In a country where liberty, freedom and the land of opportunity is a pivotal part of American society the American dream is born. The American dream is fundamentally the notation that no matter your race, religion, sex or social class if you work hard in America you will achieve materialistic wealth. Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men sets in the 1930’s, the time of the great depression and depicts the flaws of the American Dream. Some of the themes in the novel include friendship, death, jealousy and loneliness. The exploration of this essay shall consist of me focussing on exploring the importance of the character of Slim.
To commence, the introduction of Slim consists of a whole paragraph and this is the only character in the Novel who is described with so much detail and praised so much, ‘A tall man stood in the doorway...he looked kindly at the two in the bunk house.’ The language that Steinbeck uses, ‘majesty, royalty, master’ indicates that Steinbeck wants the reader to admire this character and to think highly of him. This implies that the other ranch workers on the ranch look up to him giving him a sense of authority and respect. This admiration and almost perfect like nature of Slim makes the audience question whether he is a true reflection of ranch workers at the time and also what he is doing on a ranch, but this character of Slim symbolises that people with such nobility and humbleness can be found in all sections of society even on a ranch and here Steinbeck is trying to raise the status of migrant workers as they are hard workers and deserve better than just a dream that really is never going to become reality.
