Of Mice And Men Research Paper

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The novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a well-known classic that takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, the pursuit of the fragile American Dream presents the possibility that the dream itself is a facade that mirrors the poem it was inspired by, as well as other famous literary works. The American Dream is the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. In Of Mice and Men, the main characters, George and Lennie, have the dream to go from being migrant workers living a hand-to-mouth existence to being landowners. George reassures Lennie by saying …show more content…

George is put into a dilemma where he has to kill Lennie or let him be locked up and lynched by Curley. George decides to kill Lennie himself by shooting Lennie in the head. Before George kills Lennie, they talk about their dream one more time in an attempt for George to relax Lennie. When George pulls the trigger, Lennie dies, and the dream that they both had died as well. This is a prime example of how Steinbeck uses the dreams of George and Lennie as well as their failure in the pursuit of their dreams to develop the theme of the novella; however, this is not the only case where the author uses the dreams of their characters to develop a theme. One poem that has a similar theme to Of Mice and Men was the inspiration for John Steinbeck to create his novella. The poem To a Mouse by Robert Burns is a poem where a farmer comes across a mouse while plowing a field. In the poem, the farmer talks to the mouse about how the mouse will probably die now that his house was destroyed by …show more content…

They take flight, and everything seems to be going well until Icarus abandons Daedalus, drawn by the desire for the heavens, and soared higher. The wax on Icarus' wings melted, and he fell into the Icarian Sea. Daedalus, who had just lost his son, buried Icarus' body in a tomb and named the Island "Icaria" after his buried child. The “Myth of Daedalus and Icarus” is similar to Of Mice and Men because Daedalus and Icarus wanted to leave their confinement and become free, and their dream was crushed because of Icarus' foolishness, just like how George and Lennie had the dream to become free land owners, however, due to Lennie's foolishness, George had to kill Lennie. Even though Daedalus and George survived, they didn’t have their lifelong friend or son to be with them. This myth is also similar to the poem To a Mouse because Daedalus planned thoroughly and carefully, but his plan went wrong and his son died in the process. All three of these literary works have similar ideas and propose similar themes. In the case of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are trying to achieve the “American Dream” and live a free and independent

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