Examples Of Ambition In Of Mice And Men

Ambitions are Deleterious
The point of living is so that you can accomplish something by the time you die. Therefore hopes and dreams are the driving force of life. Hopes and dreams are exactly what kept the two migrant workers, George and Lennie, going on in life. Their ambition of one day having a farm of their own is what makes Lennie and George work as hard as they do. The theme of these ambitions being deleterious is what makes up the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Even though the ambitions that the characters of the story have could show to be better for them and be their fresh start if proven pointless, the theme of the book Of Mice and Men is that ambitions are deleterious because for Lennie and George their hopes of one

day having their own farm to tend to keeps Lennie and George going. But all of that hoping and dreaming eventually became pointless when Lennie messes up badly. This results in George shooting him. When Lennie kills Curley's wife Curley’s only hopes and ambitions of ever having a loving wife and family are shattered.
The ambitions for more than just the main characters resulted in harm to them.
Curley’s Wife admits that she’s not happy in her marriage and that she feels that if she didn’t marry Curley her life could have been different in a better way. “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I ought’n too. I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.”... an’ spoke in the radio, an’ it wouldn'ta cost me a cent because I was in the pitcher. ” (Page 89). Curley’s wife admits that what is holding her back from reaching her hopes and dreams is being married to Curley. She makes points about how nice her life would be without him and how happy she’d be. But none of this can happen because she is married to Curley, and she can’t change that. Also, one thing Curley wanted was to be married. This is evident when they say, “Seems like Curley is cockier’n ever since he got married.” (Page 27). You can tell Curley wanted to be married because guys only get super cocky when they are confident with themselves. When a guy is happy with his life, he becomes confident with himself. Therefore, Curley was satisfied with getting married. But here is where it twists, in the end, Lennie, of course, kills Curley’s wife, and this destroys any hope and ambition for Curley’s happiness. Dreams left nothing but harm on these two characters and further shows that ambitions will hurt you.
In addition, our beloved main characters bring up the best examples of their ambitions being deleterious.

The biggest dream throughout the story is for George and Lennie to have enough money to go and buy a farm of their own. But then Lennie does something that he can’t change back or hide from, and all hope is lost for him and George to have a farm when George does what he never thought he’d do. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger… Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” (page 106) This one final scene symbolized all of George’s aspirations, hopes, dreams, ambitions, anything he had, diminishing before his eyes. He made a point earlier in the book, “ I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘jump in.’... well I ain’t done nothin like that no more” (40). He promised himself he wouldn’t hurt Lennie again, he took it upon himself to keep Lennie safe. But George fired that last bullet and killed Lennie, stripping himself of all his hope and ambitions. The other main ambition that was crushed in this story has to do with Lennie and his rabbits. “We’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs… An’ have rabbits!...” (14) This is a recurring event throughout the book; they talk about their future dreams, and Lennie tells everyone he meets about the rabbits he's gonna have, but again that all changes when Lennie messes up badly and kills Curley’s wife. The story displays the reader the visual of, “She struggled violently under his hands… “Don’t you go yellin’,” he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” (91) This visual can help you see where Lennie’s dream of ever handling another living being again diminishes because if he can’t keep an

adult human living then he can’t keep a tiny animal alive. Due to him messing up Lennie was freaking out the entire time he was hanging on to her for the very reason of the rabbits. Overall, Lennie and George exemplify the most evidence of the themes present.
Since hopes of one day having their own farm keeps Lennie and George going even though all of that hoping and dreaming eventually became pointless when Lennie messes up badly, which results in George shooting him, and when Lennie kills Curley's wife Curley’s only hopes and ambitions of ever having a loving wife and family are shattered. Even though these men’s ambitions being proven pointless could show to be better for them, and it could be their fresh start, the theme of the book Of Mice and Men is that ambitions are deleterious. Therefore, events throughout the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck will lead the reader to believe that having ambitions will result to be deleterious.