In ‘Of Mice and Men’ Lennie and George are on their way to a nearby ranch looking for temporary work after running away from a lynch mob in Weed, following an incident involving Lennie. Lennie’s and George’s companionship is very strange as itinerate workers went by themselves and lived a very lonely life. However, George and Lennie aspire themselves to a dream:
‘We’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and …’
This dream they both aspire to is very important to them as it gives them hope for the future, allowing them a sense of freedom and independence. They do not want to be controlled by someone and have freedom on their own farm. Steinbeck depicts Lennie as a simple character and is like a child as he is always copying George: ‘Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly.’ He is devoted to both George and the dream. He is guided by George and feels a sense of security around him. He can not judge his own strength as he kills a mouse and hurts a girl by accident and Steinbeck shows there is no malice. He is depicted to be an innocent character: ‘I wasn’t doin’ nothing bad with it, George. Jus’ stroking it.’ George is depicted as a clever man who guides Lennie as a parental role: ‘That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie;’ and his frequent protest against life with Lennie never weakens his commitment to protecting his friend. Steinbeck shows how poor their lifestyle is: they have few possessions, fewer comforts, no chance of marriage or family life and no place of their own.
George feeds Lennie the dream because it gives them a sense of hope and enjoyment and blocks out what their actual harsh lives in reality are, for a short time. He tells Lennie this by describing every single detail because of their companionship for each other:
‘Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.’
This shows the desire Lennie has and believes it more that they will succeed in their dreams because of his simplicity he does not understand the reality of the life both he and George are living. However, I feel George to some extent does not fully believe they can succeed in his dreams with Lennie because he is clever and understands that because of their stark reality it would be an unattainable ideal. Although deep down, because of Lennie’s enthusiasm about the prospect of getting a farm, he has a little hope of achieving their dream. The mouse which Lennie kills accidentally symbolises a future downfall to achieving the American Dream. It is an adumbration of what Lennie may do in the future and Steinbeck provides us with a warning.
George especially, does not want to live a life of a migrant worker and both he and Lennie want to live their dream:
‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place.’
This is why a need for a better future is wanted by both George and Lennie, and the life of migrant worker is expressed as a lonely person who does not have any belongings are no one to care for, from this quote. A role of a migrant worker reflects the need for the American Dream as it brings happiness. The fact that they are bossed around brings an appalling mood to the migrant worker’s lifestyles. This motivates them to get out of this lifestyle and try to achieve a dream of owning a property and have some freedom.
Before Lennie and George arrive at the ranch where they try to get work, George warns Lennie:
‘Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always have done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush.’
George is worried about Lennie doing something wrong at the ranch and Steinbeck gives us a big indication that something may go wrong there. George tells Lennie to hide out at the brush if something does go wrong and this reflects upon that the brush is a safe place where nature is continues, without human interference. Whereas at the ranch there is a total contrast where there is chaos and human interference. George also uses the dream, of which Lennie is the most pessimistic of achieving it, to blackmail him into not getting into trouble. So Steinbeck already shows that something may go wrong when Lennie and George try to achieve their dream.
When they arrived at the ranch they are introduced to Candy, who is an old swamper with one hand. Candy immediately talks about a stable buck called Crooks:
‘They let the nigger come in that night.’
Here Steinbeck shows that Crooks never really socialises with the rest of the workers at the ranch and that he has a segregated role there. Once Lennie and George are introduced to the boss and start to work, they are then soon introduced to Curley, who is a bully and is not respected by anyone. This reflects upon the society at that time that some people who achieved their dreams of having a lot of money, and in this case Curley’s dad who is successful gives him this dream, are arrogant and greedy who don’t deserve it more than other people. Candy warns Lennie that Curley does not like big guys and starts fights with them. Steinbeck shows that towards trying to achieve a dream there are always obstacles and what Candy says is an adumbration of what may happen to Lennie soon.
The workers at the ranch think Curley’s wife is a ‘tart’ and when Lennie and George see her for the first time she is described in great detail by Steinbeck:
‘She wore a cotton louse dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.’
Steinbeck describes her as a movie star with rich clothes and it reveals to us that she wanted to become a movie star but failed in trying to achieve her dream: ‘I coulda made somethin’ of myself.’ Steinbeck uses the name of Curley’s wife to show the behaviour of Curley, that he is possessive and how money can change people’s behaviours negatively. Curley’s wife also admits she has no love with her husband and her trying to talk to other people shows that she can’t have a proper conversation with Curley. This also shows that Curley is arrogant and doesn’t have any feelings for others and especially his wife which is evident later on in the book. Already there is a sense of loneliness at the ranch with no friendship shown between the characters except for Lennie and George, and this makes the reader feel they can achieve it because of their strong friendship for each other.
Steinbeck then reveals that Candy too has a segregated role at the ranch and this is shown when Carlson, another worker at the ranch who is similar to Curley wants to shoot Candy’s old dog, but Candy does not want it to die:
‘No I couldn’t do that. I had ‘im too long.’
