A Comparison Of Dreams In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage and to pursue them.”-Walt Disney. We often persevere to achieve our goals but are held back by the slightest of things. Sometimes there is a minor setback that causes your dream to shatter and forces you to do something that you will regret. Steinbeck disrupts many characters’ dreams that all relate to the American Dream of the idea of having an equal opportunity to achieve your goals and prosper through your hard work and determination. Dreams can give you false hope and be destroyed easily, such as the dreams of Curley’s wife, George’s & Lennie’s, and Crooks’ in John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men.

With George and Lennie, the author proves how their fantasy of owning their own land

gave them false hope which was motivating them to do work on the ranch so they could try to accomplish their dream. The first time that their dream is brought up is in chapter one when Lennie pleads George to tell him about the dream. “O.K. Someday- we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs…” George explains how one day they will own their very own house and farm and be their own bosses. This indicates the two characters’ dream that they plan on accomplishing throughout the novel. The significance of this quote is that it tells us what they are trying to accomplish all throughout the story. The connection to the American Dream is that they want to accomplish this through their hard work and perseverance and have the possibility to prosperity and success just as the American Dream states. This dream of theirs gave them false hope to continue to work because they were so motivated to buy their own home and their own animals that they never thought of anything ruining their dream. Near the end of the novel, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife and George helps him get away but realises after that he must kill Lennie himself or else the other men will do it instead so when they are at the brush George explains to Lennie the dream one last time and then kills him. “An we’ll have maybe a pig an’ chickens…George raised the gun…” Here, George speaks the last few words to Lennie about their dream that they were so close to achieving then shoots him in the back of the head. This proves how easy it is to destroy a dream but how long and hard it is to fulfill the dream. This creates a tone of shock because George’s and Lennie’s relationship was so strong that as a reader you would never think that such betrayal would occur. Steinbeck’s message is that because of one’s actions, your deep-rooted dream can easily be ruined and cause you to take desperate measures. Dreams are the type of thing that can force you to work harder unnecessarily and be effortlessly destroyed by simple mistakes. It was not just the characters from the bunkhouse that had dreams, it was also the marginalized that had them too.

In Steinbeck’s novel, he demonstrates how Curley’s wife’s dream was unachieved and, therefore, left with the only option to marry Curley.

After Lennie accidentally kills his pup and Curley’s wife comes into the barn to talk to him she explains the story of how she was going to be an actor. “Well, a show once come through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me. She say because I was on’y fifteen.” Curley’s wife was given the opportunity to fulfill her life-long dream of being an actress but because of her mother, she was denied permission to become one which occurs after she meets one of the actors from the show. This means that her mother ruined her dream to be an actress. This reminds me of the time I wanted to go out on Halloween to go trick-or-treating with my

friends
only, but my mom said no because I was only ten years old.

This relates to the theme of dreams because very important people can cause great difficulty in your life which also supports the idea of how dreams can be destroyed easily. Continuing with her story, Curley’s wife goes on about her story of another time where she was given the chance to be an actress but was declined permission again by her mother. “He says he was gonna put me in the movies…I never got that letter. I always thought my ol’ lady stole it… So I married Curley… Maybe I oughten to. I don’ like Curley.” She was given her last chance to pursue her dream when she met someone who was in the movies and had said that he would write back to her regarding her acting career, she had never received that letter believing that her mother stole it. This resulted in Curley’s wife never achieving her dream to be an actress. This raises the question of why her mother had stolen the letter because if your daughter is given the opportunity to be famous then why would you not give permission to let her be that famous person. Steinbeck implies how she was given a false hope of being an actress by her dream which relates to the American Dream because just as it is seen as ideal, her hard work and determination did not give her a chance at being an actress. The author clearly illustrates that when a dream is unachieved you always fall back and choose the easiest path that you feel will not hurt you again which is what

Curley’s wife did by marrying Curley after her dream was unaccomplished. Important people in your lives can be the very ones that damage your chances of achieving your dreams and leave you with an option to do something you will regret. Curley’s wife was one of the many that did not accomplish their life-long dream.

Although Crooks is marginalized, he still has a dream of not being lonely and not being underappreciated which is false because no matter what he does, he will never be included in anything because of his skin colour. When Crooks is explaining his childhood he brings up how he is underappreciated. “If I say something, why it’s just a nigger sayin’ it.” Crooks hates the thought of how people do not listen to him because of his skin colour. This shows how men and women back in the days felt about themselves when they were marginalized. This relates to the theme because as dreams can give you false hope and be easily destroyed, Crooks’ dream of being appreciated leads him on to hope for someone to listen to him, but that will never be fulfilled because of his skin tone. This raises the question of what Crooks could have possibly done to raise his voice because he did not try hard enough to voice himself. After Lennie enters Crooks’ room, Crooks opens up to Lennie and confides with him. “A guy needs somebody—to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you.” Crooks is excluded from everyone else because of his race and he goes crazy without being able to socialize with people. This demonstrates how people with a different skin colour, back in the 1930’s, felt when they were marginalized and how Crooks feels. This reminds me of society because so many people are bullied, treated unfairly and left alone and this is a possibility on how they feel. Steinbeck is saying that dreams give you a sense of false hope that only drives you, even more, crazy than you already are and that the American Dream in incorrect. Crooks’ dream is most related to the American Dream because as rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence, freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success regardless of social class or disabilities. Crooks barely had freedom and was discriminated against because of his social class which resulted in marginalization which resulted in being lonely and underappreciated. Crooks’ dream gave him false hope and he was never able to accomplish his dream.