Hopes and Dreams Help People to Survive, Even if they can Never Become Real Essay

How is this true for George and Lennie/ the characters in Of Mice and Men?An important theme in Of Mice and Men is that of hopes and conceive ofs. The m birth(prenominal) vision is that of George and Lennie to own a sm solelyholding and work self-sufficiently. hence the story both begins and ends with George narrating the dream to Lennie. As well as George and Lennie opposite characters such as Candy, Crooks, Curley and Curleys married woman score dreams in addition. All of these hopes and dreams mask the guidance the characters be know throughout the novel. The book is set during the Ameri butt end stamp of the 1930s after the W both Street Crash of 1929. During this period many Ameri dopes struggled to specify ends meet. Many left their old lives in the cities of the East, such as Boston or New York, and travelled West to forge impudent lives for themselves based on agriculture, An live off the fatta the lan. This became the American Dream, this is the dream of George and Lennie.For George the dream serves two main roles. The first is that it claims him strive towards something, giving him rivalry and a fantasy of bestment. This makes him a better person because he is alert with his money, doesnt go out drinking or to the brothel, solely quite is c arful of his responsibilities, Me an Lennies rollin up a stake, I might go in an set and have a shot, but I aint puttin out no two and a half. This allows him to cope with a life sentence that he is dissatisfied with because he can use the dream to escape reality for a short while.The second function of the dream for George is that it is an integral part of his friendship with Lennie. George uses the dream to view Lennie as he behaves himself and works hard looking forward to the realisation of the dream. It is important for George that he continues his friendship with Lennie partly for companionship and party for more(prenominal) selfish reasons that Lennie is satisfactory to protect George a nd makes him feel and seem more intelligent.The dream is important to Lennie for standardized reasons to why it is important to George. Primarily it keeps him on the straight and narrow, it makes him work hard, go out his violent urges and obey George. He does this for fear of losing his role in the dream, you aint gonna get in no trouble, because if you do, I wont let you tend the rabbits. The dream is also beneficial to Lennie because it allows him to die peacefully. non only atomic number 18 his final thoughts closely tending the rabbits and living happily ever after but he is also spared imprisonment or hanging by Georges devotion to the dream and hence Lennie.The close to important function of this dream is to keep them together. Despite George constantly formula God a mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. he stays with Lennie because they have made this dream together and are both striving to make it real. Lennie knows that he must stay with George because if he l eft he would lose this dream.George and Lennies dream is so correctly it draws others in such as Candy and Crooks. Candy is described as, grin with delight as George describes their new ranch together. This shows how little is needed to make him happy. Candy uses the dream to escape from his lonely and dull life where he feels worthless.Even though he may know it forget never become real it gives him, too, something to work for and some comfort, as he exit then be looked after in his old age. The relationship surrounded by George and Lennie is mirrored in the relationship between Candy and his dog. Candy could non shoot his dog but got Carlson to do it for him. He soon regretted allowing this, I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldnt ought to of let no queer shoot my dog. This prepares the reader for George shooting Lennie and shows that it was the right thing to do.Crooks also gets caught up in the dream despite how much more cynical he is, You guys is just kid din yourself. Youll talk about it a hell of a lot, but you wont get no land. This shows how powerful this particular dream is, how they have made it so real as even Crooks want to call back the dream can come true despite what he knows about the world. As the novel progresses the reader becomes more and more like Crooks and pessimistic about the dream ever becoming realised. The dream helps Crooks feel genuine by white men as he is now a part of their dream and included by them. It makes him too feel sacred of something. Crooks role is to prepare the reader with his pessimism for the failure of the dream.This dream helps all these four-spot men in a positive way as it gives them all incentive to work harder, save money and not spend it all at the brothel, it helps build friendship and trust. However not all the dreams in Of Mice and Men help people to survive in this way, Curley and Curleys wifes dreams influence their characters negatively.Curley is a small man with a revenge against the world. He is very angry that he is small and so picks fights with those extendedger than himself Hes alla time picking scraps with big guys. His own hope is that he can prove himself to be a big tough guy and get the respect of the other men, he tries to make full this with his boxing but still he is a laughing pains with the workers, as he cannot control his own wife.Similarly, Curleys wife has an unavailable dream of becoming a movie star. This is also for the respect of others curiously men. Curleys wife is very good at using her sex to control men and also uses her husbands status to control the workers. As she is unhappily married she uses her dreams as escapism that allows her to believe that she deserves and can get a better life than she has already. These dreams only serve to make Curley and his wife bitter.The difference between George and Lennies dream and Curley and his wifes separate dreams is the effect they have on the characters. Curley and his wife are worse people as they are so caught up in not achieving their dreams that they dont realise that they already have the dream life of many others. George and Lennies dream makes them look forward to a better life and has a positive effect on their current lives. essentially Curley and his wife are already living the American Dream and have the power, prestige and respect that George and Lennie aspire to. But still are hard put and dream of having more themselves. Dreams are a product of dissatisfaction and this shows how mankind will always strive and dream for higher and better things no event how much they have. In this theme Steinbeck is commenting that mankind is never satisfied and that dreams are an essential part of survival.Steinbecks use of colloquial language for the dialogue between the ranch workers for example an Id get a job an make up the res, an you could sell eggs an stop like that to make the story seem more realistic and alive. It also gives us an idea of how they spoke and makes the book more enjoyable for the reader. apply a great deal of dialogue in the book makes it more interesting and easier to read.Steinbeck uses light and off-keyness to focus the readers aid throughout the novel. Such as in the third chapter, the bunkhouse is completely dark but when George and Slim enter, the electric light over the flier evade is switched on and the focus is then on the conversation at the card table as there is darkness all around. And even though there are voices from the darkness the readers attention corpse with Slim and George. Steinbeck does not use huge amounts of description however the way that he does describe the events is sufficient to make it seem as though you are actually there or allow you understand what it would be like. By saying the thuds and occasional clangs of a horseshoe game you can hear it in your mind and this helps the reader imagine the scene easily. In this way Steinbeck brings the characters dream to life .