Disrupted Dreams in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

The novel of mice and men by John Steinbeck is a heartwarming story about two men George and Lennie. George is a small stocky man who prides himself on his ability to be independent, and often taunts Lennie by saying "God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want.” (pg12). Lennie on the other hand is a very large childlike man who is very dependent of George. These two have stuck together for a long time and over that time have developed a dream of owning their own ranch. Steinbeck uses a variety of techniques to display the theme “even the best laid themes can go wrong”

the setting of the novel is in the 1930’s in the midst of the great depression where money and work was hard to come by. Most people turned to manual labor since is always needed somewhere, but it never payed well.

“Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a

little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.”
The play was set in the 1930’s during the great depression where money was a luxury that was hard to come by. George and Lennie were working around in California working long hours and receiving little for their efforts. The use of the great depression was key for the novel as it showed the unhappiness of many men and women and their need to be alone as they could not sustain themselves. But they all had the dream of owning their own place "I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. […] every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it." Pg 73 this shows how many people believed in the American dream but how few achieved it.
Foreshadowing plays a large role in indicating that Lennie isn't going to last long in this harsh world as Lennie is very boyish and innocent and people can take advantage of that like George did "I turns to Lennie and says, 'Jump in.' An' he jumps.

Couldn't swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him.”. in this environment the strong characters attack the weak an example would be when Carlson bullied candy in to killing his dog "I'll put the old devil out of his misery right now," (p.47) and the weak ones attack the weaker, like when crooks picks on Lennie "jus' s'pose he don't come back," (p.72) Lennie is by far the most venerable because of his mental disability, making him easy to manipulate. Candy and his dog reflect George and lennie, George being candy and lennie being the dog, this is because much like the dog lennie depends greatly on George, and just like the dog lennie gets shot in the back of the head with the same gun that was used to kill the

dog.
Steinbeck also uses motif in the novel. for example, Lennies love of soft items keeps reoccurring through the novel, from the red dress in reed to the mice to the pups this theme keeps on recouring through the novel. candy dog is another good example as it symbolizes lennie, as it is very dependent on candy much like lennie is dependent on George, the luger used to kill the dog is another use of motif as it was the same gun to kill candys dog that was used to kill lennie.
Lennies love of soft objects was the main problem though out the play and with the use of foreshadowing and many other techniques Steinbeck made the novel more than a book he made it a book where the reader can predict what will happen through the characters surroundings and events.