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. 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 lives. 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 too many
people not achieve anything in their lives. As a result of this Crooks 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.) This 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 Dream makes up the very
essence of the story. When Lennie first gets George to tell him their
dream for the future it 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 it is
because of this dream that they continue to work towards their goal,
but 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 completely contrasts from the setting
around them, showing that book’s setting of Soledad is all but a place
where they can attain their dreams.
Natalie Bowdery
10 Maroon
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
rarely did people’s dreams become reality. 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 cheerful conclusion. 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 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.
This novel is important now because Steinbeck’s story still holds the
strong message that sometimes dreams are unattainable, but hope will
help us endure the hardship. Dreams can make up our lives and give us
a purpose, but it is important to confront reality, to continue forward
and dwell on what could be.