Comparing The Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the book talks about two guys who are traveling together in search for a job that can get them enough money so that they will be able to reach their dream. A significant factor in this story is that Lennie, one of the main characters, is mentally disabled. Lennie’s mind is just like a child, it’s easy for everyone to see. George, the other main character, has to constantly watch out for Lennie as they travel together because he doesn’t want Lennie to get into any serious trouble. George often blames Lennie for their problems that they face because of his disability. The dream mentioned earlier that the men are trying to obtain is something that Lennie truly believes they will be able to accomplish. Lennie and …show more content…
In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck makes it clear that Lennie fully believes in the dream that George and him created in their minds. George even states that he didn’t really think they could complete the dream but because Lennie wanted to hear about it so much George started to believe in it. (Steinbeck, 62). Lennie could be used to represent the hopeful side that George has inside of himself. If he didn’t have Lennie with him all this time he might have never thought of the dream or actually believed it could happen. Not only did Lennie keep George believing in the dream but he also keep George from being careless like all the other people around them. When Lennie was hiding in the secret place at the end of the book he started hallucinating and one of the people he saw was his Aunt Clara. She started to make Lennie feel bad about himself and told him all the trouble he was causing George. “All the time he coulda had such a good time if it wasn’t for you. He woulda took his pay an ‘raised hell in a whorehouse … But he got to take care of you” (Steinbeck, 97). Even though Lennie did cause George problems like Aunt Clara said, he also keep George from being like all the others and wasting their time on pointless things instead of going after something special in their lives. George could have been like the rest of society at the time but he was able to get away from it because of his …show more content…
Most people did things for themselves and were selfish. It was weird to see people that weren’t related to each other take care of each other and make sure they were all right. When George and Lennie show up, Slim comments on this. “Ain’t many guys travel around together… Maybe every’body in the world is scared of each other” (Steinbeck, 32). Slim admires the fact that George and Lennie can be so close in a time when most were doing what they could for themselves. For everyone to be going through such hard times, it probably disgusted Steinbeck to see so many people not trying to help or comfort others. Steinbeck also picks ups on the lack of effort among people to try to do something with their lives. So many people’s hopes were crushed that they couldn’t see the point in even trying to succeed anymore. “The will and desire of men to work hard to achieve a goal was no longer enough to ensure a comfortable, happy life, and the tragedy of the story is that man cannot change his environment” (Morretta, 68). At this point it is easier for people to waste their lives instead of trying to achieve something. The cruelty of people is also a theme picked up in the book. There are many instances, mainly involving Lennie, were characters were unusually cruel. George mentions how he uses to take advantage of Lennie’s disability by making him do dangerous stuff. When Curley