The View of American Society in the Depression Years in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

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The View of American Society in the Depression Years in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men ‘Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land’, says Crooks to Lennie. This quote was said by Crooks to Lennie, when Lennie was inside Crooks bunk and he started talking about the dream that he had with George. Crooks was arguing that the dream will never come true, that he has seen it allot and it never happens, “I see hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches with their on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn on of ‘em ever gets it.” This shows the state of the people at the time of the depression. It shows the effect of the society on them, the loss of hope they had in the world, the depression made them lose hope of being happy and enjoying and fulfilling their aims in life. For any ranch worker their Ultimate dream is to go to heaven, because heaven is where happiness is found, and due to the society they’re in happiness is very hard to find, I could also say that finding happiness is what every American wants, then actually the ultimate dream for the poor American ranch worker at the time is having a land of your own, being a self-sufficient person and not moving from ranch to ranch in order to live. This is what happiness is to them, and it’s hard to get. But what Crooks is saying is not only that achieving the dream (the American dream) and getting to heaven is hard he’s saying it’s impossible and that heaven is nowhere to be found. I could interpret the reason that made Crooks (Steinbeck) say this in two different views ; I ... ... middle of paper ... ...in this harsh society which shows the unrealism in it . Its not only George and Lennie that have this “heaven on earth” dream also Curleys wife “coulda been in the movies , an’ had nice cloths..” she has her dream to be a movie star and have everything she wanted, it symbolises heaven due to everything you want is found in heave. In most novels the end leads to a conclusion to sum up the whole novel but in this novel what is concluded in the end is actually that what Crooks said is the right thing that no one gets to where they want and happiness and heaven are impossible to reach at the time. This proves Steinbecks point of the society and he was very successful in presenting the themes of loneliness and isolation and using imagery and dialogue to show his negative criticism of the depression through this quote.

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