Discuss how Steinbeck is exploring the significance of dreams in

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Discuss how Steinbeck is exploring the significance of dreams in "Of Mice and Men"

One of the themes in "Of mice and Men" by John Steinbeck is the dreams that people have during the American Depression. He explores the sufferings they had, which is why he probably chose the title "Of Mice and Men" for his novel. He probably compared the lives of men in America in the American Depression with the lives of mice and how similar they were; the men in that time had to keep moving around the country searching for a job and mice had to keep moving because their home were constantly destroyed by the farmer as portrayed in the poem 'To a Mouse' by Robert Burns.

In the book he explores the dreams the men and one woman have on a ranch outside the California's Salinas Valley, the place where he spent his childhood. Because of his experience of living in the Salinas ranch, it enables him to create believable characters by giving them proper 'American Slang' accents and also give a good description of the Salinas. The author may have thought the dreams as a significant part of people's lives; something that acted as a hope and future. Some characters, such as Slim and Carlson, do not talk about dreams; this may suggest that dreams are only for discontented characters.

John Steinbeck enters the main characters, George and Lennie who are two men travelling around the country looking for jobs as Lennie always gets "in trouble" and loses "ever' job" they get, into the setting of the California's Salinas Valley. From the very beginning of the book I can see that John Steinbeck's style of writing is plain and simple, which makes the visualisation of the setting very real. Even though the setting is very descriptive in most parts of the story, Steinbeck still uses plain language but with minimal adjectives so it is enough for the reader to imagine what he wants. For example, Steinbeck writes, "the shade climbed up the hills toward the top." This is enough to make the reader picture the shadow moving and he has not included any unnecessary fancy description using metaphors or adverbs. The writer generally tends to use a lot of adjectives and very little personification, similies and mainly the only time he has used a metaphor is when he describes Lennie's hand being a "big paw. " This makes the book become very easily transformed into a play.

The structure of the book also makes it very easy to be converted into a play. There are short six chapters that contain an important event being an episode, which can be made into Acts of a play. Steinbeck has used a general order to write these chapters, which makes it very alike to an act of a play. He sets the scene and then allows the characters in the chapter to be introduced. After the main event has ended, he describes the setting once again. It has been designed very similarly to a play and most of the chapters are in dialogue.

Steinbeck has also used this structure to write the whole novel. He firstly describes the setting that is in a place " a few miles south of Soledad" where "the Salinas River drops in close to the hill-side bank and runs deep and green." He then introduces the characters, which are involved in the main part of the novel. The author ends the story by exiting most of the characters and returns to the setting of "the deep green pool of the Salinas River."

Some people, however, may interpret this style of writing and structure to create reality in their imagination so it is clear for them to understand that in this situation, George and Lennie seem unlikely to achieve much in their life. It also shows the significance of dreams to be unclear. But still, George shares the dream of the rabbit farm with Lennie and how they can be their own masters.

The dream of the farm seems very distant and dim to begin with but as the story progresses to when Candy, a useless worker, who also wants to join in with the dream offers his compensation money ("two hundred an' fifty dollars 'cause" he "los' " his "hand") to buy the farm, the dream seems to have a possibility of coming true. The dream seems significant to the trio's freedom in future life, especially for Candy as he has already foreseen what will happen to him through his old dog that had to be shot for his age and uselessness. John Steinbeck uses the symbolism of Candy's dog to represent Candy's own life. Candy already predicts that the boss will "can" him "purty soon" and he "won't have no place to go." The similar comparison Candy makes of himself to his dog makes him scratch "the stump of his wrist nervously" and feel miserable, he tells George and Lennie that "when they can" him, he "wisht somebody'd shoot" him. The sad life Candy lives makes the dream of the farm most significant to him as the reader sympathises for him.

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The dream also is significant to George's and Lennie's lives as it could mean freedom and labour for another man. The excitement of this coming event must be kept a secret from the other characters as "they are li'ble to can" them so they "can't make no stake." But even though Lennie has promised to not talk about the dream to others, he tells Crooks the stable buck. Crooks who is a "nigger" seems hesitant to talk to Lennie at first because he does not like white men that much as they do not treat him as an equal. But ...

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