Hopes and Despairs of Dreams
"Come on George, tell me, like how you done it before
.". "You get a kick out of it don't you; well here it goes like
." (13) George has told Lennie about their dream many times and yet Lennie always wants to hear it one more time. It was been told to Lennie so many times that even he can memorize the dream, meaning Lennie really loves the dream and even want to hear it more. Dreams can give people the will to live and the will to fight. People can lose their will to live or to achiever their goal if the dream is lost. Dream is the most important thing for George and Lennie because it's the only thing they can depend on to live.
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.
George's dream is to have a ranch of his own and Lennie's dream is to have, as mentioned earlier, a farm filled with rabbits. Lennie's hope for his dream is influenced whenever George starts describing his dream farm in explicit detail, such as how the fields are going to look, what animals they will own, what the daily routine will be etc. This farm symbolizes happiness and salvation, especially for Lennie, since he understands that the farm is his ticket to getting rabbits. In fact, the reason why he forgets George's orders is because he cannot stop thinking about his rabbits. A farm has basically become Lennie's version of heaven. This relates to how people always long for something to the point of where it becomes like heaven, a place where happiness lasts forever. Unfortunately, the rabbits symbolize false hope. For instance, Lennie holds a dead mouse and a dead puppy all for the same reason: he killed them. His love for petting soft creatures only causes trouble for himself. So if he owns a lot of rabbits, it is more than likely that they will all die because of Lennie. The rabbits, to Lennie, are things that seem like they will bring him true happiness, when they only create more sorrow. In other words, the rabbits symbolize sorrow disguised as salvation because in the end, Lennie goes suffers all because of his love for soft things. This is able to teach readers how dreams in the past
3. It is debatable whether George truly believes this dream is possible or if he's putting on an act to keep Lennie happy and produce a little hope so the days arn't so blue. Either way,George does want this dream, but how he will get it and what the price of this dream is soon to be determined.
Steinbeck uses foreshadowing throughout the story that hints on them not achieving their dream. Crooks one of the workers, predicts that Lennie and George will never get their own farm. Also, George looses hope and stops talking about the dream. As Crooks and Lennie discuss the plan to get a farm, crooks docent think that Georges and Lennies dream will become possible.’‘I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, …’em has a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever get it…” In other words Crooks has seen many people with the same dream as George and Lennie that haven't come true. Crooks says that none of the peoples dreams come true, this foreshadows that Georges and Lennies may nit come true. As a result, The failure of dreams creates an effect creates an uncertainty that their dream will come true. Not only does Crooks think that their dream will not come true, but George lost hope in their dream too. While George and Lennie are sleeping by the water, George tells Lennie a story about what their farm would be like, but George breaks down and doesn't want to talk about it. While George and Lennie are sleeping by the water, George tells Lennie a story about what their farm would be like, but George breaks down and doesn't want to talk about it. “I aint got time for no more…” in other words, George is tired of having dreams he doesn't think he can
The main cause of George and Lennie's lonesomeness and that of all the people at the ranch was a lack of a home. The only thing that kept the two men going was their friendship with each other and the hope to soon get a place of their own. In the novel George and Lennie mention what their dream place is going to be like: "Someday we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house, and a couple of acres and a cow and some pigs and ---" (Steinbeck 16). Throughout the book the reference to having a place of their own is stressed. It is a deeper dream for Lennie than George because he is always asking to talk about it. It is here where the friendship between both men is starting to develop as they share the same basic dream.
