Comparing The Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the book talks about two guys who are traveling together in search for a job that can get them enough money so that they will be able to reach their dream. A significant factor in this story is that Lennie, one of the main characters, is mentally disabled. Lennie’s mind is just like a child, it’s easy for everyone to see. George, the other main character, has to constantly watch out for Lennie as they travel together because he doesn’t want Lennie to get into any serious trouble. George often blames Lennie for their problems that they face because of his disability. The dream mentioned earlier that the men are trying to obtain is something that Lennie truly believes they will be able to accomplish. Lennie and
George plan to buy their own land and raise animals and grow crops. Lennie gets extremely excited when he thinks about the dream and constantly wants George to tell him about it. They are on their way to a farm where they were able to get a job. When they arrive they meet Candy who tells them about the boss. They meet other characters, one named Curley who takes a special disliking to Lennie. Things are going well for them until one day when most of the men are playing horseshoe, Lennie is in the barn looking at his dead puppy that he accidentally killed. He worries about George being extremely mad at him. He tries to cover it up with some hay but Curley’s wife comes in and can tell that he is trying to hide something. Lennie explains that he only likes to touch soft things and he doesn’t understand why the things he tries to pet, like the puppy, dies. Curley’s wife tells him that she understands and allows him to stroke her hair. Lennie accidentally snaps her neck with his strong grip. He tries to cover her up as well with hay but gives up and runs to the spot George told him to go to if he ever got in deep trouble. Candy finds the pup and Curley’s wife. He calls George who immediately knows its Lennie. George leaves the barn to make it seem like he had nothing to do with it and then Candy calls in the rest of the guys. Curley rounds up the men to go out and find Lennie so that they can kill him. They go out looking for Lennie and George goes to the spot where he told Lennie to hide if he ever got in major trouble. There, he repeats the dream as Lennie wants to hear it again. While he’s telling Lennie about what will happen, he tells him to look out across the water. As George continues to tell Lennie happens, he shoots him in the back of the head. The men come after they hear the shot and only Slim is able to understand the sad and glum look on George’s face.
Steinbeck hinted at in the book that some occurrences that had a deeper meaning.
In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck makes it clear that Lennie fully believes in the dream that George and him created in their minds. George even states that he didn’t really think they could complete the dream but because Lennie wanted to hear about it so much George started to believe in it. (Steinbeck, 62). Lennie could be used to represent the hopeful side that George has inside of himself. If he didn’t have Lennie with him all this time he might have never thought of the dream or actually believed it could happen. Not only did Lennie keep George believing in the dream but he also keep George from being careless like all the other people around them. When Lennie was hiding in the secret place at the end of the book he started hallucinating and one of the people he saw was his Aunt Clara. She started to make Lennie feel bad about himself and told him all the trouble he was causing George. “All the time he coulda had such a good time if it wasn’t for you. He woulda took his pay an ‘raised hell in a whorehouse … But he got to take care of you” (Steinbeck, 97). Even though Lennie did cause George problems like Aunt Clara said, he also keep George from being like all the others and wasting their time on pointless things instead of going after something special in their lives. George could have been like the rest of society at the time but he was able to get away from it because of his
responsibility. In life everyone has to let go of their childish side and face reality. This concept occurs in the book when George kills Lennie. Lennie was the one who never let go of the idea that they would have a farm and didn’t see any obstacles that could stop them like George did. When Lennie dies he is still telling George what will happen when they finally get the farm. Lennie dying can represent their dream itself dying. When Lennie dies George has nothing else to believe in and can now be free to do whatever he wants. The only problem with that is at least with the dream George wouldn’t be wasting his life on nothing. Steinbeck having Lennie, the dream, die in the book could be showing how people during that time were letting go of their ambitions or childlike fantasies and wasting their lives away as they could see their wasn’t any reason not to.
Steinbeck used his characters in Of Mice and Men to tell his commentary on how society was during the Depression.
Most people did things for themselves and were selfish. It was weird to see people that weren’t related to each other take care of each other and make sure they were all right. When George and Lennie show up, Slim comments on this. “Ain’t many guys travel around together… Maybe every’body in the world is scared of each other” (Steinbeck, 32). Slim admires the fact that George and Lennie can be so close in a time when most were doing what they could for themselves. For everyone to be going through such hard times, it probably disgusted Steinbeck to see so many people not trying to help or comfort others. Steinbeck also picks ups on the lack of effort among people to try to do something with their lives. So many people’s hopes were crushed that they couldn’t see the point in even trying to succeed anymore. “The will and desire of men to work hard to achieve a goal was no longer enough to ensure a comfortable, happy life, and the tragedy of the story is that man cannot change his environment” (Morretta, 68). At this point it is easier for people to waste their lives instead of trying to achieve something. The cruelty of people is also a theme picked up in the book. There are many instances, mainly involving Lennie, were characters were unusually cruel. George mentions how he uses to take advantage of Lennie’s disability by making him do dangerous stuff. When Curley
first sees Lennie he tries to start a fight with him. One of the most disheartening moments is when Carlson forces Candy to give up his dog so he could kill. It was obvious that Candy wasn’t ready to give up the dog yet. He has had the dog since it was a puppy and his was his only companion. Everyone already knew his close relationship with the dog yet Carlson starts a confrontation with Candy just because the dog smells. He tries to reason with Candy saying the reason the dog needs to die is because it’s old and miserable. The real problem even though it’s true that the dog probably is suffering is that no one offers any real sympathy towards Candy. Carlson acts like killing the dog is no big problem and no one helps Candy when he is trying to argue for the dog to at least live one more day (Steinbeck, 45). It’s a very sickening part of the story that Steinbeck used to show the heartless people that were living during this time. People became less sympathetic to others issues.
The Great Depression affected many lives but also showed a more brutal side of America. People were struggling to get what they needed and would do whatever they could to get it. Hope was lost in all aspects, and people grew more careless towards certain things since they didn’t see the point in trying. John Steinbeck wrote about this side of society, which many didn’t like, but it helped make his work different. His past experiences and view on life during the Depression is what helped develop the classic Of Mice and Men.