Brennan Stearns
December 15, 2014
Period One
Of Mice and Men Essay
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” -To a Mouse by Robert Burns. This quote perfectly explains much of what happens in Of Mice and Men and the impossibility of the American dream. The book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck takes place in the great depression and follows the characters George and Lennie in their attempt at achieving the American dream. George and Lennie work on a ranch and have traveled around working on different ranches as their main source of work. Lennie is mentally challenged and gets in trouble a lot, so George always has to save their necks. Their main goal in life is to eventually stop working on the ranches and eventually get their
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A dream that had at one point been something of a fantasy bedtime story that he would tell Lennie to keep him happy had finally almost been turned into a reality. Him, Lennie and Candy all had finally gotten the money to turn their fantasy into a reality, but then circumstance took over and once again snatched someone’s dream right out of their hands much like it seems to so often happen. It very well demonstrates the real impossibility of the American dream back then. At one point George says, “-I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.” (Steinbeck 94). He knew that it was pointless to hope for something that was so unlikely to happen and yet he let himself do it anyways because it was so important to him to keep his best friend happy and full of hope, no matter how much of a pain he was at times. By getting in trouble again Lennie may have brought their dreams crumbling down, but George still never truly got mad at him. I honestly believe that George cared more about his friendship with Lennie than their dream of living off their own piece of land, and that George’s own dream had more to do with living happily with Lennie rather than going around working at all of those lonely ranches. their friendship can be demonstrated be this quote, “Lennie said, “I thought you was mad at me George.”... “No,” said George. “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.” (Steinbeck 106). George had everything going for him then had it all crushed by his circumstances. In the end George is forced to take his own friend’s life and is not only left with a crushed dream, but more grief and pain than any one person should have to
John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.
In the Poem “To A Mouse,” Robert Burns writes about how a mouse spent the bulk of his year building a house to protect the mouse from the cold, frail winter. A farmer accidentally plows the tiny house over while working in the fields. The farmer states “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”(Burns). About two hundred years later John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men. Through the title referencing the the poem an audience can infer that this is an allusion that foreshadow plans ending badly. In this case the widely established American dream is
George is almost certain is will happen, as he wishes for 'a little house' with a 'few acres' of land to grow their own food. This is also important as it shows that in 1930s America, the main goal was to achieve stability, to be able to rely on yourself and not be worried about getting 'canned' everyday and to live, not only survive on the bare minimum. However, even George's simple dreams seem incredibly unrealistic and Crooks sums this up the best as he says 'nobody never gets to heaven and nobody never gets no land' which shows how many people attempted to acheive the same thing, to achieve stability, however no one ever did. At the end of the novel, George's dream comes to an abrupt stop as he has to kill Lennie. These final moments show how short life in 1930s America was, and how unfair situations were. Even though Candy still offered to give George his savings, George chose the solitude life of a ranch worker as Lennie was part of his dream, and how he couldn't even seem to reconsider living the American dream without him shows the reader how much Lennie meant to him.
In this book George is constantly taking care of Lennie and is always reassuring him that they will have their own land and be able to tend the rabbits. George doesn’t actually believe in this dream which shows how he is willing to say anything to make Lennie happy. Also, George is constantly bringing up how easy his life would be without Lennie, he said "God almighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could get a job a work, an no trouble (12). This quote shows how George is aware that Lennie is holding him back from making more money but how he choices to stay with him because they have a genuine friendship. George takes his parental figure role seriously and would never leave him.
Steinbeck uses foreshadowing throughout the story that hints on them not achieving their dream. Crooks one of the workers, predicts that Lennie and George will never get their own farm. Also, George looses hope and stops talking about the dream. As Crooks and Lennie discuss the plan to get a farm, crooks docent think that Georges and Lennies dream will become possible.’‘I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, …’em has a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever get it…” In other words Crooks has seen many people with the same dream as George and Lennie that haven't come true. Crooks says that none of the peoples dreams come true, this foreshadows that Georges and Lennies may nit come true. As a result, The failure of dreams creates an effect creates an uncertainty that their dream will come true. Not only does Crooks think that their dream will not come true, but George lost hope in their dream too. While George and Lennie are sleeping by the water, George tells Lennie a story about what their farm would be like, but George breaks down and doesn't want to talk about it. While George and Lennie are sleeping by the water, George tells Lennie a story about what their farm would be like, but George breaks down and doesn't want to talk about it. “I aint got time for no more…” in other words, George is tired of having dreams he doesn't think he can
The theme that John Steinbeck amits from the novel Of Mice and Men is not everyone’s american dream can come true because one wants it to. This alludes to a famous poem by Robert Burns called “To a Mouse”. The theme of this poem is the greatest schemes of mice and men often go astray. Meaning that things do not always go as one plans it to. The novel is set in the Great Depression (1929-1939) in Southern California (near Soledad). Characters in the novel such as George and Crooks have obstacles that hold them back from achieving their own american dreams. George is held back from his by having to care of Lennie, who cannot take care of himself. Crooks is held back from his american dream because of his skin color.