In Of Mice and Men one of the main themes is the idea of the american dream. This is one of the more important themes in the book because it plays such a big role in how each character pursued life, and their dreams show a different side of who they are and what they want from life. Many of the characters talk about what their version of the american dream is. Curley’s wife talks about how she wanted to be a movie star. Candy and George both want to own their own land. Crooks dream is to work in lennie's garden. However it remains only a dream for them and they are awaken by the fact that they can't have the perfect american dream. Another way that this idea is used in the book and by characters is that Lennie and George keep faithful
Candy and George have just found Curley’s wife's body. Candy asks George if their farm dream can still happen, but George says that the dream was going to fail anyways. Steinbeck writes, “I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much, I got to thinking maybe we would” (Steinbeck 94). The farm dream means quite a bit to everyone considering it means security from the harsh world they live in. for Crooks it means respect and equality, for Candy it means security for his age, and for George and Lennie it means security from Lennie getting in trouble, and financial stability. Even though all these people are rooting for this dream, it still ends up failing. Curley’s wife is also an example of dreams failing. She could have been in the movies, but sadly her overbearing mother forces her to stay home. She then makes her situation worse by marrying Curley. Even though she works for that dream, it still fails. The reasoning behind both of these dreams failing is completely due to circumstance, which makes it even more tragic. None of the characters can stop the dreams from falling, which means it's more likely that other dreams in the future can end the same way. Every dream that a main character has in “Of Mice And Men” ends up failing, making “dreams often fail” a major
To begin, Lennie has this big dream of George and him living on their own land, being their own bosses, and tending to his own rabbits. Lennie’s major obstacle in achieving his dream is that he is slower than most people for his age. Lennie acts like a child making George the responsible adult. Lennie also listens to whatever George says because Lennie looks up to George almost like he is his brother. Lennie also has a tendency to forget what he is told:
At the beginning of the story Lennie describes the dream as future, and they carry this dream towards the end of the story at the place where they slept the day before they go to the ranch. They describe how it looks like and what each of their job is going to be. George explains that the dream provides them both freedom in work, settlement, and a property of their own. The description of the promises in this dream through “An’ live off the fatta the lan’,”(pg.14) shows how they could potentially become the bourgeoisie and achieve the other products of this dream. What is important here is that the dream fails because George and Lennie are weak characters. In other words, the upper class constantly overpowers the working class and makes them weak, disabling them from achieving their dreams. Just as in other cases the dream which seemed like a reality failed to become reality. This is natural order as the bourgeoisie and proletariat are in specific relationship with each other where one dominates the other and is weakened by it. To put it another way, the poor rely on the rich to give them jobs,
Lennie, a main character, had a dream to tend rabbits on a ranch as he had an obsession with soft objects/animals. Lennie tries to achieve his dream by sticking with his friend George, and finding work to save up money. He is not successful, because he is killed at the end of the story, Lennie says, “It ain’t the same if I tell it. Go on...George. How I get to tend the rabbits.”(Steinbeck 14). Lennie is asking George to tell him what the
They ain't got nothing to look ahead to... With us it ain't like that we got a future(Steinbeck 14). This is where the idea of the dream is first introduced and in Steinbeck's own wording of it he seems to suggest that you do need a dream to guide your future or even to have a future in general. Another thing that steinbeck suggest about the future and focus on a dream is that it can power you to take risks that might not have an advantage to you in the end. "If you get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an' hide in the brush" (steinbeck 15). Steinbeck suggest that the dream which compels them to go work on the farm but the farm could have a dangerous effect on what happens to George and Lennie. The dream even seems to compel them when they get on the farm and the ranch
The novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, connects to the idea of dreams motivate people to improve themselves. It does this throughout the text when George is telling his brother Lennie of their dream, owning a farm and how “ at the end of the month others would go and blow their money at the cathouse (brothel), but not us!” Because they need money to buy the farm. This tells us that George
Other than being a topic of the novel, The American dream identify with a few characters. Lennie and George's fantasy of owning their little homestead and rabbits with Candy was a case of what a normal American dream was amid the 1930s Great Depression. The Great Depression has changed throughout the year relying upon the condition of the country. Amid the Great Depression the normal dream was simply singular fulfillment. To fulfill one's self amid the Great Depression was distinctive. Getting another or surprisingly better occupation was restricted of gaining fulfillment, yet the place where there is fresh chances to succeed was filled with emergency after the share trading system smashed. The American dream had lost its impact on America amid the 1930s, yet was still vivacious when men like George and Lennie sought after a superior and distinctive life and perpetual miracle into the desire for the better of individual
Although Lennie could not live like a normal adult, he still dreams of a better life filled with the things he desired. Lennie constantly badgers George about the story of the farm where they hope to eventually reside. Lennie sees a place where he faces no adversities, and Lennie dreams of tending the rabbits, stroking their fur and feeding them handfuls of alfalfa. “When they have their farm, as George tells him at the end, Lennie will not need to be scared of bad things any more, and he can tend the rabbits and pet them… Their farm is a place where they can live together, have animals and, in general, feel safe. Lennie has little memory, but the story of their dream is one he knows by heart” (Lennie). In a child- like vision, Lennie still sees the farm he and George often dream about and discuss. Lennie will never forget about the farm until they have achieved their goal. Lennie realizes the farm will be a place of leisure where he can simply tend the rabbits. Lennie always believes and chases after their nearly impossible American
“I shouldn't of did that. George’ll be mad. An’ . . . . he said . . . . an’ hide in the brush till he come. He’s gonna be mad. In the brush till he come. That's what he said.” Lennie went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her.” Page 45. George has to decide on what to do. In that moment he decides that the best decision is to kill him and he does. In the book it said, “The voices came close now. george raised the gun and listened to the voices.” He didn't want Curley to get to him and make him suffer so he readied himself to shoot Lennie. “And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” “Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” Page 52. they were so close to there dreams but in the end they didn't make it. but the stories shows that have a hope and dream drives you to do what most
For george his dreams never come true because of lennie. So like when the two were working in weed Lennie grabbed a girl's dress and she claimed that it was rape so they had to hide the whole day so they did not get caught. For example in the novel Of Mice and Men George says “God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble....An' whatta I got,' George went on furiously. 'I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me