Imaginations in Of Mice and Men In the classic, “Of Mice and Men”, there is a recurring theme of imagining a better life throughout the story. The characters in the book are unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives and often look to their imagination as their only solace. One character, in particular, Lennie, looks to the rabbits that George had told him would be on their future farm when he is not feeling too hot. John Steinbeck continually uses the characters' imaginations throughout the book to show their misery. In the beginning of the book, George and Lennie are talking about the future and what’s to come someday if they continue working hard. The idea of the rabbits keeps coming up everytime Lennie hears George talk about the future. When George is about to cook supper, Lennie begs him to tell stories about the future because he is feeling down. “George. How I get to tend the rabbits." "Well," said George, "we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch” (pg.7). Lennie loves listening to George tell about the imaginary future because it makes him happy and takes his mind off the present situation. Throughout the story, Lennie continuously revels in these imaginary stories George has to tell. …show more content…
When George and Lennie are talking about their future farm, Candy requests a job there. George welcomes his help and tells them about the farm. “They all sat still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing, each mind was popped into the future when this lovely thing should come about” (pg.29). Imagining their future on the farm made them happy and allowed them to forget about their current troubles. Everyone found solace in their
Steinbeck upon creating the novel in the 1930’s seen and was experiencing some of the things he wrote on. In the beginning he introduced to us a friendship between two opposite men. One man, George Wilson, is a little man compared to his companion. His friend, on the other hand, was a giant who was naïve as a new born baby. His name was Lennie Smalls. Lennie Smalls was a character that Steinbeck used to allow his audience to see that although he had a good heart and was seemingly helpless, that one day his strength would be the cause of his downfall. Questions on whether or not Steinbeck’s readers should believe in the image in which it is given or primarily based it on the novel being written in a bad environment from the first of the novel. Steinbeck knew upon writing that readers tend to cling and fall for the caring, loving, and misunderstood bad guy trying to prove his innocence against all evil brought to him. So Steinbeck created Lennie to try and portray this character to his audience. Steinbeck had to be sure that all elements presented in the novel were able flow good and complete the recipe (Krutch 29-30).
From the introduction it seems that Lennie is more excited than George about the vision. George is easily unhappy about “them rabbits” (Page 5) it makes you think the George thinks this whole dream is a foolish idea. This will get more difficult as we get to understand that George might actually be as thrilled about the dream as Lennie is; it seems George is actually more vigilant about his eagerness, given that he is more mature and weary of things than his friend. The last paragraph of the book explores a deep friendship that has not been revealed in the novella, this part of the book also brings emotions for the characters and even the readers. In the last few pages of the novella you start to release the dream actually doesn’t become a reality as sadly Lennie will be shot by George. “I thought you were mad at me George.” (Page 120) “No, Lennie. I ain’t mad. I never been mad an’ I ain’t now. That’s a thing I want ya to know.” (Page 120) George knows that the only way to make Lennie happy before he gets shot is to retell the dream about tending the rabbits and also telling him
George and Lennie need each other to achieve their dream of their own farm with rabbits to tend. Lennie could not take care of his rabbits or even survive without George.
The quote that inspired John Steinbeck was the best laid schemes often go off track can be seen in the novel of Mice and Men. When Curley's wife met a man in her childhood that offered her to be an actress but the chance went away and she later died. Then Curley wanted to be a professional boxer but the dream never happened and he became a farmer then got his hand broken for trying to be tough. George and Lennie were going to buy a farm to live off the fat of the land then Lennie had to get in trouble and George had to give up the dream and kill Lennie for what he had done.
George and Lennie have to continue to move around the country looking for work until Lennie screws up again. The instability of work only makes it that much harder for them to complete their dream of a farm of their own. Candy’s participation in the dream of the farm upgrades the dream into a possible reality. As the tending of rabbits comes closer to happening fate curses them with the accidental death of Curley’s wife. The end of their wishful thinking is summed up by Candy’s question on page 104, “Then-it’s all off?”
