Look at George and Lennie's dream. Do you think that the dream had any chance of coming true? What made it likely the dream would fail?

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Lee Martin

G.C.S.E Coursework Assignment

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

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Look at George and Lennie’s dream. Do you think that the dream had any chance of coming true? What made it likely the dream would fail?

        ‘Of Mice and Men’ was set in the 1920’s, in America during the Great Depression. The two main characters of the book are George and Lennie. They were both migrant workers who travelled around a lot looking for work. Gorge had a dark face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features. George was small and quick. However, Lennie was a huge man. He had a shapeless face with two large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little. George was the kind of person that wanted to get on in life, who wanted to always act an adult. Whereas Lennie, he was mentally immature. His speech was as if he was a child and he always acted as one.

        At the start of the book Lennie and George find themselves on the way to the ranch for their new job. After a while of walking, they both stopped to go and get a drink of water. When they had found a little river, Lennie threw his face into it, snorting away as he drunk from the water. After Lennie and George had the water, and some food, Lennie wanted to hear the dream again. When George was telling the dream to Lennie, Lennie kept cutting in with the parts that he knew. This made the dream more like a child’s story rather than a dream that could come true. “I remember the rabbits, George.” Lennie here shows how he remembers the part about the rabbits. This is how Lennie makes the dream more like a child’s story than a hope.

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        John Steinbeck refers to Lennie and George’s dream as ‘The American Dream.” Every one at that time in America believed that if they worked hard enough and were very successful, they would be able to afford their own house and their own piece of land.

        George and Lennie’s dream could have been seen as ‘wishful thinking’ – they would never own a farm and house of their own. “I could build a smoke – house lie the one gran'pa had” This shows how George wanted to re-create his childhood when he lived on a farm. This was when he had ...

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