Of Mice and Men Dreams courseworkBy Angus Lau 9E (13)

In Of Mice and Men, dreams play a pivotal role in the construction of the plot and the shaping of the characters, as it is their motivation to cope with the harsh times in the American Depression. Dreams were a comfort and the only hope to the characters that one day they could escape the life they were experiencing. The common American dream was to have freedom and to own something, mostly a piece of land, yet there are different interpretations of the dreams for each of the characters, George, Lennie, Curleys Wife, Candy, Crooks and Curley. Yet, from the title of the novella, Of Mice and Men, it suggests that no matter how well one plans his/her dream, it will not come true as a reference to Robert Burns poem To a Mouse.

As stated in the novellas Georges dream was to get the jack with Lennie and have a little house and a couple of acres an a cow and some pigs and live off the fatta the land This dream was the most similar to the typical American dream and from have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, he will say with hell with goin to work, and build a fire in the stove and set around it an listen to the rain comin down the roof we could infer that George had planned his dream well, and it seemed achievable to the readers, as George saved up money and didnt spend it at the cat house or in the bar, like the common itinerant worker. Yet, when George said that his farm would also include red and blue and green rabbits, millions of them as well as work six, seven hours a day for such a big farm and only two people, these seem a little bit unrealistic and might suggest that the dream will never come true. This can be also seen in the fairy-tale-like way George told Lennie about their dream. We could also infer from George shooting Lennie, Georges dream will never come true as his dream consists of Lennies accompaniment in the utilitarian society where loneliness is prevalent.

Lennies dream is similar to George as it involves the other persons accompaniment, live off the fatta the land, as well as own a ranch. Yet, Lennies dream also includes him owning rabbits, and this plays a pivotal role as it is Lennies obsession of rabbits that makes him constantly want George to tell him about their dream. This can be seen from Lennies pleading Come on, George. Tell me (the dream). Please George, like you done before. By this, George is able to control Lennie because if Lennie misbehaves, George will threaten him not to let him own rabbits. This is seen in the book when Lennie always checks whether he can still have the rabbits with George when he has done something wrong, like on page 93 and 94 I didnt want no trouble I can still tend the rabbits, George? ... I didnt mean no harm, George. We could infer from this that it is the desperateness of keeping the dream that caused Lennie to panic when Curleys wife started yelling at Lennie, who was going to mess up her hair. Because of this, Lennie tried to muffle her screams by covering her mouth and held tighter and tighter to her hair as he did not want George to blame him for interacting with the jail bait. These actions made by Lennie were all due to the blind pursue of the dream, which was proved to be dangerous when the gigantic rabbit that appeared in Lennies brain (in section 6) suggested that Lennies dreams would go against him, and George would leave him.

Like Lennie, Curleys wife also blindly pursued her dream to be noticed and appreciated and due to her desperateness, she believed the man she went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with that he was gonna put me (her) in the movies. Said I was a natural. Soons he get back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it. Yet, the blind pursuit of the dream covered her senses that she was not going to have nice clothes all them nice clothes like them wear, coulda sat in big hotels, an had pitchers took of me. When they had them previews, I coulda went to them, an spoke in the radio just because the man gonna put me in the movies; ergo she then married Curley and hoped that he would give her appreciation and to notice her. However, this backfired, as she was unimportant to him, which was why she did not even have a name, and he aint a nice fella. This meant that the only way for her to achieve her dream was to attract other men from the ranch and Lennie was the only one naive enough to talk to her. Just for someone to talk at, Curleys wife has put her life on risk by letting Lennie touch her hair, which ultimately led to her death. Yet, she finally achieved her dream when she died, adding to the pathos of the story as well as highlighting the danger of blindly pursuing dreams.

In the novel, Candys sole dream was to be accepted by others but not having a farm/ranch even if he had the money as his desire for companionship was stronger. When he finally convinced George to let him share Lennie and his dream with him, it seemed that his contribution made the dream close to possible, yet it is shattered when George had to kill Lennie in Section 6, as seen from Then its all off? after Candy spoke his greatest fear. This shows that a dream is empty if it is not shared with someone.

Not like the other characters, Crooks, the most intelligent character of the novella, has the most realistic, almost cynical view about the American dream. It was because he has stayed long enough on the ranch to see that the dream never came true for the itinerant workers, as well as his own experience as his American dream when he was young was taken off him just because he was black. In the book, it states I never seen a guy really do itever time a whore house or a blackjack game took what it takes. However, Crooks had let himself believe for a short time due to Georges great plan and Candys money. Still, as Curleys wife enters, she reminds him to keep your place then, Nigger, the fact that she could get you strung up a tree so quickly it aint even funny and his position in society, thus separating him both physically and socially from the others again.

For Curley, he has everything that the typical American dream consists of: a ranch, freedom, a wife Yet, he was still not satisfied with it and wanted to gain respect, primarily by beating up big guys to prove that he is strong. This meant that people would always ask for more when they have achieved something and it is only the process of pursuing the dream that is important but not the outcome of the dream.

From the description of all the characters dreams, Steinbeck has illustrated the importance of the dreams to the itinerant workers in the utilitarian environment, as it is their only way of having faith in their lives and carrying on the hardship of the time. On the other hand, Steinbeck has also stated that a dream has to be controlled, and when it is put at first priority and importance over everything else, this will lead to problems, as the process becomes a blind pursuit. Steinbeck also wants to state that the phrase in To a Mouse is true as there is nothing that will make the American dream come a reality, even with great planning and the fact that it is only the process of the pursuit of a dream that is important but not the outcome.