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

How is this avowedly for George and Lennie/ the characters in Of Mice and Men?An of the essence(predicate) theme in Of Mice and Men is that of hopes and breathing ins. The master(prenominal) moon is that of George and Lennie to own a smallholding and spring self-sufficiently. Indeed the story some(prenominal) begins and ends with George narrating the estimatete to Lennie. As well as George and Lennie other characters such(prenominal) as Candy, Crooks, Curley and Curleys wife have aspirations also. All of these hopes and stargazes affect the way the characters clear through step to the fore the wise. The book is decorate during the Ameri posterior depression of the 1930s by and by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. During this period many Americans struggled to touch on ends meet. some left their old lives in the cities of the East, such as Boston or New York, and travelled West to forge new 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 deuce main roles. The first is that it sticks him assay towards something, giving him ambition and a reverie of better ment. This makes him a better person because he is c arful with his money, doesnt go out drinking or to the brothel, and instead is c beful 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 that he is dissatisfied with because he can use the dream to escape naturalism for a short while.The second employment of the dream for George is that it is an integral bring out of his friendship with Lennie. George uses the dream to control Lennie as he behaves himself and works sound looking forward to the documentaryisation of the dream. It is important for George that he continues his friendship with Lennie bring outially for companionship and party f or to a vaster extent selfish reasons that Lennie is able to protect George and makes him spirit and seem more intelligent.The dream is important to Lennie for similar reasons to why it is important to George. Primarily it keeps him on the straight and narrow, it makes him work hard, control his violent urges and practise George. He does this for fear of losing his role in the dream, you aint gonna operate in no trouble, because if you do, I wont let you scarper the rabbits. The dream is also beneficial to Lennie because it allows him to die peacefully. Not only are his final thoughts about tending the rabbits and living happily ever later on but he is also spared imprisonment or hanging by Georges devotion to the dream and hence Lennie.The most important function of this dream is to keep them to moderniseher. Despite George constantly axiom 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 strain to make it real. Lennie knows that he must stay with George because if he left he would lose this dream.George and Lennies dream is so powerful it draws others in such as Candy and Crooks. Candy is find outd as, grinning with de visible light as George describes their new bedspread 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 will never become real it gives him, too, something to work for and some comfort, as he will then be looked after in his old age. The relationship between George and Lennie is mirrored in the relationship between Candy and his pass over. Candy could not 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 stranger shoot my dog. This fixs the endorser 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 zanys is just kiddin yourself. Youll parley 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 believe 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 worthy realised. The dream processs Crooks feel accepted by albumen men as he is now a part of their dream and included by them. It makes him too feel worthy of something. Crooks role is to prepare the reader with his pessimism for the failure of the dream.This dream helps all these four 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 get up friendship and trust. However not all the dreams in Of Mice and Men help people to survive in this way, Curley and Curl eys wifes dreams find out their characters negatively.Curley is a small man with a grudge against the world. He is rattling angry that he is small and so picks fights with those bigger 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 deference of the other men, he tries to fulfil this with his boxing but still he is a laughing stock with the workers, as he cannot control his own wife.Similarly, Curleys wife has an unobtainable dream of becoming a movie star. This is also for the respect of others particularly men. Curleys wife is very good at using her sexuality to control men and also uses her husbands status to control the workers. As she is sadly 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 variation between George and Lennies dream and Curley a nd his wifes separate dreams is the forcefulness 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 unhappy 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 matter 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 stuff 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. Using a great deal of dialogue in the book makes it more interesting and easier to read.Steinbeck uses light and darkness to sharpen the readers attention throughout the novel. such as in the third chapter, the bunkhouse is completely dark but when George and abbreviate enter, the electric light over the card table 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 remains 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 th is helps the reader imagine the scene easily. In this way Steinbeck brings the characters dream to life.