of mice and men dreams essay

Of Mice and Men

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The American Dream of every individual’s right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” has been ingrained within American society since the writing of the Declaration of Independence , when the phrase made its first appearance. George and Lennie ’s dream of working hard and saving enough money to buy their own farm and “live off the fatta the lan” symbolizes the concrete ways in which the American Dream serves as an idealized goal for poor and working-class Americans even in the darkest and hardest of times. Through Of Mice and Men , however, Steinbeck argues that while throughout American history—and especially during the Great Depression—the American Dream has at best been an illusion and at worst a trap, unattainable dreams are still necessary, in a way, to make life in America bearable.

The Great Depression represented the end of an era of the American Dream—the artistic and economic innovation and prosperity of the “Roaring Twenties” came to a short, decisive stop, and American society went into crisis mode. In the midst of this sudden shift, many felt like the rug had been pulled out from under them—this sentiment and perspective is echoed in George and Lennie’s insistence on pursuing their dream of a peaceful, sustainable life of ease and independence even as they are in the depths of an economic crisis which threatens not just their plans, but their very lives. Though little is known of George and Lennie’s background, it is clear that they grew up together in Auburn, a Gold Rush town that boomed in the late 1800s but suffered by the 1920s as gold prices dropped. Families hoping to make their fortune in gold continued to flock to Auburn, and soon Auburn was overrun by people camping by the river, hoping to pan for gold in the water in light of the closed mines in town. George and Lennie, then, appear to be fleeing a town where there’s nothing left for them, chasing their own dream even as they shut out the knowledge that there are countless people like them—many in their very own hometown—pursuing dreams just as broken and hopeless as their own.

George and Lennie encounter hostility and calamity, it seems, nearly everywhere they go. In this way, Steinbeck portrays the gritty reality of trying to make it in America as a poor itinerant worker. Their struggles are almost always as a result of Lennie’s inability to function normally within the bounds of social codes and contracts. His childlike nature draws him to soft, pleasant, cute things—but his immense strength and huge physical frame make him an object of fear. Lennie is unable to understand why people keep rejecting him, or why he keeps killing the mice, puppies , and other soft animals he enjoys holding and stroking. George, rather than helping Lennie to control his strength or his impulses, continues stoking Lennie’s dream of having limitless rabbits to tend and pet whenever he wants. George knows, on some level, that for either him or Lennie to confront the truth about Lennie—that he is a burden, and a dangerous one at that—would tear them apart. As a result, he retreats into a dream of he and Lennie having their own farm: a distinctly American dream of self-made independence, plenty, and harmony. Candy , another laborer on the ranch where George and Lennie find work, is also swept up in the romantic vision of owning a farm, offering up his savings to help secure a plot of land. This dream is unrealistic by any standards, and in light of George and Lennie’s financial insolvency and social struggles, impossible. In order to make their rootless, dangerous, and directionless existence more bearable, however, George and Lennie cling tightly to the dream of America they’ve manufactured together. Lennie and George were raised on promises of prosperity and independence tied to a sensibility rooted in the expansiveness of the American West—but the dreams they were led to believe could be their reality have evaporated as the West has turned from a place of potential and riches to one of dust, emptiness, and squandered potential.

Even though George and Lennie never achieve their dream, it is what keeps them going in the darkest of times. Indeed, even as George prepares to execute Lennie with Carlson’s rifle in the novella’s final pages, George urges Lennie to stare off into the distance as George narrates the familiar details of their shared dream: a “little place” all their own. Steinbeck closes the novella with George shooting Lennie to protect him from a worse death at the hands of the angry ranch laborers who are out for vengeance. This tragic act of violence in the midst of George and Lennie’s “dream” shows that for George, this vision of the America he was promised is ultimately just a fantasy—unattainable yet necessary in order to bear the difficult reality of life.

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Of Mice and Men PDF

The American Dream Quotes in Of Mice and Men

“Well, we ain't got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. 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 shovin' all over the country all the time. An' that ain't the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.”

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“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. […] With us it ain't like that. We got a future.”

[…] Lennie broke in. “ But not us! An’ why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why .”

of mice and men dreams essay

“Well,” said George, “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.”

“We could live offa the fatta the lan'.”

“S'pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing." Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. "We'd just go to her," George said. "We wouldn't ask nobody if we could. Jus' say, 'We'll go to her,' an' we would. Jus' milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an' go to her.”

“I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads [. . .] every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.”

“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.”

“No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know.”

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of mice and men dreams essay

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  • Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

  • Literature Notes
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Critical Essays Major Themes

Introduction

Much like Steinbeck 's short novel The Pearl , Of Mice and Men is a parable that tries to explain what it means to be human. His friend Ed Ricketts shaped Steinbeck's thinking about man's place in the universe. Essentially, man is a very small part of a very large universe; in the greater scheme of things, individuals come and go and leave very little, lasting mark. Yet deep inside all people is a longing for a place in nature — the desire for the land, roots, and a place to call "home." The struggle for such a place is universal, and its success is uncertain.

