Of_Mice_and_Men

How important are ‘dreams’ in the novel' In the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, the main theme that links the characters all together are their ambitions to for fill their dreams. If we look at the historic background of the time period that this novel was written, we can see that the American economy had reached a low point due to the stock market crash, people were jobless and very desperate. In section 1 of the book we can see George and Lennie discussing their ‘dream’ of owning their own piece of land. This is possibly the most important chapter of the book because it sets the tempo of things to come, and as the story progresses we will be able to see that George and Lennie’s lives have become a circle. Lennie and George’s dream is to own their own piece of land to live and work there, where they can have cows, pigs, chicken and a vegetable patch with alfalfa and rabbits. “Ok. Some day 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 pigs and....” “An’ live off the fatta the lan’” “we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof”. This quote illustrates the dream they have about owning a piece of land and living independently on it. When Candy hears about this dream, he wants to become apart of it by offering his saving to help buy the land and, be able to work and live of the land with Lennie and George. Lennie, George and candy’s dream is destroyed by Lennie’s ignorance and his strength. When Lennie is in a stressful situation, like in Weed when he wanted to pat the girls dress, and she screamed, and Lennie would not let go of her dress and, he got accused of attempted rape, Lennie automatically panics and he doesn’t know what to do. Lennie’s strength and ignorance ruins all three of their dreams when he and Curley’s wife are talking in the barn. Curley’s wife invites Lennie to feel how sort and silky her hair is, Lennie then pats her hair very hard, Curley’s wife not wanting her hair to be messed up yanks her head away. Because Lennie is put in a stressful situation he grabs her hair and tries to make her stop yelling out, but Lennie doesn’t know how to control his strength. He squeezes Curley’s wife’s neck to hard that he crushes her spine and breaks her neck. Lennie shocked by what he has just done flees from the ranch and back into the brush as he now knows that Curley will want his revenge on him for what he has done. Curley doesn’t have the chance to kill Lennie, George run’s to the brush knowing what Lennie has done. George realises that Lennie has simply gone way too far this time, and there is no way out. George shoots Lennie. Before anyone else could have the chance. And by this their dream is ruined. As arrogant as Curley’s wife seemed, she also had a dream. She dreams of the fame, the glamour and, the fortune of being a Hollywood actress. As one night she met a Hollywood director promised her a life of fame, a life of a actress. After all these years she still awaits the mail her regarding this life changing opportunity. Her dream is ruined by her marriage with Curley because he refuses to allow her to leave the ranch without him. Her dream had vanished, and to her now the letter was just a fairy tale. The out looker, Crooks has a very unique simple dream, to be treated equally, as he is black and is treated unfairly and differently than others. Most people in the ranch are racist and do not allow him to sleep in the bunkhouse so therefore is forced to sleep in the harness room. We also get the idea that the boss of the ranch uses Crooks as a punch bag when he gets angry. Crooks dreams that he can be treated the same as everyone else, and sleep in the bunkhouse and not in the cold harness room. And not be ashamed of the colour of his skin so he won’t get abused by other men because of his skin colour. “An he gave the stable buck hell too” “Give the stable buck hell'” he asked “Sure, Ya see the stable buck’s a nigger”. This quote tells us how crooks is mistreated by other ranch workers because he is black. Crooks dream is destroyed by his fellow workers racist attitudes. In the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ dreams are so important because each character have a dream, but one by one where crushed by the lack of hope, and due to the time period constant devastation to people.