Many Of The Characters In "Of Mice And Men" Have Dreams. What Are Their Dreams And How Near Are Any Of Them To Achieving What They Want?
John Steinbeck wrote the novel "Of Mice and Men" in 1937. The settings were personally related to the author himself. The Novel is set were he originally came from, around Salinas, California. It was written during the great depression which not only effected America, but Europe as well; however the novel only focuses on America. Steinbeck had his reasons for writing about it. He wanted to show the reality of the great depression as it struck everyone in different ways. He used realistic characters that represented the main groups of people living in America and what effects took place according to their status. One of the biggest problems was that twenty-five percent of the whole population was unemployed, leaving a mass of civilians to roam the streets, desperate to survive by any means. Others were forced to become itinerant workers.
George and Lennie, the main characters, are two ranch workers. They are prime examples or itinerant workers due to the economic disaster they faced. They had slight difficulties maintaining a job as Lennie has a mental and almost physical disability. His child-like mind didn't allow him to correspond well with his beastly physicality. This means he is unaware of how brutal and uncivilized his actions may be. It's what always got him in trouble and George was the one always defending him. All they had was each other. As Itinerant workers they travelled far in search of work as did many others who were desperate to earn enough money to survive or perhaps support their family. They pretty much had no choice if they wanted to live. Work on a ranch did't always pay well ; however, the workers were provided with the necessities which had already cover a lot of costs such as a roof over their head, cooked meals, bathing facilities, so they were grateful. All those small things are the things that are taken for granted, but to those times they were valued and appreciated. Whatever salaries they received at the end of each month they would send home to their families or spend it all on a cat house (prostitute house) and start all over again. George and Lennie had other plans which differentiated them from the rest.
George and Lennie both shared a dream. Besides the fact that their relationship status was quite rare, the dream made it that little bit more special. Most people travelled alone and just had their minds set on surviving. George and Lennie had their hearts set on bigger things. "We could live off the fatta the lan'," a quote used constantly by both George and Lennie. They are implying that they want to buy land in which they can live off everything they grow so they won't have to rely on any one to survive. It's a big change from working for someone to working for yourself; it's more satisfying knowing they can do what they want for themselves. "We'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit-hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with going to work!" Their dream gets deeper with endless wants; to them it's almost like an obsessive fantasy.
However, their dreams are still realistic compared to a modern day dream which tends to be more selfish and greedy. A sense of freedom is what they are after which is highly understandable and admirable. Lennie also has an obsession with "tending rabbits". Again his child-likeliness is getting the better of him; then again all children look forward to particular things they enjoy.
Their dream is like a private sanctuary in their minds, an escape from reality, the one thing that no one can take from them. It's their goal, the one thing that keeps them ...
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However, their dreams are still realistic compared to a modern day dream which tends to be more selfish and greedy. A sense of freedom is what they are after which is highly understandable and admirable. Lennie also has an obsession with "tending rabbits". Again his child-likeliness is getting the better of him; then again all children look forward to particular things they enjoy.
Their dream is like a private sanctuary in their minds, an escape from reality, the one thing that no one can take from them. It's their goal, the one thing that keeps them motivated to carry on. "Come on, George. Tell Me. Please, George. Like you done before." George tells their dream like a story out of a fairytale to satisfy Lennie's childish behavior. Lennie also repeats his sentences as a sign of enthusiasm. The dialect used gives quite a clear impression of what they sound like and helps to visualize their words and actions. What is said is written quite different from how we would write and speak today, so it emphasizes on how long ago this took place. The Ranch consists of more than just workers and one dream. George and Lennie weren't't alone; there were others with different occupations and completely different dreams.
George and Lennie's dream later developed into a larger dream including one other member. Candy, a former worker, who had lost his hand on the ranch so he wasn't much use. He was aware that it wouldn't't be long until he would have no were to go, he was only getting benefits for his loss on the ranch, and no one wants a useless worker hanging about. When Candy over hears George going into story mode, he was overwhelmed knowing that there was some hope. "You know where's a place like that?" and "How much they want for a place like that?" showed Candy was deeply interested by asking questions.
Candy was interested by all of this because his life was slowly passing by and he was still not doing anything about it. So this dream of having a ranch and not working for somebody was a big eye-one for candy and seemed very interested in the dream. He stated obviously that he's interested by saying, "S'pose I went in with you guys" and shows us how desperate he is by offering "three hundred an' fifty bucks" which was more than half of the overall payment required. Just to sweeten up the deal even more he adds, "...I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some." and "I'd make a will an' leave my share to you guys in case I kick off," Candy chose his words carefully letting George know it will benefit everyone rather than it being a selfish gesture. Just to make sure they kept him in he used a very short but never the less a very effective emotional line, "When they can me here I wisht somebody's shoot me." Automatically they feel sympathetic towards him because he lost his hand and his best friend, the dog. It was after that conversation that Candy gained hope after all.