In sharing his vision of what it means to be human, Steinbeck touches on several themes: the nature of dreams, the nature of loneliness, man's propensity for cruelty, powerlessness and economic injustices, and the uncertainty of the future.

Nature of Dreams

In essence, Of Mice and Men is as much a story about the nature of human dreams and aspirations and the forces that work against them as it is the story of two men. Humans give meaning to their lives — and to their futures — by creating dreams. Without dreams and goals, life is an endless stream of days that have little connection or meaning. George and Lennie 's dream — to own a little farm of their own — is so central to Of Mice and Men that it appears in some form in five of the six chapters. In fact, the telling of the story, which George has done so often, becomes a ritual between the two men: George provides the narrative, and Lennie, who has difficulty remembering even simple instructions, picks up the refrain by finishing George's sentences.

To George, this dream of having their own place means independence, security, being their own boss, and, most importantly, being "somebody." To Lennie, the dream is like the soft animals he pets: It means security, the responsibility of tending to the rabbits, and a sanctuary where he won't have to be afraid. To  Candy , who sees the farm as a place where he can assert a responsibility he didn't take when he let Carlson kill his dog, it offers security for old age and a home where he will fit in. For Crooks , the little farm will be a place where he can have self-respect, acceptance, and security. For each man — George, Lennie, Candy, and Crooks — human dignity is an integral part of the dream.

Having and sharing the dream, however, are not enough to bring it to fruition. Each man must make a sacrifice or battle some other force that seeks, intentionally or not, to steal the dream away. Initially, the obstacles are difficult but not insurmountable: staying out of trouble, not spending money on liquor or in bordellos, and working at the ranch long enough to save the money for a down payment. But greater obstacles soon become apparent. Some of these obstacles are external (the threat from Curley's wife and  Curley 's violence, for example, as well as the societal prejudices that plague each man); others are internal (such as Lennie's strength and his need to touch soft things). For George, the greatest threat to the dream is Lennie himself; ironically, it is Lennie who also makes the dream worthwhile.

In addition to dreams, humans crave contact with others to give life meaning. Loneliness is present throughout this novel. On the most obvious level, we see this isolation when the ranch hands go into town on Saturday night to ease their loneliness with alcohol and women. Similarly, Lennie goes into Crook's room to find someone with whom to talk, and later Curley's wife comes for the same reason. Crooks says, "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you." Even Slim mentions, "I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean."

George's taking care of Lennie and the dream of the farm are attempts to break the pattern of loneliness that is part of the human condition. Similarly, Lennie's desire to pet soft things comes from his need to feel safe and secure, to touch something that gives him that feeling of not being alone in the world. For Lennie, the dream of the farm parallels that security.

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'Of Mice and Men' Themes

The nature of dreams, strength vs. weakness, man vs. nature.

Quentin Cohan is a graduate of Williams College with degrees in both English and History. He covered literature for ThoughtCo.

  • Williams College

Of Mice and Men , by John Steinbeck, tells the story of two migrant farm workers in California. By exploring themes such as the nature of dreams, the relationship between strength and weakness, and the conflict between man and nature, the novella paints a compelling and often dark portrait of Great Depression-era American life.

George and Lennie share a dream: to own their own land, allowing them to live "off the fatta the lan'." This dream comes up repeatedly throughout the novella in conversations between George and Lennie as well as with other farm workers. However, the significance of this dream differs depending on which character is discussing it.

To innocent Lennie, the dream is a concrete plan. He truly believes that he and George will someday have their own farm with plenty of alfalfa and rabbits. Whenever Lennie feels scared or worried, he asks George to tell him about the farm and the rabbits. Hearing George describe the imaginary farm comforts and reassures Lennie.

The farm plan is supposed to be a secret, but Lennie accidentally lets it slip during a conversation with Crooks. Crooks rejects the dream immediately. He tells Lennie that people are always making big statements about getting land or going to heaven, but that "[n]obody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head.” For Crooks, there is no point in dreaming—dreams don't offer solace because he is certain that they won't come true.

George has yet another relationship to the dream. For most of the novella, it is unclear whether he truly believes that the farm dream will become a reality, or whether he simply talks about it to keep Lennie happy and to pass the time. At the story's end, however, it becomes clear that for George, the dream was never a potential reality. Up until the instant he shoots Lennie, George is telling him about the farm they'll have one day. In this moment, George knows that Lennie will never see the farm, but still uses the dream to keep Lennie calm; Lennie, on the other hand, truly believes that he will one day be tending rabbits on the farm that George describes. This moment perfectly symbolizes the conflict between George's skepticism of the dream and Lennie's innocent hopes about the dream, as well as the violent power of the former over the latter.

