John Steinbeck's Novel Compared to Sean Penn's Film

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John Steinbeck’s novella of Of Mice and Men and Sean Penn’s film of Into the Wild explore ideas that are similar and different to each other. Both texts have big dreams, and strive to make it reality.In contrast, Steinbeck’s novella exhibits how 2 men have the comfort of friendship and how truly important it is, while Penn’s Film finds true happiness through the rejection of materialism. Such ideas through the two texts are shown with different methods .Of Mice and Men set in a time of post-depression where many were unemployed and sought low-paying jobs, hoping to make it big , while Into the Wild, being the complete opposite where many people were wealthy and materialism was rejected.

George and Lennie's desire to have a piece of property that is all their own and to "live off the fatta the lan'" is a recurring motif in the novella. They worked hard to have their dream become true. Many times Lennie would urge George to tell him how it would be one day. Lennie wants to hear about the time when they will leave the farm where they work and buy their own farm. That will be the day when they can be independent and live in freedom. George says that they will have strawberries and rabbits and their own little house to live in without rules or restrictions. George's and Lennie's dream was so appealing that Candy and Crooks wanted to join their dream of owning a farm because they thought that George and Lennie were close to reaching that dream. George's and Lennie's dream appealed to Candy and Crooks because it was everything that they also wanted to have but had never achieved it. However, a dream is only a dream, not reality. In fact, it was obvious when Candy and his dog were used as an example of parallel characters to George and Lennie. The dog relied on Candy heavily, as Lennie does to George but Candy also needs his dog, just like George needs Lennie and when

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