinas Valley, California. The novel may have been set here as a result of most of Steinbeck's childhood being spent on his father's farmland. His descriptions of the setting will have been aided by his first hand experience of the ranches of the area. The novel itself documents the lives of Lennie Small and George Milton. With Lennie being mentally challenged he has the psychological capabilities of a five year old. This means he has to be cared for by George because he acts childish and irresponsibly. For this reason, he often causes commotion within the ranch he is working. On many occasions disruption has occurred and occurs, George and Lennie are forced to leave their current ranch and start again at a new one. As they are always moving around, they never have a secure job and are always staying in temporary accommodation. With each time they move to a different ranch they dream more and more of having their own piece of land where they can be their own bosses and live off the crops they grow. This is shown by this quote, "...and we can live off the fatta the lan'" said by George. This is only one of the many dreams that feature in 'Of Mice and Men',
Dreams in Of Mice and Men
Dreams in Of Mice and Men A major motif of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is the American dream and the drive to attain it. The life of a ranch hand is grim, yet the characters in the novel are still vulnerable to dreams of a better life. The dream of owning land, called the American dream by some, is what motivates George and Lennie in their work on the ranch. It is their friendship that sustains this dream and makes it possible. While the dreams are credible to the reader, in the end all dreams are crushed, and the characters are defeated by their circumstances. The characters in Of Mice and Men have very little to look forward to as migrant ranch hands. They travel from ranch to ranch with all of their possessions in a bundle, looking for work for fifty dollars a month, and that work does not usually last very long. If a man is a good worker, he might be kept on at the ranch indefinitely and wind up as Candy does, old and crippled, just waiting until he is no longer useful. George explains the despair of a ranch hand to Lennie: Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to. Despite
Of Mice and Men : Lennie's Dreams
May 29, 2002 Of Mice and Men : Lennie's Dreams Set in the nineteen-thirties, a time of widespread dream- dismemberment, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men depicts a short period of time in the lives of a handful of characters. These characters offer a fleeting glance of their aspirations, and goals, only to have them wrenched away by a perhaps meeker, but greatly underestimated man. That man, who is not only the executioner of the dreams of those around him, but also of his only hope for salvation and fulfillment, is Lennie. Lennie is a simple man, with the same wants and needs of mostjust more quickly summarized. What Lennie wants is a condensed version of what some call the American dream. 'Condensed' means that he wants to tend the rabbits. Tending the rabbits represents all the ideology of the free and happy spirit to Lennie. He doesn't consciously understand the totality of his dream, because by wanting to tend the rabbits he is really expressing his want to make something of himself and live simply, "off the fatta the lan'," (14). If asked, George would go on and on about settling down with a wife and raising a family on his own little farm Lennie would simply say he wanted to tend the rabbits. Unfortunately for Lennie, the oversimplified Zeitgeist that he created, the paradigm around which his helplessly transient mind constantly
of mice and men dreams essay
of mice and men dreams essay Of Mice and Men theme essay Imagine walking down the seemingly endless highway in dusty California when you meet up with a long lost friend and all of a sudden you show up in front of a ranch that needs workers. Of mice and men is about the men that worked as ranch hands on ranches in Salinas, California. Although loneliness, dreams and inequality are major themes in John Steinbeck's literary classic Of Mice and Men the one that is most important to people is friendship so that they don't become 'mean' and bitter. The main characters, Lennie and Georges friendship lets them not be mean and bitter. Lennie and George have known each other for a very long time and they have a great friendship. They travel together from ranch to ranch trying to get money that they can save and buy a ranch with. In the beginning of the book it says, 'They had walked in a single file down the path and even in the open one stayed behind the other.' (Steinbeck, 2). This shows that they stay together even when walking. Walking one behind the other shows that the man in the front is looking out for the other man. 'No look! I was jus' foolin Lennie cause I want you to stay with me.' (Steinbeck, 15). After George is mean to Lennie, George is very upset about it so he apologizes deeply to Lennie. Many other men would not apologize and walk away. George and Lennie also have
Of Mice and Men - Importance of Dreams
Of Mice and Men: Essay - Discuss the Importance of Dreams By James Hogan, 10H Dreams are an ingrained part of our lives, and those who strive to achieve them show extraordinary devotion and resolve. The allure of a brighter future, of a better life, can both benefit and harm, as John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men illustrates. Living in a time of pain and loss, the characters in the novella cling to their dreams. However, these dreams are beyond attainment, of no importance for accomplishment, and bring them nothing but regret. This essay will demonstrate how hopes and dreams are unimportant for success and happiness, as they are unachievable and bring only pain. Firstly, the pursuit of dreams is futile, as they cannot be achieved. The dream that the two protagonists, George and Lennie, harbour recurs throughout the novel. Their dream is to one day own their own property and to become self-sufficient, and the realization of this dream becomes more likely as the novel nears its climax. However, the dream shatters with the death of Lennie, devastating George, as George cannot envisage the dream without Lennie. The dreams of the other characters, such as Candy and Crooks, are also shown to be beyond realization. Candy, knowing that he is soon to outlive his usefulness, hopes that he can come and live with George and Lennie and to have the freedom to work or rest as he pleases.
