Of Mice and Men Dreams coursework

By Angus Lau 9E (13)

In Of Mice and Men, dreams play a pivotal role in the construction of the
plot and the shaping of the characters, as it is their motivation to cope with the
harsh times in the American Depression. Dreams were a comfort and the only
hope to the characters that one day they could escape the life they were
experiencing. The common American dream was to have freedom and to own
something, mostly a piece of land, yet there are different interpretations of the
dreams for each of the characters, George, Lennie, Curleys Wife, Candy, Crooks
and Curley. Yet, from the title of the novella, Of Mice and Men, it suggests
that no matter how well one plans his/her dream, it will not come true as a
reference to Robert Burns poem To a Mouse.
As stated in the novellas Georges dream was to get the jack with
Lennie and have a little house and a couple of acres an a cow and some pigs and
live off the fatta the land This dream was the most similar to the typical
American dream and from have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and
chickens. And when it rains in the winter, he will say with hell with goin to work,
and build a fire in the stove and set around it an listen to the rain comin down
the roof we could infer that George had planned his dream well, and it seemed
achievable to the readers, as George saved up money and didnt spend it at the
cat house or in the bar, like the common itinerant worker. Yet, when George said
that his farm would also include red and blue and green rabbits, millions of
them as well as work six, seven hours a day for such a big farm and only two
people, these seem a little bit unrealistic and might suggest that the dream will
never come true. This can be also seen in the fairy-tale-like way George told
Lennie about their dream. We could also infer from George shooting Lennie,
Georges dream will never come true as his dream consists of Lennies
accompaniment in the utilitarian society where loneliness is prevalent.
Lennies dream is similar to George as it involves the other persons
accompaniment, live off the fatta the land, as well as own a ranch. Yet, Lennies
dream also includes him owning rabbits, and this plays a pivotal role as it is
Lennies obsession of rabbits that makes him constantly want George to tell him
about their dream. This can be seen from Lennies pleading Come on, George.
Tell me (the dream). Please George, like you done before. By this, George is able
to control Lennie because if Lennie misbehaves, George will threaten him not to
let him own rabbits. This is seen in the book when Lennie always checks whether
he can still have the rabbits with George when he has done something wrong, like
on page 93 and 94 I didnt want no trouble I can still tend the rabbits,
George? ... I didnt mean no harm, George. We could infer from this that it is
the desperateness of keeping the dream that caused Lennie to panic when
Curleys wife started yelling at Lennie, who was going to mess up her hair.

Because of this, Lennie tried to muffle her screams by covering her mouth and
held tighter and tighter to her hair as he did not want George to blame him for
interacting with the jail bait. These actions made by Lennie were all due to the
blind pursue of the dream, which was proved to be dangerous when the gigantic
rabbit that appeared in Lennies brain (in section 6) suggested that Lennies
dreams would go against him, and George would leave him.
Like Lennie, Curleys wife also blindly pursued her dream to be noticed
and appreciated and due to her desperateness, she believed the man she went
out to the Riverside Dance Palace with that he was gonna put me (her) in the
movies. Said I was a natural. Soons he get back to Hollywood he was gonna write
to me about it. Yet, the blind pursuit of the dream covered her senses that she
was not going to have nice clothes all them nice clothes like them wear, coulda
sat in big hotels, an had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews, I
coulda went to them, an spoke in the radio just because the man gonna put me
in the movies; ergo she then married Curley and hoped that he would give her
appreciation and to notice her. However, this backfired, as she was unimportant
to him, which was why she did not even have a name, and he aint a nice fella.
This meant that the only way for her to achieve her dream was to attract other
men from the ranch and Lennie was the only one naive enough to talk to her.
Just for someone to talk at, Curleys wife has put her life on risk by letting
Lennie touch her hair, which ultimately led to her death. Yet, she finally
achieved her dream when she died, adding to the pathos of the story as well as
highlighting the danger of blindly pursuing dreams.
In the novel, Candys sole dream was to be accepted by others but not
having a farm/ranch even if he had the money as his desire for companionship
was stronger. When he finally convinced George to let him share Lennie and his
dream with him, it seemed that his contribution made the dream close to
possible, yet it is shattered when George had to kill Lennie in Section 6, as seen
from Then its all off? after Candy spoke his greatest fear. This shows
that a dream is empty if it is not shared with someone.
Not like the other characters, Crooks, the most intelligent character of
the novella, has the most realistic, almost cynical view about the American
dream. It was because he has stayed long enough on the ranch to see that the
dream never came true for the itinerant workers, as well as his own experience
as his American dream when he was young was taken off him just because he was
black. In the book, it states I never seen a guy really do itever time a whore
house or a blackjack game took what it takes. However, Crooks had let himself
believe for a short time due to Georges great plan and Candys money. Still, as
Curleys wife enters, she reminds him to keep your place then, Nigger, the fact
that she could get you strung up a tree so quickly it aint even funny and his
position in society, thus separating him both physically and socially from the
others again.

For Curley, he has everything that the typical American dream consists
of: a ranch, freedom, a wife Yet, he was still not satisfied with it and wanted
to gain respect, primarily by beating up big guys to prove that he is strong. This
meant that people would always ask for more when they have achieved something
and it is only the process of pursuing the dream that is important but not the
outcome of the dream.
From the description of all the characters dreams, Steinbeck has
illustrated the importance of the dreams to the itinerant workers in the
utilitarian environment, as it is their only way of having faith in their lives and
carrying on the hardship of the time. On the other hand, Steinbeck has also
stated that a dream has to be controlled, and when it is put at first priority and
importance over everything else, this will lead to problems, as the process
becomes a blind pursuit. Steinbeck also wants to state that the phrase in To a
Mouse is true as there is nothing that will make the American dream come a
reality, even with great planning and the fact that it is only the process of the
pursuit of a dream that is important but not the outcome.