Brittini Cook
Sophomore English
January 10, 2012
Argument Essay
Do Big Dreams ever Really Come True?
Have you ever died wondering what could have been? Well in the novel Of Mice
and Men, by John Steinbeck, Lennie has to do this… Two men, George and Lennie, are
traveling together trying to save up for their dream house. George is the smart one of the
two, and Lennie is big but a bit slow in the brain. They go to work in a field together, and
Lennie gets into some trouble. He kills Curley, the bosses’ son’s, wife and breaks
Curley's hand. As a result to this George is forced to kill Lennie. If Lennie hadn’t killed
Curley’s wife and George hadn’t killed Lennie, George and Lennie’s dream would still
never have become a reality because Lennie should have been put away from the
beginning, George was never even a true friend to Lennie, and George never really
panned on getting the dream house.
One reason their dream would have never become a reality is, Lennie should have
been put away from the beginning. In the book Slim asked George, “’didn’t hurt the girl
none, huh?’ he asked finally. ‘Hell, no. He just scared her. I’d be scared too if he grabbed
me. But he never hurt her. He jus’ wanted to touch that red dress, like he wants to pet the,
pups all the time’” (Steinbeck 42). Here George was just explaining to Slim how Lennie
got blamed for rape because he pet a girls dress, but he only petted it because it was
pretty he didn’t mean any harm. Later in the book Lennie says, “’I don’t want ta hurt
you,’ he said, ‘but George’ll be mad if you yell.’ When she didn’t answer nor move he
bent closely over her. He lifted her arm n let it drop” (Steinbeck, 91). In this scene Lennie
has just killed Curley’s wife. Lennie was simply petting her hair because it was soft, but
then she freaked out and panicked. He never meant to hurt her but in the end killed her.
Lennie never means any harm, but somehow he almost always causes it everywhere he
goes… which shows he should have been locked up from the beginning.
My second reason that George and Lennie’s dream house would never have
become a reality is because George was never a true friend to Lennie. In the very
beginning of the book Lennie asks George, “’Where we goin’, George?’ The little man
jerked down the brim of his hat and scowled over at Lennie. ‘So you forgot that awready,
did you? I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard!’” (Steinbeck 4).
This is in the very beginning of the book. George and Lennie have already been together
for a very long time which means George knows Lennie has problems, and even though
he knows his problems he stills choses to tell Lennie how stupid he is. All Lennie tries to
do is please George and what does Lennie do? Basically says it’s never good enough.
Later in the book George is yelling at Lennie. “Lennie took his hands away from his face
and looked about fro George, and Curley slashed at his eyes. The big face was covered
with blood. George yelled again, ‘I said get him’” (Steinbeck 63). In this part of the story,
Lennie has just been attacked by Curley who is much smaller than Lennie, but had more
brains than him. Lennie only listens to George… He doesn’t do anything that could get
him into trouble without seeing if George is ok with it first. Knowing this George tells
Lennie to get him, even though it will most likely get Lennie into trouble. This proves
that George is not a good friend to Lennie by any means.
My third reason that George and Lennie’s dream would have never become a
reality is because George never really planned on getting their dream farm in the first
place. In the book Lennie says, “’Maybe if I took this pup out and throwed him away
George wouldn’t never know. An then I could tend the rabbits without no trouble’”
(Steinbeck 89). Lennie has just killed one of the puppies he begged George he could
have. Lennie is afraid that since he killed the puppies he won’t get to tend the rabbits on
their dream farm. A few pages later Lennie says, “’I might as well go away. George ain’t
gonna let me tend no rabbits now.’”(Steinbeck 101). In this Paragraph Lennie is talking
to his aunt Clara about doing a bad thing, killing Curley’s wife, knowing that now
George won’t let him tend the rabbits. Funny how every time Lennie does something bad
he’s always scared that he won’t get to tend the rabbits they George is supposed to get
when they get there farm, isn’t it? This proves that George was only telling Lennie this to
keep him in check because it was the only thing he knew would do it. When in reality
there were no rabbits, and no dream house to put the fake rabbits in.
So you decide whether or not Lennie and Georges dream would have ever really
become a reality! I am just here to say that it would not. For three simple reasons first,
Lennie should have been locked away from the beginning, second George was never a
true friend to Lennie, and third George never really planned on getting the dream farm to
create their full dream with. In these last few paragraphs I have given plenty of evidence
supporting my three simple reasons; some of it relating straight back to how Lennie
causes more damage than he realizes, also how George only put Lennie down when all he
wanted was to make his best and only friend proud, and because George only lied to
make Lennie behave. So in conclusion George and Lennie’s dream would NEVER have
become a reality.