Natalie Bowdery
10 Maroon
Of Mice and Men Analytical Essay
“Hopes and Dreams are important in ‘Of Mice and Men’. Discuss.”
Of Mice and Men encompasses many different themes, but the most important of all are hopes and dreams. The character’s dreams for the future motivate them and give them a sense of purpose.They are what keep the characters going; their dreams are what give the characters a purpose. Lennie and George’s dream is the catalyst that sets the plot in motion and their desperation to acquire the dream is woven throughout the storyline. Perhaps the most poignant point that this book makes is that not all dreams can come true, and from the very beginning some are unattainable.
Hopes and dreams are the primary motivation behind the characters - it is what drives them to continue forward in their livesgives them a purpose. Lennie’s faith in his dream of “living off the fatta the lan’” never ends and his trust in it convinces George that it could happen too. In believing they have a future, Lennie and George work harder, motivated by the idea of their dream. Through this, Steinbeck showed how friendship and company can make hope stronger. Crooks, the stable buck, has seen many men on the ranch come and go, “the same damn thing in their heads”. (pg 73.) He has almost completely given up on hope from seeing toobecause he has seen too many people not achieve anything in their lives.and a As a result of this heCrooks is miserable and lonely, his own hopes and dreams gone. Curley’s wife insists that she “coulda made somethin’ of myself,” and says, “Maybe I will yet.”(pg 87.) ThisWhich shows that her hope of getting off the ranch and becoming something inspires her to get through the day and gives her a purpose in life. Steinbeck set this book during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, where he saw situations like this all of the time. People’s lives back then were very similar to Lennie and George’s; working for months on end to try and earn a living. It was through all of this hardship that the “American Dream” was born - an aspiration that one day they would own their own land and work for themselves. It is their belief in this one resounding dream that keeps them going.
Lennie and George’s want for the American Dreamdream makes up the very essence of the story. When Lennie first gets George to tell him their dream for the future itTheir dream sets the plot in motion. Their dream drives them to continue and, to, some degree, it is what gets Lennie in trouble in the end. Their dream causes both positive and negative results, as Iit is because of this dream that they continue to work towards their goal, butand were he not so obsessed with “the rabbits”, Lennie would never have killed Curley’s wife. George and Lennie’s hope for rich and fertile land sets the scene for what is around, which is the exact opposite; dust and dirt. Most of the characters express some sort of dream or aspiration along the way that is completely contrastsdifferent from the setting around them, showing that book’s setting of Soledad is all but a place where they can attain their dreamsget what they wanted. None of the characters are very complex, Steinbeck relies on their dreams to shape the characters.
During the Great Depression, Steinbeck saw the painstaking truth to what was happening; people wishing for everything and obtaining nothing. Although everyone wanted their own land to live off, the reality of the situation was that money to buy land was scarce and it rarely did people’s dreams become reality happened. From the very beginning, Of Mice and Men paints a picture of misery and hardship, a setting in which a dream of wealth and happiness hardly seems likely. Everything, right down to the title of the book – taken from the poem To a Mouse by Robert Burns, who wrote it to apologise after accidentally destroying an unsuspecting mouse’s home with a plough – suggest that the story is being set up for all but a happycheerful conclusionending. It can perhaps be said that Lennie was always going to meet the end that he did, and that him and George were always destined to never get their dream.
John Steinbeck created a story that was important not only for his time, but for many years to follow. This is not only because its themes are timeless, and the story is a reflection of the era it was set in but it’s themes of friendship, loneliness, suffering and hopes and dreams are timeless and still relevant today. time. ItThis novel is important now because Steinbeck’s story still holds the strong message that sometimes dreams are unattainable, but that hope will help us endure the hardship.keeps us going. Dreams can make up our lives and give us a purpose, but it is important to confront reality, to continue forward and Dreams can be all that our life is about but it important to confront reality, do what they have to do and to not dwell on what could be.