Dreams are very important in “Of Mice and Men” - Discuss.

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Hannah Butlin

Dreams Are Very Important In “Of Mice and Men”.  Discuss

     In the book “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck uses hopes and dreams to thicken the plot and make the reader take a large interest into the character’s lives.  Loneliness plays a large part in the book, which leads the people to develop dreams as a way to escape from their loneliness and depression, it also gives them hope for the future.  The main characters in the story each have a dream, which they are unable to fulfil.  Even the title of the book refers to dreams.  It is a quotation from a poem by the Scottish poet Robert Burns,  “The Best Laid Plans Of Mice And Men Gang Aft Agley.”  The structure and the plot of the novel revolve around hopes and dreams, the drive to attain them and the disappointment when they are crushed.  In Lennie’s case, his dream provides a respite from the harsh environment of the novel- especially when George is telling his dream as a story.  A smile immediately forms on Lennie’s face at the mere thought of his dream, “Lennie was still smiling in delight at the memory of the ranch”. (page 66).    

    In the book George’s dream is to “have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs” (page 15).  The dream of owning land is part of the American Dream and is what motivates Lennie and especially George to work on the ranch.  Without them doing this it would be virtually impossible for them to obtain enough money to achieve their dream.  The reason why George has this dream is because he has always worked on someone else’s land and has always been ordered around by someone else, which he is getting tired of.  George sometimes feels that having Lennie around hinders his prospects of achieving his vision, which makes him all the more determined to accomplish it.  George is initially realistic about achieving his dream and comes very close to achieving it when Candy offers him a large sum of money to buy the land.  He then becomes cynical as his dream is shattered when Lennie kills Curley’s wife and he knows he should shoot him.  When he does it was like the other half of him was missing.  The passion of them accomplishing that had died down.  Also he wouldn’t have the joy of Lennie as his companion.  Although George found Lennie annoying he had known him all his life and cared for him.

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     Lennie’s dream is similar to George’s, he to wants the American dream of owning land and becoming self-sufficient.  Lennie because he has the intellect of a child cannot grasp this concept as well as George can and is childly amused by the dream.  All Lennie is really interested in is having several rabbits of his own because he has an addiction for petting soft animals such as rabbits, puppies and mice which is due to the fact that he has the mind of a child, which shows that he has a simple personality.  “Tell us what we’re gonna ...

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