Utopia “The American Dream…will remain only our dream and never be our destiny” (Williamson1). This proves true in John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men in which the characters George, Lennie, Candy, and Crooks find retreat from their harsh life by the dream that one day they will buy a few acres of land on which they will grow their own food and have their own livestock. This idea completely entices the characters because the possibility of a free, tranquil life brings hope for the future, a light at the end of the long and dark tunnel. Throughout the novel Crooks, George, Lennie, and Candy imagine the farm as a place of freedom and security; however, their dream of utopia proves to be impossible to reach and through these characters, Steinbeck suggests that it is also impossible to reach in reality.
Of Mice and Men is set in the Great Depression, during the 1930 's. The novel was written in 1937, it is set in the Salinas Valley region of California. The book ‘Of Mice and men is a touching tale between two men who dream of having a better life. John Steinbeck wrote ‘Of Mice and men because he had gone through experiences of working on the ranches. The novel is structured in six sections to tell the story of George and Lennie who are the two main characters throughout the book.
We learn George is the brain of the operation, and Lennie is simple-minded but sincere. We also get good amount of foreshadowing: we learn that the men have left their hometown because of the strange incident of Lennie touching a girl’s dress. Before they’ve even gotten to the ranch, George warns Lennie that if anything bad happens, they’re to meet in this grove. Perhaps the most important function of this "initial situation" is to explain that the men are in search of money for one big reason; they’ve got a dream of owning a little place of their own. As George tells Lennie the well-worn story of the place they’ll have, we realize this relationship goes both ways.
In the novel, Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, George is Lennies flashlight. He guides Lennie through the bad time and shows Lennie other ways of solving his promlems. Without George his friend would be lost in the world with no references. George has many feelings for his best friend Lennie. He is sometimes mean to Lennie, complaining that he misses out on somethings in life because he has to look out for Lennie.
For example in the novel, they escaped from Weed before heading to Soledad; the reason was because Lennie had done something there. Another impression Steinbeck has left us is that George depends on Lennie for comfort and to keep him company to avoid him being alone; due to events that was occurring around those times being lonely was not an option therefore, he took Lennie in and made him his companion. Reading on in the novel, they both looked up to the ‘American dream’ which was to work hard and buy their own land and grow crops and lots of animals. Within that time everyone looked up to that dream. Lennie Small In the novel, Lennie is portrayed as one of the main characters in Of Mice of Men and George’s companion.
Throughout history, when life becomes tough, people turn to aspirations as a coping mechanism. In John Steinbeck’s OF MICE AND MEN, Lennie Smalls and George Milton believe they have a bright future, during dreadful times of the Great Depression, because they have a dream. They have been migrant workers for a good portion of their lives, and decide they need a change. They don’t want to work for anyone else, rather have their own land. Although George and Lennie believe their ambition is well planned, they soon realize their dream is only up to fate.
Bri Burden Professor Jett English B1A 1 November 2010 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men is the story of George and Lennie and how they travel together from ranch to ranch, and how they someday hope to attain a farm of their own. Loneliness is a common theme associated with this novella, that ranch hands are the loneliest men in the world. Lennie and George are two opposites yet both of them take fill some sort of need for the other. Even though George insists that he would be better off without having to look after Lennie, their very happiness lies within each other. Because Lennie’s mental capabilities don’t allow him to think properly, he is the hindrance that keeps them from achieving their dream farm,
Of Mice and Men was written by the author John Steinbeck in 1937. Of Mice and Men is a story of two friends named George and Lonnie who, in the story, live during the late 1930’s era. George is a small and intelligent man who tends to be slightly bitter at times, and Lennie is a very large man without very much intelligence but at the same time, has a huge heart and amount of determination and hope. These two men are what you could call best friends. The story starts out with the two on their way to a new job.
“Hopes and dreams help people to survive even if they never become real” – “Of mice and men” In the novel “Of mice and men”, there are many examples where characters have dreams but reality is different. George and Lennie, dream about getting their own farm, but this dream is different for everyone, George dreams about farm without a boss as well as he dreams about place where they can do everything they want, to live there without any restrictions. “An’ it’d be our own, an’ nobody could can us. If we don’t like a guy we can say ‘Get the hell out’, and by God he’s got to do it An’ if a friend’ come along, why we’d have an extra bunk, an’ we’d say, ‘Why don’t you spen’ the night?’ an’ by God he would.”. This quotation shows that he tries
They sum up everything of what Lennie later on hopes for more than anything else. Even when George tells Lennie about the dream farm, it is all Lennie’s idea for the rabbits. For George, the farm is a wonderful dream that he wants to fulfill, but to Lennie, it’s access to all sorts of soft things. We know that Lennie see’s the rabbits as something he can just sit around and pet, but we also know that when he pets things, he tends to hurt them not meaning to. The fact that the rabbits never really appear in the book, shows the reality of Lennie’s dreams that he will never understand.