This shows that his dog has given him a lot of comfort and has taken away a little bit of the loneliness felt by Candy at the ranch. This also shows that Carlson is insensitive and this is also how he feels at the end of the book when a life of a human is taken away. Steinbeck uses Carlson’s character to depict some people at the time of his society. So Candy is left with nothing and is enticed when he overhears Lennie’s and George’s dream. While Lennie and Candy are ‘grinning with delight,’ Curley enters the room and gets taunts by Carlson and he thinks Lennie is laughing at him and starts a fight:
‘Come on, ya big bastard. Get up on your feet. No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me.’
Steinbeck uses a juxtaposition of a good situation turning into a bad one. He also shows that the dream Lennie, George and which Candy now wants is to escape their devoid of feeling and emotion, such as the behaviour of Curley and Carlson. The way Curley picks on Lennie makes the reader feel sympathy for Lennie as he is innocent and this fight was coming, because of Candy’s warning. After the fight Lennie still holds on to the thought they can still achieve the dream and this shows why he is vital for the dream because he holds most of the hope: ‘I can still tend the rabbits. George?’ Here Lennie tries to keep the dream alive.
Lennie is then left by himself at the ranch with Candy while the rest of the workers go into town and he goes into Crooks’ room which Crooks feels uneasy about and this reinforces that Crooks lives a segregated role at the ranch. Lennie talks about the farm they want to get, but Crooks dismisses Lennie’s talk of the dream:
‘Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land.’
Steinbeck reveals through Crooks the harsh reality of the dream and that not everyone achieves it. Steinbeck makes the reader sympathise for Lennie as what Crooks says is true and this is the reason why the people of the society at that time could not achieve their dreams and lived a hopeless life realising the stark reality of it. However Crooks surrenders to the idea: ‘ Why I’d come in an’ lend a hand,’ and Steinbeck here shows that the dream to those with a lonely life can quickly change their minds and surrender to it because of what it offers and change their social life considerably. However because of the harsh reality of the society at that time Crooks was put back to his place because of his race, by Curley’s wife: ‘well, you keep your place then, Nigger.’ She degrades Crooks who then feels like nothing and is not up to living the dream with the rest: ‘I wouldn’t want to go no place like that.’
Steinbeck gave so much evidence that the dream will never really be achieved by Lennie and George and the adumbrations engineered by Steinbeck previously proved to be right. Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife. His lack of ability to judge his own strength brought about his downfall and after the rest find out, George and Candy realise its all over. Lennie’s persistence to ask George to tell him the dream made George feel they could achieve it: ‘He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.’ However Lennie’s mistake is going to be punished this time and George and Candy knows it, and the dream was only kept alive because of Lennie’s injected enthusiasm in it. Candy blames Candy’s wife for ruining their dream and Steinbeck shows that Lennie was the only one who thought they could do it because he does not realise their situation in society. Steinbeck emphasises here that not everyone at that time in The Great Depression could achieve the dream because of their society they lived in, and that there are too many obstacles to avoid. Their situation in life is almost impossible for them to achieve it.
George realises that Curley will want revenge Lennie and the death of his wife allows him to torture him till his death without other people objecting it. Curley shows no feelings for his wife and is inconsiderate and just wants to kill Lennie for what he has done to his hand. This reflects the cruelty and reality of life they live through and reflects upon The Great Depression. Therefore George does not want Lennie to die with pain and he tries to get to the brush before they others do. He again feeds the dream to Lennie to make sure him his happy before he shoots him: ‘Lennie giggled with happiness. ‘An’ live on the fatta the lan’.’ George is being cruel to be kind as he kills Lennie before he gets tortured by Curley and with it he kills of their dream. The dream is the only thing people like Lennie are happy to live for, without this there is no point of life and Steinbeck makes sure the dream is carried into death for Lennie and he shows the cruelty of the life they live in.
In the final lines of the novel Steinbeck conclusion to it reflects the cruelty and reality of their life:
‘And Carlson said: ‘ Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?’
Carlson like Curley shows no sympathy for George and this is depicted by Steinbeck to show the harsh brutality the people of his society lived in. With this line Steinbeck shows that society during The Great Depression was cruel for those people living and it also highlights the hopelessness of the society. Through this book Steinbeck represents his society he lives in with the ranch and that the American Dream was unattainable because of the harsh and stark reality of their lives. Therefore the American Dream is important to the plot of ‘Of Mice and Men’ as Steinbeck tries to contrast it with the American society at that time and it is unattainable because of the arrogance and greed of some people in society which reflects the harshness of society. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a novel which explores man’s inhumanity to man and this thwarted the people who tried to attain a dream, which Lennie and George in this novella, hoped to do. I think this novel is pessimistic as George kills his friend he faces hopelessness and lonely life and this is not understood by others like Carlson because they don’t understand how it is to be cared for by another person. No character has learnt a moral lesson either and this sums up society. However the hope and desire shown by Lennie and his companionship with George, especially reflects the optimistic side of this novella. The American Dream can fit in with themes such as isolation and segregation and this is shown in the character of Crooks, Candy and Curley’s wife.
I think Steinbeck successfully uses this novella to show a distinct contrast between it and his society he lived in and it shows the harshness of society when there was a Great Depression. He shows how the lack of fairness in society of arrogant greedy people, and those who had nothing to live for but have hope for achieving their dreams.
