But his dream came crashing down when he realized his handicaps would alter his future. Of Mice and Men was about fulfilling your dreams in any possible way. In the novel, the ability for Candy to fulfill this dream, relies on him is having someone to share the dream with. Candy has the dream of being able to live on a farm with George and Lennie. He has the money to help support the purchase of the farm.
How does Steinbeck show the power of dreams and dreaming in the novel?-- Draft Dreams are an important part of life and are represented through many characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’, showing it to be an important theme in the novel. All the main characters have a dream, and during the time that the novel was set, the American Dream had the power to shape lives and change these migrant workers’ decisions. The ‘American Dream’ is that everyone in America has equal opportunities and can be successful if they are willing to work hard for them. A stereotypical American Dream was to settle down, and have a family and an economically stable home, much like George and Lennie’s dream of owning their own farm and being their own bosses; their family was each other. Unfortunately this was not really possible in the 1930s, as people were prejudiced against the mentally handicapped, such as Lennie, and the Wall Street Crash, followed by the Great Depression, meant that the characters could suddenly end up unemployed and starving.
In the book, Of Mice and Men, dreams are what every character seems to be craving. In George and Lennie’s case, that something is land. It is natural for men in their situation, itinerant workers in the Great Depression, to imagine working on their own land and being their own bosses. Their dream is simple in some ways yet very complex in others. The dream apparently began as just a story that George told Lennie, perhaps as a way of calming Lennie down, or to keep him focused on working, but after some time, it seemed that George started to believe in the dream himself.
How does Steinbeck use dreams and dreaming in the novel? Why are they important? In Of Mice and Men, the hopes and dreams of the men on the ranch are a continuous focus and theme throughout the novel. Dreams and reality is one of the major themes in this book and Steinbeck uses the concept of dreams to show hope and aspiration, and show the difficulties of survival with unrealistic dreams. In the beginning of the chapter, we meet two migrant workers called George and Lennie who are different than most men during this time, simply because they have each other and they both share the same dream.
Steinbeck illustrates the loyalty and sacrifice between friends through the friendship of Lennie and George. The issue of loyalty is embodied in the character of George. He is an intelligent man who could make a successful living for himself on his own. He chooses to stay beside his friend Lennie. George can never get a steady job to fulfill his long-term goal of having his own farm.
This is why the relationship is seen as very rare because of the dependency and how they were uncommonly united by their shared dream of a better life on a farm, where they can “live off the fatta the lan” as Lennie puts it. George articulates this vision by repeatedly telling the ‘story’ of the future farm to his companion; Lennie who believes unquestioningly in their dream and his faith enables George to imagine the possibility of this dream becoming reality. However, George’s belief in it depends upon Lennie, for as soon as Lennie dies, George’s hopes for a brighter future
Grace Naylor Ms. McGowan English 9, Period 1 27 October 2011 Of Mice and Men Essay Dreams. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that word? Aspirations, goals, and what people truly desire are what come to my mind. Of Mice and Men takes us on a journey with George Milton and Lennie Smalls, and teaches us all about dreams and what the people in this book truly desired. John Steinbeck makes it clear that each character has their own dream and they all would rather be living their dream than living and working on a farm.
Lennie can not wait to live the Dream of leaving the farm they are working and buy their own farm. Candy and Crooks believe that George and Lennie will achieve this dream so they decide to join these two on achieving that Dream. George and Lennie’s dream appeals to Candy and Crooks because it is everything that they want and wish to achieve. They are continuing to help George and Lennie with this dream because this dream, they see that it can be achieved soon. George, Lennie, and Candy’s dream is destroyed by Lennie’s ignorance and Lennie’s uncontrollable strength.
What is the significance of dreams in “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck The dreams in “Of Mice and Men” are core themes used to display the pinnacle of aspirations for the labouring class recently after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. They also highlight the polarization of society where the poor may only have their dreams to hold on to but the upper echelons of society control the wealth, the jobs and the lives of the working men. This is significant as Steinbeck wrote the book to display the hardship for the working class after the economic collapse and Steinbeck involves the lower Characters that existed in reality in California in the theme of dreams – all of whom were in desperately sad situations. The dream of the two main characters George and Lennie, migrating workers, is the hope of owning their own land and the life on their land would be a meritocracy. In the book George and Lennie work on the “Tyler Ranch” in the Salinas Valley, keeping going through the monotonous life with the old-fashioned and misleading “American Dream”.
In the book, “Of Mice & Men” by John Steinbeck, I feel like the main message that he is trying to convey to his readers is that in life, everybody has dreams and aspirations that they wish to achieve in life but the cold hard truth about is, no matter how hard you try or wish, dreams don’t always come true. The theme if everyone in life wants to “be somebody” is show in almost every character in the book... Lennie and George’s both have the goal of own having their own little land and being ranchers, but from the very beginning of the book, the foreshadowing made it relevant that is wasn’t going to happen. Another example of this theme would be Curley’s Wife who wants to move to Hollywood, California and become a big time actress but because her mother didn’t want her to leave home, her dream destroyed be she could even attempt it. I too can personally relate my own personal goals to this theme. My main dream in life is to grow up go move to Oregon and study Computer Science at the University of Oregon but I feel like no matter how I try, I will never be able to achieve that for many reasons.