However, a serious incident occurred which lead George to kill Lennie for the good and safety of others. He gave up on the dream and decided to become a part of what everyone else already was. "then - it's all off?" Candy asked sulkily. Without George, Candy couldn't't stand a chance making the dream come true alone and there was no persuading George to reconsider. Candy was vexed at Curley's wife as she laid dead, "Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up". He knew that if she didn't disturb Lennie they would all be able to leave the ranch and have a good life together. Now that she had caused all these problems he had no respect for her at all and insulted her by using harsh names such as "lousy tart" and "bitch".
Women to those times weren't seen as equals, they done what they were told and weren't much use. Curley's wife is a good example of a typical woman to those times. She is referred to as Curley's wife and nothing else to show her lack of importance. She craves attention as no one pays her no mind, so she resorts to Lennie who listens too her dream. Her dream was to make something of her self by becoming an actress. "Coulda been in the movies, an' had nice clothes - all of them nice clothes they wear. An' I coulda sat in them big hotels, an' had pitchers took of me." she reminisces on the past were she had a chance of fulfilling her dream and all the materialistic things she would have had.
She sounded ungrateful when she said, "I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet" as if to say what Curley had to offer wasn't good enough when that's what nearly all women wish they could have. Her marriage to Curley was an escape from loneliness which seemed to have failed. As she was an attention seeker she used her sexuality to her advantage to lure in other men, even if they were at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Although the other men were aware of the sly schemes, Lennie was mesmerized by her beauty and was generally vulnerable.
She even admitted that she was lonely to make Lennie feel sorry for her by saying, "Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." She did this to make him feel sorry for her and give in to her cunning ways. She had finally found someone dumb enough to listen to her pitiful life story without passing a judgment on her and it all started from,
"Maybe I will yet." Then with such passion she let lose what she had bottled up inside for a while. She couldn't care about what Lennie had to say when he included his own dream in the conversation, "she went on with her story quickly, before she could be interrupted." For someone desperate to talk to someone she seemed awfully ungrateful and selfish. She was fully aware of what he was capable of yet she still took the risk of getting to close. "She took Lennie's hand and put it on her head" she told him to "Feel right aroun'..." this was the biggest mistake she could have ever possibly made.
"From the slightest jerk he began to panic. His child and animalistic side began to collide again. Like a child he held on and panicked, however, he didn't realize he was hurting her and she wasn't strong enough to struggle free. She died young and still could have made something of herself but she could never get another chance after that." This quote is taken after Curley's wife died, her dreams like the others but hers different of wanting to be famous were shattered.
Crooks is just the isolated "nigger" at the bottom of the social hierarchy on the ranch who constantly got degraded by everyone. His status is even lower than any woman's. Any black person to those times would have the most selfless dream, to be treated as an equal and to have freedom. George and Lennie were the only ones that communicated with Crooks so it probably made him feel somewhat wanted. Crooks also developed a desire to join the dream. Crooks constantly had to take everything thrown at him verbally by Curley's wife as he had no status as a "busted-back nigger". She constantly abused him and when he finally decided to stand up for him self he got knocked back down again. "Keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny." This shows that if Crooks did anything out of the ordinary it will be reported and he will be dealt with in harsh ways. It made him realise that he couldn't take part in the dream, all hope had been lost thanks too the threat Curley's wife made. Every character mentioned above presented their dreams in the form of a story to another character. Each of the dreams were different yet similar in many ways.
All of the dreams resorted to freedom from somewhere or someone, and not to suffer from financial problems. They all wanted to be able to support themselves and survive from what they owned. The only difference being that some were unrealistic and they had different views of the dreams they wished too accomplish.
In the past Curley's wife was close to being an actress twice. Only thing that stopped her was her mother, who didn't let this dream continue knowing what the consequences would be later on in life. George, Lennie and Candy were less than a month away from completing their task of obtaining the land.
In the end Lennie accidentally ruined everything and didn't even know what he had caused. Crooks wasn't as close, he only had hopes of becoming apart of the dream, but nothing had been established officially. I think the situation on the whole affected George the most as it was originally his aim to work towards it and without it he felt like there was nothing left for him. He lost faith in his dream and his fellow companion. I believe Steinbeck looked at how the Great Depression affected the different people in America and sympathized on their behalf. All the characters represent all types of people in America; the elderly, disabled, women and the ethnic minorities. They all played important parts as they helped to show how major the issue was.