George and Lennie depended on their dream as motivation to live on and work. They've been working all their life to accomplish their dream. While taking a break by a pond on the way to another ranch, Lennie asked George to tell him why they are working and saving money. "Guys like us got nothing; they work up a stack and blow it in the town. But we're different, we got a future " (14). Most workers back then just live on day by day, without a goal. But George and Lennie are different, they got a dream to work and live for. Lennie kept on wanting to be told about their dream a few times in the story, indicating that it's really important to them. George depends on the dream to save up money and take care of Lennie instead of using all the money like all the other workers. While staying in the cabin, Lennie asked George about their dream. "George, how long's it gonna be till we get that little place an' live on the fatta the land and rabbits" (56). George and Lennie's dream has been repeated several times in the story. Each time they describe it, it gives them more will to work and try to accomplish the dream. The dream keeps George and Lennie together so they can work toward their dream. Without the dream, George and Lennie would be different from what they are now. George would be like the other workers, spending all the money right after getting them. And Lennie might be in jail for accused of rape or get bullied by other workers.
Although there are times when plans for the future go as planned, for Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men they face a wishful hope for the future that “Someday – we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some
George and Lennie were planning on having this farm. This farm was going to have a house with rooms for each of them. There would be a garden so they could have fresh veggies and fruits. Lennie was going to have all kinds of rabbits of different colors to take care of. Lennie would always talk about the rabbits and the book and how he was gonna be the one taking care of them. I think that he was very proud because they were gonna be his rabbits and he got to tend to them. After a little bit they came upon an old timer named Candy. Candy said that he had money and could help them get the dream. Candy had also said that he could cook, clean, and do gardening.
Curly and Lennie, two men that traveled together everywhere they went. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck describes friendship, dreams, and personality to describe Lennie and Curly adventures.
a better way of life - but something always seems to get in the way of
Geroge and Lennie had a visual dream to own their own land and control their own lives. Lennie asks George to tell about their little place they are going to get and when George is telling the story Lennie interrupts about what his favorite job about tending the rabbits. Lennie likes to tell George to tell the story about the rabbits. Lennie asks George to talk about their biggest milestone so George tells what Lennie's job there is. Lennie is so motivated to George and depends on him so they can get their dream land and accomplish their greatest milestone.
In Of Mice and Men, it seems an incontrovertible law of nature that dreams should go unfulfilled. From George and Lennie’s ranch to Curley’s wife’s stardom, the characters’ most cherished aspirations repeatedly fail to materialize. However, the fact that they do dream—often long after the possibility of realizing those dreams has vanished—suggests that dreaming serves a purpose in their lives. What the characters ultimately fail to see is that, in Steinbeck’s harsh world, dreams are not only a source of happiness but a source of misery as well.
John Steinbeck, the author of the novel Of Mice and Men uses many stylistic devices and description in chapter one to give the reader a deeper understanding of what may occur throughout the novel. Firstly, the name of the city the two protagonists, Lennie and George, are heading to is called “Soledad,” which means loneliness in Spanish; this is symbolism and foreshadowing because it can mean that as they get closer to the city, their relationship as friends may deteriorate and they may end up alone towards the end. Furthermore, this could also mean that there can be major problems in further chapters because of Lennie’s unpredictable behaviour due to his mental disabilities. In relation to Robert Burns’s poem, “To a Mouse,” the author may be
In the very beginning of the book it becomes almost immediately apparent that George and Lennie are running from something, and that their style of life is leading up to unfortunate events for the two of them. When the pair are on the run and they stop on their road to the new ranch and they camp out in a setting that becomes a very important aspect of the story. George mentions their plan about owning their own...
Although there are many important passages in Of Mice and Men, this passage is particularly important to the novella as a whole for a number of reasons. Steinbeck uses this passage to describe, and build up hope for, the dream that George and Lennie have, displaying the hope and naivete hidden beneath George's rough-and-tumble countenance. One major point of information we can glean from this passage is a connection between the title and the events of the novella. This passage displays George acting as a protective guardian or parent figure, a recurring theme throughout the story. The simple, almost childlike, optimistic excitement about the “future” reveals a side of George he doesn't normally allow himself to show. The farm that George describes acts as a sort of catalyst for the rest of the action in the book.