Of Mice And Men Setting Analysis

In Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the protagonists, George and Lennie have an ambitious dream that never comes true. Of Mice and Men was written through inspiration from a poem about dreams and how they often go awry. Steinbeck used the elements of that poem to make a detailed novella about the danger of setting one’s mind to one dream without any backup plan. Throughout the novella, Steinbeck attempts to tell readers that the American Dream is almost impossible to achieve and it is not worth setting one’s mind solely to that dream as people will discourage one and it will likely fall apart.
Throughout the novella, George and Lennie encounter many people who tell them that they should not focus on shooting for their dreams as they are impossible to achieve. When Lennie and Candy are talking to Crooks in his room Crooks say, “‘I seen hundreds of men come by...An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it’”(70) As said by Steinbeck’s character Crooks, no man ever gets their dream, but they all try. Steinbeck uses Crooks to communicate
After George dream is ruined he says, “‘I’ll stay all night in some lousy cat house.’”(90) When George chooses to go to a cat house, he leads himself to a money focused life with women rather than a happiness focused life with friends. Steinbeck uses this scene to suggest that human nature leads one off course and no matter how hard one tries for a dream human nature will throw them off course.
Steinbeck uses the novella Of Mice and Men to communicate the message that the American Dream is too farfetched of a dream to set one’s mind solely on. The reason Steinbeck thinks that lofty dreams shouldn’t be the sole goal one has is meant to tell his audience that they should always have a backup plan for everything as the best plans usually fall