Comparing The Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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The “Dream,” that Lennie, Candy, and George refer to, is representative of their hope and their will to continue on. They work just to make it to the next day, which over time can make the men lose their motivation to keep working, moving, and living. Many people who endure this type of lifestyle end up slipping into a depression because their lives seem meaningless. This depression is the direct source of their Dream. During times when the men feel this kind of depression, they cope by imagining the future. This first occurs when Lennie and George are on their way to the ranch and their nerves, as well as their fear for what lies ahead of them, causes tension between the two. Lennie asks George to tell him how it is going to be for them.…show more content…
His sadistic mindset at the beginning of their conversation about the future is discouraging to the other characters. Crook’s starts off by messing with Lennie’s brain by suggesting what might happen if George left him so that Lennie may empathize with his loneliness. His is able to make Lennie empathize with him but… When Lennie expresses his hopes for the future, Crooks is extremely skeptical. From what he has experienced he had a right to believe that Lennie and George would never get their land. He discourages Lennie and Candy by warning them that he had “seen too many guys with land in their head… [but,] they never get none under their hand” (Steinbeck 76). Candy uses his financial status as support for his claims against Crooks and after a heartfelt lecture revealing his desire to own land, Crooks mind softens. He hesitantly offers his help on the ranch-to-be which is enough to show his newfound optimism for the Dream. With the addition of Crooks to the plan, “the influence...of their dream, has for an instant made these [ranchers each other's companions]... and broken the grip of loneliness and solitude in which they exist.”…show more content…
He is the character with the strongest dependence on it. According to the scholar, Louis Owens, “Lennie's flaw[s, including his immaturity and mental disability,] represent the inherent imperfection in humanity that renders [the farm] forever an impossibility.” He dies before he ever owns any land because the Dream can only exist while Lennie lives, however, as long as Lennie lives the Dream cannot become reality. Lennie is too much of a liability for George and the men to be successful in creating a farm and allowing the bunnies to survive. Even though Lennie promises not to kill the bunnies, his record of promise breaking and animal killing makes it seem unlikely for the rabbits to survive. Yet, as Zeitler observes, “while Lennie's weakness doomed the dream it was only his innocence that kept it alive” (The American Dream). This irony is part of what makes Of Mice and Men a classic tragedy, and a. Also, how Steinbeck is able show that in reality, the American Dream is actually the American Nightmare. Because of Lennie’s cruel fate, Crook’s original philosophy that, “Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody ever gets no land,” becomes true for the ranchers (Steinbeck 74). This occurs because when Lennie dies, their hope dies with him. Without their hope, then men cannot expect to bear their ongoing lives. The novella ends in death and despair; no one gets their dream. The men have lost their hope and so by
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