Is the novella ‘Of Mice and Men’ Pessimistic?
At a time of Great Depression everyone had dreams; everyone had their own interpretation of ‘The American Dream’ that they would strive for. But in this time hardly any dreams were attainable. Lennie is constantly getting into trouble which causes George and Lennie to have to move and find new work frequently and given the time and circumstances, not much work was accessible. George and Lennie search for work in the hope of achieving their dream of owning a small ranch of their own seems to get further and further away as Lennie continuously gets into trouble. It is almost predictable that where ever Lennie goes trouble undoubtedly follows. Curley’s wife had a dream of becoming famous ‘coulda been in the movies’ but then she was let down her version of the American Dream crushed unachieved and now deceased ‘ I never got that letter’. Crooks dreams of having the same rights as everyone else. He hates working as a stable buck he is an intelligent black man who doesn’t get to show off his abilities due to discrimination, prejudice and segregation. He literally has the same amount of rights as the animals he sleeps next to ‘a long box filled with straw, on which his blankets were flung’ he is aware of the prejudice barrier stopping him from achieving his American Dream. No one is coming remotely close to achieving their dreams and every attempt seems to just go amiss. The fact that George and Lennie have had this dream for so long but seem so far away from it proves how having a dream to aspire towards is pointless at this time. Optimistically no matter how many downfalls they never give up hope especially Lennie, up until the moment he died he still hoped of a better life not only for him where he could ‘tend the rabbit’s’ but also for George his only companion.
