of mice and men

Does Steinbeck reflect a desperate society or does he offer some hope and optimism in his novel "Of Mice and Men"

In Steinbeck's novel " Of Mice and Men" there are many different characters each expressing there own opinion on whether they are living in a desperate society or that there is indeed some hope and optimism in the world around them. At the time the book was set, which is in the 1930's great American depression, many people were unemployed and jobs were hard to come by. Steinbeck's novel centres around the exploits and happenings of a few men, and one women, at the time of this great depression. Steinbeck shows how the most unusual friendships can be created in the mist of this depression and sadness. Such as the strong friendship between Lennie and George. Which in the end, drove George to kill Lennie for his own good. Some characters such as Lennie show how many people at this time had dreams of owning there own piece of land and being able to retire in peace with no one to tell them what to do. This reflects the view of optimism and hope in the book. However some characters such as Crooks see the world around them as desperate and solitary. Crooks believes that no ones dream will come true and that nothing will ever get better, this is shown in the line, " Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land." (page 106) He also says that Lennie's dream will always stay as a dream and will never come true. The novel " Of Mice and Men" on the whole gives many views of hope and optimism and many views of the characters in the book living in a desperate society. I believe that the book balances itself out and that there are equal amounts of each view. The book being as equally optimistic as it is pessimistic. I will discuss how Steinbeck shows these views through his selection of characters and scene settings over the next few paragraphs.

At the time the book Of Mice and Men is set many people in America and other countries had a very pessimistic outlook on life. The book reflects this view in its character opinions and scene settings. From 1929 to 1939 there were failed businesses, harsh poverty and many people were in long term unemployment. Many people made the migration to California looking for work. Most travelled alone, however, in the case of Lennie and George t...

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Curley,Slim or Carlson do not seem to show any dreams in the book and this could be counted as optamistic and hopeful in nothing will ever get worse or it coould be counted as a symbol of a desperate society in that nothing will ever get better.

Curley's wife has two dreams. These being that she wants to talk to otheres, most probably women as she has lacked talking to another woman for a long time, this is shown in the line, "passion of communication" (page ??). Curley's wifes other dream is to be a star in Hollywood. Her dreams are mainly optamistic in that she believes in themm fully. This is shown in the line, "Maybe I will" (page ??). This is when she is talking to Lennie about her dream of being a movie star and she says that maybe she will be a movie star yet. This shows great optamism and hope in Curley's wife's character.

The surroundings in Of Mice and Men are constant throughout. This shows how although the characters change dramaticly throught the course of the book nature always stays the same. Many thing which are at the start of the book such as, "