Alex Essay ,Dreams, Mice and Men
How far does Steinback present dreams as futile in 'Of mice and men'. Essay by Alex Mason In'Of mice and men', John Steinback, who wrote this novel. presents dreams as an ironic theme in this story. Dreams that are destroyed even before they are known to the reader, Steinback has created them to show us that everyone needs a future plan not just to keep rhem going but to give the lesser man a reason for being excited and living life, it shows how to people outside the book the dreams seem a mirage but to people like Lennie and George it is what is pushing them to carry on. He uses the 'American Dream' as a mirage throughout this novel. The first and most documented dream in this novel is that of George and Lennies which goes on to be that of Candy's too. The dream of owning a piece of land to work and live where they can have cows, pigs, chicken a vegetable patch with alfalfa and rabbits.This dream is what seems to keep Lennie sane as whenever he feels sad he asks George to tell him about this dream they are hoping for. George announces "OK Someday - we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs and ......" 'An' live off the fatta the lan' "We'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit-hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the Winter we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up the
Dreams in Of Mice and Men
Dreams in Of Mice and Men (From the Reader's Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary) Dream: Train of thoughts, images, or fancies passing through mind during sleep; Conscious indulgence of fancy, reverie, thing of dream-like beauty, charm, goodness, etc. As described above, a dream is something you indulge yourself in; to escape reality for the short time you're asleep/dreaming. This seems to be the context that John Steinbeck intended his characters in Of Mice and Men to dream in. They are all craving for something - in the case of George and Lennie, that something is land. They are not the first travelling ranch hands to conjure up images of their own land, or of being their own bosses. This dream is similar to the Great American Dream, that you can achieve anything if you have the mind and desire to do it. George and Lennie´s dream is a simple one - they want a piece of land that they can call their own. The feeling is summed up well by Candy: "Every body wants a bit of land, not much. Jus som´thin´ that was his." Crooks has also seen it all happen with other ranch hands before: "I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land, but ever´ time a whore-house or a blackjack game took what it takes." George's dream, although extremely similar to Lennie´s, is probably more detailed and complicated. Lennie thinks as far as "tendin´ the rabbits", but George has
Dreams in Of Mice and Men
Dreams in Of Mice and Men A dream is something you indulge in, to escape momentarily from life. This seems to be the context that John Steinbeck intended his characters in Of Mice and Men to dream in. They are all craving for something in the case of George and Lennie, that something is land. They are not the first travelling ranch hands to conjure up images of their own land, or of being their own bosses. This dream is similar to the Great American Dream that you can achieve anything if you have the mind and desire to do it. Dreams are simple things in some ways, yet amazingly complex in others. Although we are not told this part of the story, imagine when George and Lennie first came up with their slice of the apple pie that is the Great American Dream. George was probably rambling on, as people seem to do around Lennie (take, for example, Crooks when Lennie goes into his room at night). What was just a simple thing to George, something t!o while away another couple of minutes on the way to another ranch, became something of a fixation to Lennie. After repeating it to Lennie as a bedtime story, maybe he eventually came to believe it himself. Curley´s wife has a different type of dream. Instead of something to call her own, she wants fame, fortune and admiration. She tells the three "bindle stiffs" about her offers of fame. She is unhappy with her husband, and his
Futile dreams in of mice and men
English essay How far do you think Steinbeck presents dreams as futile in of mice and men? Steinbeck presents a lot of dreams as futile in his novel of Mice and Men. All the characters dreams are different in their own personal way but all of their dreams come to be in a different place to where they are at now. They all yearn for something better in their lives. The underlying theme of futile dreams in this novel is expressed throughout Steinbeck's novel throughout many characters. The main dream in the novel of mice and men is that of George and Lennie living of the "fatta the lan'" getting their own place, being self-sufficient and not have to work on the ranch. The two of them are best friends and how different they may seem in the novel they both share this common goal; "Some day we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and..." This shows they have thought about what they want in every little detail and truly believe it will happen. Their ambition, as they put it, is to "Get the jack together," purchase a few acres of land and call it their own. They want to be in their own little place where they are not scrutinised by society; to be away for others in the big wide world where it seems Lennie is not supposed to be. George and Lennie are not unique in wanting this dream but unique in the
