Of mice and men †dreams and hope Essay

Hopes and pipe woolgathers protagonist state survive even if they never blend real. How true is this for the characters in Of Mice and Men? The myth Of mice and Men was written by posterior Steinbeck and is narrow in Salinas and Soledad California in the 1930s when purport was unenviable for so many people because of the great depression. A major theme of John Steinbecks impertinent of mice and men is the the Statesn dream and the drive to realize it. There argon two major themes in of mice and men impudent that is foreshadowed by the reference to Robert Burns poem called To a mouse the record book mouse within the title means loneliness and dreams. (BBC Bitesize, 20142) This poem cont have got(prenominal)s the lines, The trounce laid plans of mice and men/ often go awry Most of the main characters in Of Mice and Men harbour dreams and grant plans that never have a go at it true. George, Lennie, and confect all share a doomed dream of buying their sustain put up a nd living off the land. George often thinks about how his life he could have had as an unrestricted bachelor and free of the burden of lovingness for Lennie. If I was alone I could live so easy, he says. (Steinbeck, 196512)However, Lennie has his run private dream of living in a cave with his throw rabbits tho Curleys married woman regrets the missed chance to become a movie star. The main theme throughout this novel is that people must learn to reconcile their dreams with the reality to accept that everyones silk hat laid plans often die. Each of the characters plans go askew not because they give up on them but because the forces beyond their control destroyed individually one of them. Due to the bleak economic out gestate of the gravid belief coming to terms with your broken dreams was the reality beneficially everyone in America faced. The American Dream is written into the Declaration of Independence life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We live these truths t o be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.With these protections, any American, no matter of class, religion, gender, and eventually race, could always striveand even sometimes succeedat improving himself via wealth, education, or labour. (SparkNotes, 2014). George and Lennies dream about owning a kindle and living off the fatta the lan (Steinbeck, 196516) tokenises this dream. In the novel Of Mice and Men shows that the American Dream became an illusion and a trap for the poor migrant workers during the Great mental picture. Every single one of the spreadingworkers in the novel dream of life, liberty and happiness but not one of them ever gets is. When Crooks hears of George and Lennies dream of owning their fire he says Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. (Steinbeck, 196584). Although the ranch workers dreams may no t be realised, the novel suggest that in order for a persons life to be beneficial and meaningful it has to contain some sort of dream.At the end of the novel George and Lennie never achieved their dream but it did hold their remarkable friendship in concert throughout the story, for them this dream was real even if it was just there whim because kept Lennie happy and it stopped George from becoming a mean and lonely guy like the other ranch workers. The dream gives them life, even if life never allows them to achieve their dreams. This novel explores the changing aspects of male friendship during this arrest this is shown when Lennie asks George to tell him why they are not like the other ranchers George tells him we got a future Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They dont belong no place.With us it aint like that. We got a future. An why? Becausebecause I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and thats why. (Steinbeck, 196515) this is Georges way of axiom he and Lennie are different to the other workers.It could also be suggested that the article future could be a metaphor for something bright and so untold greater accordingly what they have got now, which could be linked to their version of the American Dream and to live off the fatta the lan. (Steinbeck, 196516) this could almost suggest a biblical meaning like a promised land where all their dreams could come true. This dream befriends George and Lennie to endure the hardship they face each day and to help them not to give in to despair. Usually the men who worked on these ranches would have no family, friends so therefore no future. Their friendship strikes the other ranch workers as odd due to their dependency on each other. This makes the chief and Curley suspicious and Slim observes that ranch workers rarely travel together because theyre scared of each other. Although most of the men in the novel are completel y alone they still all crave true friendship.As Crooks, perhaps the novels most solitary character because of his melanise skin puts it, A guy needs somebodyto be near him. (Steinbeck, 196582) All the characters in the novel long for friendship and kindness but yet they all live in fearfulness of oneanother. This is shown with the thug shooting of Candys dog which makes it clear that during the Great printing if you are useless, old or weak you will certainly be destroyed because the unassailable and the useful will fight for survival. All the workers on the ranch would constantly try to make themselves look strong particularly if they feeling weak. The fear of the weak being everywhererun by the strong could explain why Curley likes to fight a larger men then he is Curleys pretty handy. He done quite a bit in the ring. Hes a light tip and hes handy (Steinbeck, 196529) and it could also be why Crooks tells Lennie that George is going away to abandon him. Then Curleys wife th reatens to have Crooks lynched. Each of these characters tries to issue strong by asserting power over one another. This fear of being the strongest explains why the other characters in novel find it hard to understand George and Lennies friendship because they see being the strongest as a fight for survival.In Of Mice and Men it has two different visions of women in it the eldest is the male character soak up and the second is the novels view of women. The male characters view on women which is they tend to view the women with fear and negatively labelling them as dangerous sexual temptresses. The male workers often referred to Curleys wife with insulting words like a tart (Steinbeck, 196531) and jail tantalize (Steinbeck, 196536). George and Lennie have a friend in prison on draw of a tart (Steinbeck, 196563) plus they have had their own troubles twice as a result from a woman. The first the women from Weeds and the second is Curleys wife. Although she plays into her role as sexy temptress throughout the novel until the concluding part of it where is a victim. Curleys wife craves the attention of the men on the ranch because shes desperately lonely so she flaunts her power over the men because she herself feels weak. There are a number of symbols within the novel that have different meanings these are George and Lennies farm, the rabbits that Lennie keeps talking about, Candys old dog and also Lennies whelp.The dream of owning a farm for George and Lennie is a symbol of the American Dream. This fantasy of owning their own farm leads George, Lennie and the other ranch workers such as Candy and Crooks to indulge in the dream of living off the fatta the lan (Steinbeck, 196516). Georges rich description of the farms lavish plants and animals also makes it seem like a symbol of paradise. While Lennie dreams of tending to the rabbits on the farm that he and George hope to ownone day. This dream forms Lennies complete innocence. Lennie enjoys touching anythi ng that has a gentle fur such as rabbits and mice due to this love of touching padded things leads to his fate.This symbolise not just innocence but also Lennies downfall of innocence in the harsh world that he lives. The succeeding(prenominal) symbol is Candys old but once sizable sheepdog. For Carlson killing Candys dog makes it clear that during the Great Depression those who was strong would only survive. The way that Carlson kills Candys dog in the back of the head with just a single gunshot is bespeak how George will kill Lennie in the end. The link between Lennie and Candys dog is that they are powerless, innocent and doomed from the start. The symbol of Lennies puppy shows how dependent Lennie is on George, just as the puppy is dependent on Lennie. The puppy symbolise the fate of the weak in the face of the strong.