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
Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan states that, "in the state of nature mans life is nasty, brutish and short". In depression era America, no greater truth could be said. There were millions unemployed, largely unskilled and living on the margins of society. The lowest of the low were the migrant labourers travelling from place to place trying to scratch a living. They often had to travel illegally by freight car with all its consequent dangers. Their life expectancy was low, crime was rampant and despair was a fellow traveller. This is the setting of John Steinbeck's, 'Of Mice and Men'.
The American Dream is a dream that everyone imagines to be picture perfect. The American Dream means having freedom, equality and opportunity’s to achieve the dream that you conceptualize to be right by you. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck did not want to just illustrate the American dream as being easy, but he wanted to point out the American Dream as being difficult too. Steinbeck made a work of art by composing a great novel to make the reader understand that life can be difficult and at times dreams are hard to achieve. Of Mice and Men was written and based on the settings of the Great Depression (Anderson). The Great Depression was a very dire time that left multiple of people despondent and the unavailing to move on with their lives. The Great Depression created a world where everyone had to seek and survive for themselves. In the novel Steinbeck wanted to explore and point out how powerless people where during the time of the Great Depression. Steinbeck purposely incorporated his characters to depict the life struggle of what people go through during grim times. In the novel, Steinbeck illustrated a great set of characters Lennie, George, Candy and Crooks. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck discusses handicaps, hardships, and friendships of the characters.
Although George is angry with Lennie, he reassures Lennie all is well and retells him the story of their farm. George relinquishes the American dream of owning a farm and the chance of a better life with Lennie. He is now fully aware that all of his plans and dreams amount to nothing. George also realizes he is just a lowly migrant worker with no future; he will never own a little piece of land to call home sweet home. Lennie gives George a sense of meaning and purpose in life. The death of Lennie gives way to the death of their American dream
The American Dream is a thought that everyone has at some point. Some are bigger than others and some are harder than others, but everyone hopes to accomplish their American Dream. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows that the American Dream is a myth, not a reality. John Steinbeck shows the American Dream being a myth through a few of the characters in Of Mice and Men. For example, Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and Candy all have American Dreams, but they also have some obstacles that stop them from completing their American Dream.
George’s struggles with himself become apparent at the beginning of the novel. Steinbeck clearly lets the reader know that George has conflicting feelings about Lennie. He believed, “ ...if he was alone he could live so easy. He could go get a job an ' work, an ' no trouble” (11). George is basically telling Lennie that sometimes, he wishes he could live
Of Mice and Men is based on 1930's America during the Great War. Depression. The American dream was no more, and the land of. opportunity had become the land of misfortune. It was during this time that many farmers best hope for a new life lay in California.
George was a man with a dream, just as everyone else in the novel was. As stated by Zeitler, “More than a dream of land or property or riches or even a house of one's own, George's vision encompasses a broader range of values—freedom, abundance, fairness, nature, and companionship—that are universally desired by the novel's characters, even if they too often remain tragically unfulfilled”. The sole reason for his lack of success, and the very reason his dreams become unachievable, is Lennie. From the beginning to the very end, Lennie had always held George back from doing what he really could have set out to do; like earning enough for a ranch, and settling down with a wife. This is true especially in the end, where the best choice for Lennie meant sacrificing all hopes of the aforementioned dream by ending his life.
However, Steinbeck foreshadowed that that dream wasn’t going to become a reality from the very beginning. For example, while George and Lennie are roasting beans, Lennie complains about not having ketchup, and George retorts, “God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could 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 back and go into town and get whatever I want” (11) Lennie puts such a burden on George, but without Lennie, the dream would be pointless. George also refers to Lennie a “mess”.