Men and Mice

Literature Criticism Essay In essence, Of Mice and custody is a novella ab egress envisages and aspirations. John Steinbeck round or sos the novel linked to the American Dream during the 1930s enormous Depression, when high unemploy handst made plenty of poor drifters struggle in California with a naive given of starting a new life by owning a small daube of land. The two more often than not represented characters under that background, George and Lennie, who be itinerant workers from California searching for work on bed coveres in Soledad, make out an innocent dream of live off the fatta the Ian (14). Hence, dreams re integrated with hope, reality, and fate.Firstly, as a true locution of the 1930s Great Depression in American, the story suggests that the reputation of human dreams is a hope to leave from grim reality with the integral point of being independent and living happily. By creating dreams, the life is infused with a driving motive of ambition while, without d reams and aspirations, life would lack direction and meaning, which is possible to make human drop into despair. To George and Lennie, the dream of having a small acreage farm means Joys of self dependence, ecurity, and being their own boss, proneness well have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens.And when it rains in the winter, we II proficient say the hell with goin to work, and well build up a fire in the stove and tick around it an listen to the rain comin down on the roofNuts (14-15) Through the comparison to separate ranch hands, George recognizes that he cannot simply accept such a meaningless life with the grind and exiguity of workings on ranch, as George described in the book Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don t belong no placeThey aint got nothing to look fore to. (13-14) This makes George believe that Lennie and him are in a unique situation, because they share a symbiotic relat ionship ( Halyersmcq) by depending each other to provide a sense of yearning for a small land to lie down in happiness, after their enduring hardship on ranch. So, this is wherefore George claims that With us it aint like that. We got a future. We got soul to talk to that gives a damn about us. (14) Secondly, through Lennie s killing of Curleys married woman which eventually results in their dream lost,Steinbeck shows his audience that Just simply having and sharing a dream is not enough to act it to reality, due to the unavoidable obstacles. Each person must be aware that obstacles against their dream tend to be difficult entirely not insurmountable, as long as they work hard and focus entirely on the eventual objective otherwise, the dream would be neer within reach, or even blue by the cruel world. The intellectual handicap of Lennie limits the possibility of achieving their dream, which makes George feel that it is always hard to keep Lennie out of trouble and keep them on track for dream.As a result, Lennies innocent preoccupation with touching soft objects becomes the turn of their dream in the end. In the story, when Lennie strokes the hair of Curleys wife by irritating herself, he tries to make her allay with yelling that Oh Please dont do none of that, George gonna say I done a bad thing. He aint gonna let me tend no rabbits. (91), but finally Lennie unintentionally kills her of did that. Georgell be mad. (92) At this point, it is the seeming desire of Lennie to keep dream safe but actually his fixation on the hair of Curley s wife that destroys heir dream eventually.Therefore, this irony also confirms the ultra negative assertion from Crooks, who is a black stable-hand in the novel, that it is as impossible for ranch hands to get as a piece of land. l seen hundreds of men come by on the road an that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an they quit an go on an e very(prenominal) damn one of ems got a little piece of land in his head. An never a God damn one of em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everbody wants a little piece of Ian. I read a plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. Its Just in their head.There all the time talkin about it, but its Jus in their head. (74) Thirdly, the idea that dream is to a king-sized extent reigned over by the philosophy of fate is reinforced in the story. Steinbeck hints to the reader that fate keeps you set where you are, and no matter what you do, fate will keep you controlled by what is available to you in your life style. (Haylersmcq) In the story, because George and Lennie are unable to enjoy their position in the ranch all the ime, they desire to own a piece of land and start a new life but yet fate is against them and breaks their dream, when the refinement seems Just within their grasp.Then, George and Lennie are once again stuck where they had started, with nothing. (Haylersmcq) Perhaps, this ending makes Geo rge to some extent perceive that their dream is bound to be a failure regardless how much effort they make, due to the uncontrolled fate. So, this is why he says softly to Candy at the end of story that l think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed wed never do her. He usta like o hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would. (94) However, another main character, Slim, who is known as the prince of the ranch (33), seems different from George and Lennie in the story, because he is not enslaved by dreams instead, he shows his happiness and satisfaction on working as a mule skinner in the ranch. Steinbecks depiction on Slim makes him a bit of a perfectionist with charismatic personality and excellent skills, as capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders. He was capable of killing a fly on the heelers butt with a bull whip without touching the mule.There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stoppe d when he spoke. His authority was so great that his word was taken on my subject, be it politics or love. This was Slim, the Jerkline skinner. (33) It allows us to see that Slim is one of those odd and out of date individuals who are able to find and accept their position in the work and life, instead of to challenge the fate, because the nature of this acceptance is a kind of inner peace which could let people have a return vision of what they want to get (Mwestwood).To conclude, in Of Mice and Men, dreams are integrated with hope, reality, and fate. The nature of dreams is a hope but there are still obstacles to overcome in reality. In addition, dreams are controlled by the fate, which is always so irresistible and unchallenged that to accept your position in the world is more important than to have a dream. Reference List 1 . Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York Penguim, 1993. 2. Hylersmcq. Characters dreams for a better life within mice and men? Web. Jan 28, 2012. 3. Mwestwood. why doesn t Slim share other men s dreams in Of Mice and Men?