In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, he introduces his audience to a band of characters that all want one thing: “The American Dream.” In this 1950s, the American dream was owning a house, having a dog, two kids, and a loving wife. During the 1930s, the dream was quite different –surviving was the dream. Using characters such as Lennie and George, as futile as it is, is extremely powerful because even though there is no chance that they can fulfill their dream of living off the “fatta’ the lan’,” there is power in that dream that allows them to have and hold onto a sense of hope that one day they will own a house and farm. Steinbeck’s use of vivid foreshadowing, unrelenting irony, and futile theme help the reader see that no matter how hard some characters try to alter their lives, fate is always there to have its way with their lives.
The idea that imagery has a place in fate is evident at the start of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie are constantly running from the law and can never break their never ending cycle of getting jobs, Lennie getting in trouble, and moving to another part of the country. Their dream of living off the “fatta’ the lan” is an unattainable dream since they can never settle down and actually save money (Steinbeck 14). Steinbeck even lets the readers know that something awry is going to take place as he carefully and strategically places a foreshadowing in chapter one when the character of George tells Lennie, “Look, Lennie. I want you to look around here. You can remember this place, can’t you?” (Steinbeck 15) In this scene, George is telling Lennie that if he gets in trouble to come back to where they are spending the night and wait for him there so they can again escape. Even though George has some type of hope that things will be different as they meet Candy, another worker willing to be a benefactor for them, he still knows that Lennie’s mental disability and state has some kind of influence on whether or not fate will smile kindly on them.
The characters in Of Mice and Men play an important part of demonstrating the failure of “the American dream.” Throughout the story, characters eventually reveal their own dreams –and how they fail to achieve them. George and Lennie’s dream is mentioned in the beginning of the story, indicating they included each other in the dream. George and Lennie’s friendship held a strong bond between the two. When Lennie died, it was evident George had no motive to continue towards that dream without Lennie. As the story moves on, Curley’s wife says to Lennie, “…I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me,” showing she had a mother who kept her being an actress. Her mother was an obstacle in achieving her dream (Steinbeck 88). Instead, she marries Curley, not realizing she’s setting out on a blocked path that leads to her being an actress.
Amongst all the failing characters, there is a conversation about a man who wrote a letter to a magazine and wanting it to be published. After a while, it was finally published. It’s ironic how successful a small goal was stated in this book in comparison to the number of crushed dreams mentioned by
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Of Mice and Men (disambiguation). Page semi-protected Of Mice and Men OfMiceAndMen.jpg First edition cover Author John Steinbeck Cover artist Ross MacDonald Country United States Language English Publisher Covici Friede Publication date 1937 Pages 187pp. Of Mice and Men is a novella[1][2] written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937…
Of mice and men The story “of mice and men” by John Steinbeck is about the great depression times. Times when people worked eleven hours or more. Back when people hustle work when possible, people lived on a hand to mouth life. When Lennie was kicked out of weed, Lennie and George went a few miles south where there are green hillsides, golden sands in the sunlight, and warm waters. George and Lennie worked in a field bucking barley under the hot sun. This area had plenty of sunshine but…
Of Mice and Men Word Count: 378 "Ain’t many guys travel around together," he mused. "I don’t know why. Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other." (38). Of Mice and Men is a genius book written by John Steinbeck. The book itself has many themes. This paper is going to focus on loneliness. Steinbeck does a good job showing loneliness among people. The character Crooks, the stable buck, is lonely. He was black. Because he is black, he doesn’t get to hang out with the other…
In the novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck loneliness is a key theme and many characters show this trait. These characters are Curley’s wife, Crooks, Slim, George and Candy. Curley’s wife shows loneliness by always complaining about not being able to talk to anyone and she pesters everyone to talk to her. Crooks shows loneliness be talking to Lennie about what he would do if George didn’t come back from town and he is also the only black person there on the ranch (shows it is what Crooks is…
In Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, friendship becomes very valuable early on. Lennie and George are seen as an odd pair since no two men usually travel together, but as the story goes on their friendship is what so many of the ranch workers long for. The characters that Lennie and George run into are hard and tough men but even though they put up walls against others, they want a friend just like Lennie has George and vice versa. We can see that the friendship Lennie and George bring to the story…
Name- Rusha Srinjayi Sen Grade – 9 Subject – English Teacher – Mr.Kent Date – Thursday 20th, November 2014. Of Mice and Men Summative Essay Question : Explain the value of relationships in this story, and how this contrasts to the problem of loneliness. Be sure to include insight about the value of this idea in society. Written by John Stienback, Of Mice and Men, is a story about two uncommon friends, George and Lennie who travel and work from place to place so that they can earn enough money…
Of Mice and Men Literary Analysis Everyone at some point in their life has been or knows someone who has experienced loneliness. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author Mr. Steinbeck incorporates many different themes. A major theme is how loneliness affects everyone is some type of way wether it is one of our main characters in George, a female in Curley's wife, or some one of a different race in Crooks. This comes to show loneliness affects everyone regardless of age, sex,…
English- Control Assessment ‘Of Mice and Men’ Of Mice and Men is a short novel written by the author John Steinbeck, in which he explores the themes of friendship and loneliness. Following the lives of the 1930s ranch workers, and the hope of achieving the ‘American Dream’ and how events can conspire against the realization of ones dreams. For, Steinbeck’s characters, the dream of land represents independence and honour, George and…
Aaron Hoenig 11/7/12 4A Loneliness in Of Mice and Men One of the most important themes in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is loneliness. Multiple characters in this book are lonely, and all in very different ways. Lennie is a very lonely character. Because of his mental capacity people do not understand him. Curley’s wife is one of the most obvious lonely characters because the only person she can talk to is her husband. Another lonely character is George even though on the outside he does…
Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a book written by John Steinbeck in 1937. The book Of Mice and Men is about two men named George and Lennie. George is a smart but smaller man, whereas Lennie is very big and strong but has a mental disability. They find work at a ranch but soon find themselves in a dangerous situation when Lennie has accidentally killed the wife of Curley, who is their boss’s son. Curley vows to kill Lennie, but before he is able to do so George chooses to take the life of his…