'Of Mice and Men' Broken Dreams Essay.

‘Of Mice and Men’ Broken Dreams Essay.

In Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ there are many characters that have hopes and dreams of what they want to do with their lives. Most of these dreams are unrealistic and will never come to be. George and Lennie both share a dream.

Their dream which they both follow and use to keep them going in tough times is that will own a small ranch or farm and be able to live by themselves there. There they will have be able to live off the produce they make and be entirely self reliant and will be able to stay in when they want and work when they want. This shows that they never want to have to go and work for another person or in harsh conditions. Once they achieve this, they will be working for themselves and in a way they will be free men. They will have a few acres and on this have an alphalpha and various animals. Lennie, having a simpler and childish mind, just wants to be able to tend the rabbits whereas George looks at it as freedom. This dream is never realised as Lennie dies at the end of the novel. George could still go on and make enough money to get this small ranch but it would depend on if he would still want to do it without Lennie and if it held any value to him anymore. Although it is a failure because of Lennie’s death there is also the possibility that they would never have earned enough money to achieve this anyway.

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Another character in the novel that has a dream is Curley’s wife. She talks to Lennie in the novel about how she could have been an actress. She could have been an actress; big and famous. Also her dream in a way is to not be lonely. She can’t stand being alone and has to have someone there. She married Curley so that she would no longer be alone but she has just ended up alone on a ranch of men, hence she tries to talk to the other men but she is then seen as “jail bait” and avoided hence she is even lonelier. Her dream of being an actress has failed because she chose a quick way out and married Curley. She is now living in her failure and has no longer a dream to aim for, other than somehow escaping from her horrible husband Curley.

Crooks is also a character in the novel that has a dream, in some ways he has more than one dream and dreams that are not originally his. As the only black man he does not receive any respect on the ranch and is often referred to as ‘Nigger’ and in his room has a copy of the State Civil Rights. This is showing us that he hopes to somehow become equal to everyone else and no longer be put down because he is black. This would be a dream that he would share with many other black people at the time the novel is set. When he hears about the dream that both George and Lennie share he gets very excited about it and wants to be a part of it. He sees it as a way of escaping the hatred and unfairness that he receives on the ranch and in most of America. He would be a free man like Lennie and George and be able to do as he wishes. This dream is not his own and it fails because he comes back to reality and remembers that he would have no way of doing it. He realises that he is black and that he would not be able to fulfil his short lived dream.

Many of the characters have dreams in this novel and none of them seem to gain them. The only thing that is close is what George says to Lennie a few times. “God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy.” He says things like this several times throughout the novel to Lennie and at the end the gets this. Even though he may not have meant it to be a dream of his in a way it was and was the only dream that actually came to be.

Teacher Reviews

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Stephen Evans

17th of Mar 2013

A well-structured response which makes many valid and interesting points and includes a strong conclusion. The response evidences a sound understanding of three of the main characters' dreams and aspirations. Many of these points would benefit greatly from quotations in support. There are other areas that could also be developed, for example, the dreams of other characters such as Candy and Curley.

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