Violence is never far away in  Of Mice and Men 's hardscrabble world, and one of the most important themes is the uneasy relationship between strength and weakness. The theme plays out in the behavior of most of the characters. Curley, a physically diminutive man, uses his position of authority on the farm to assert his dominance over the others. Curley's wife silences Crooks through racial slurs and violent threats, despite being physically weaker than him. And Carlson, one of the ranch hands, shoots the elderly dog owned by Candy, who happens to be an aging handyman himself.

The theme of strength vs. weakness is most apparent in the character of Lennie, a man who is himself both strong and weak. Physically, Lennie is by far the most powerful man on the farm. However, his demeanor is gentle and often fearful—he doesn't want to fight the other men—and he has a mental disability that leaves him dependent on George.

This tension between strength and weakness is highlighted when Lennie, who adores delicate objects and small creatures, interacts with animals. When the novella begins, George and Lennie are sitting by the side of the road, and Lennie is petting a dead mouse (he loves to feel soft materials). Later, Lennie gets a puppy from one of the farm workers. He adores the small creature, but he accidentally kills it by stroking it too strongly. This situation is repeated—with graver consequences—when Lennie breaks Curley's wife's neck while stroking her hair.

Because he fails to understand his own strength, Lennie kills physically weaker beings: the puppy and Curley's wife. These mistakes ultimately lead to Lennie's own death, as George shoots him in an effort to protect him from Curley's wrathful mob. In the dog-eat-dog (or, perhaps more accurately, man-crush-dog) world of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , strength in the form of mental and emotional toughness is essential, and the weak cannot survive.

The novella begins with a passage describing an idyllic riverbank, where "the golden foothill slopes curve up" to the mountains and the warm water "slip[s] twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight." When humans enter the scene, however, the passage's tone shifts: there is a path "beaten hard by boys" and "an ash pile made by many fires." This early passage demonstrates the uncertain (and potentially harmful) relationship between the natural and human worlds that arises throughout the novella.

The characters in Of Mice and Men work on a ranch—one of the most fundamental examples of humans exerting control over the natural world. Lennie and George's desire to own land again reinforces this theme; their image of success and fulfillment involves dominance over nature.

However, the relationship between man and nature is not as clear-cut as these examples might suggest. Sometimes, humans destroy nature unwittingly, like when Lennie kills the puppy. On other occasions, humans destroy nature for morally ambiguous (maybe even natural ) reasons, like when Carlson shoots Candy's old dog in order to put it out of his misery. Lennie himself reflects some aspects of the natural world, as he seems largely unaware of many social constructs of the human world.

Ultimately, the moment that most blurs the line between the human and natural worlds is Lennie's death at George's hand. The scene asks us to consider whether it is natural for George to kill Lennie for his own protection (to "put him out of his misery"), or whether the killing is an act of societal intervention. The novella's conclusion suggests that the distinction between human society and nature—and between mice and men—is, perhaps, not so great after all.

  • 'Of Mice and Men' Overview
  • 5 Mind-Blowing Ways to Read “Of Mice and Men”
  • 'Of Mice and Men' Quotes Explained
  • 'Of Mice and Men' Summary
  • 'Of Mice and Men' Characters: Descriptions and Significance
  • Review of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'
  • 10 Classic Novels for Teens
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  • Quotes From John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'
  • Controversial and Banned Books
  • 9 Books From the 1930s That Resonate Today
  • Rousseau's Take on Women and Education
  • 'Of Mice and Men' Vocabulary
  • Polarity and Grammar
  • The Title in Composition
  • How to Find the Main Idea - Worksheet

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The American Dream

Of mice and men literary analysis melanie amber langness 11th grade.

In the realistically dismal novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck sympathizes with poverty-stricken characters that are stuck working towards the hopeless American Dream. He portrays the men and women as human beasts, stranded in a world of limited social roles, intolerance, and endless labor. Steinbeck juxtaposes this realistic depiction of daily life with the character’s focus on a dream world that includes freedom, individuality, wealth, success, and loyalty. His straightforward writing style allowed the story to be widely understood by those caught in the Great Depression’s soul-sucking grasp at the time of publishing, and by anyone from teenagers to adults today. By making a connection with the audience, presenting strong symbolism, and utilizing vernacular diction, Steinbeck subtly argues that the common dreams of people in this time period were unattainable and led only to a miserable cycle of work and tragedy while informing the reader of the true societal conditions of the 1930’s working class.

Steinbeck evokes the reader’s affections by having them sympathize with George and Lennie’s situation and breaks their hearts by presenting the men’s complex relationship that ended with a depressing death. By utilizing vivid...

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of mice and men dreams essay

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Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck: The American Dream Lost

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