The significance of dreams in of mice and men.

In this essay I am going to be talking about the significance of dreams in the of mice and men novel. The novel was written in 1937 during the great depression

One of the most important things in of mice and men is the American dream and the will to get there. Even though the life of the ranch workers dream for a better life.

George and lennie dream of owing their own land, which is also called the American dream by some. But George and Lennies friendship is what Keeps the dream alive and makes it possible. But by the end of the novel all the characters dreams are destroyed and their dreams defeated by their own actions.

The characters in the novel travel around from ranch to ranch looking for work for as little as 40 dollars a month but if you were a good solid worker you would stay on that ranch and you might get kept on the ranch until you were like candy weak , crippled, old. Just waiting until you could not work any more.

But despite the characters fragile state nearly all of the characters have their own dream or in some cases they share the same dream, lennie and George dream of owning their own bit of land curleys wife dream is becoming an actress also candy and crooks dream is to join up with George and lennie on their quest to owning their own plot of land. But their dreams would not exsist with out friendship this is most in the relationship between George and lennie

Lennie would always ask George to tell him what’s going to happen but the constant questioning is what keeps the dream alive in lennie. But at the end of the novel when George kills lennie he kills their friendship and the dream dramatically dies within himself

George also needs lennie just as much as lennie needs him. “Because…I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why. But without the other neither one of the characters would be able to achieve their dream which is shown at the end of the novel.

George would often explain to lennie the bad life they both led.” guys like us that work on the ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family they don’t belong no place.

Workers like lennie and George have no one to go back to no family no home and no money.

They have very little control over their lives they do what ever the boss wants and they never stick a foot out of line and they don’t have much to show for all their hard work. The idea having such little power over what they do and their lives are a strong motivation.

Friendship is also a very important factor in the dreams of others, candy and crooks become friends with George and lennie when they find out about the possibility of owing land. This dream seemed impossible before their friendship began. Candy and crooks shared the same dream as George and lennie.

Candy believes in the dream the most that he offers George three hundred dollars which is needed to buy the land. But at the start crooks is very worried about George and lennies plan.   “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. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ 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. Everybody wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head”

But however when he finds out about candys offer to pay most of the money for the land he suddenly wants to join them. Crooks and Candys will to join them is very important factor in the novel because it actually makes the reader think that they will reach their dream of owning their own bit of land.

Although thought the novel the writer offers clues and hints that try to make you believe that their dream will be fulfilled. The offer from Candy and the interest from Crooks is the main reason that causes you to think that George and lennie might reach their goal

But eventually everyone’s dream is crushed and destroyed. The characters who believed in the dream the most are the ones who suffer the most when the dream is beyond reach. When Lennie is killed by his best friend George, he was most reliant upon the dream. Crooks and Candy invested far less than everyone else and when the dream failed they suffered far less than everyone else. Lennies tendency towards violence is one of the main causes of death of the dream for him. Not even George could have prevented that

At the end of the novel George had to kill lennie because of what lennie had done. He killed Curley’s wife George had to kill him it was the right thing to do because Curley was mad and he would have torched and beat lennie. George did not want that for his best friend so he took things into his own hands. When he had killed lennie the dream died for him and everyone else. Lennie had know idea of his own strength.

In conclusion every character in of mice and men had a dream which was eventually destroyed by there own actions. Most of the characters had the same dream of owning their own plot of land the book has a harsh and sad ending with George killing his best friend lennie