explore the ways hopes and dreams are presented in different parts of "of mice and

men"
Hopes and dreams are the most fundamental theme in this novel. All of the characters are affected by
the American Dream, and most characters at some point admit their hopes of another life. It is these
hopes and dreams that fuel the characters, even though it is obvious their hopeless lives are made
bitter by wasting their lives away on unrealistic fantasies. Throughout the novel, the only character
who has absolute belief in his dream is Lennie, and that's only because he's too simple to understand
that it's impossible to achieve. Most characters doubt the dreams they have, but still continue to hold
on to them for fear of their lives staying in the grey, dismal conditions they already are. Steinbeck
opens the novel in a Garden of Eden like setting, rich and vivid with layers of imagery, with
"sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool" and "rabbits
sitting as quietly as little gray sculptured stones". The arching branches over the idyllic pool seem to
symbolise an entrance into another world, perhaps even heaven. This peacefulness is disturbed as
"two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool". The symbolism is
clear that it is the entrance of mankind that ruins the gentle atmosphere of the Salinas River, a river a
few miles south of Soledad - spanish for 'solitude', another significant themes in this novella.
From the very beginning of the novel, the dream is just that - a dream, a vague fairytale aspiration for
both George and Lennie to reach for. "Someday- we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna
have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and-" "An' live off the fatta the
lan'," Lennie shouted. "An' have rabbits." Steinbeck's use of syndetic listing shows that at this point,
the dream was just a long string of things that Lennie and George wanted in their ideal life. But
although they share this same dream, Steinbeck makes it clear that their individual needs for the
dream are different: Lennie's are more simple; he's attached to the idea of tending to the soft-haired
rabbits they'll own, and George repeats the dream to him over and over like a bed time story. However,
George seems more skeptical of the dream being an actual possibility, as he acquiesces to Lennie's
ridiculous suggestion of having different colour rabbits, replying with "Sure we will Red and blue
and green rabbits, Lennie. Millions of 'em." Nevertheless it is evident that he still needs the dream to
motivate himself as it's all he has, and this reveals the intrinsicality of Lennie and George's
relationship - the dream binds them together. But like all the other men who want the American
Dream, he likes the idea of being completely self-sufficient and independent.
When George and Lennie begin working at the ranch, the Dream is threatened. George is worried that
Lennie's nature will ruin their chances at the ranch, so with each new character that's introduced to
Lennie and George we see George speaking for Lennie and to an extent, protecting him from potential
ridicule. Also introduced here is Curley's wife. As Steinbeck's setting for this novella is a microcosm of
American society at the time, he fittingly portrays the women as a 'distraction' from the dream - with
the farm hands throwing away their money in whorehouses, Lennie's Aunt Clara leaving Lennie to
George and the woman who caused Lennie and George's abrupt escape from the last ranch. Curley's
wife is not an exception to this rule, with her constant flirting with the ranch hands (with her own
dreams shattered, she is now poison to others). From the moment Lennie sets his eyes on her, Lennie
speaks of how "purty" Curley's wife is and George angrily orders him to stay away from that bitch as
he is scared to lose their dreams to another incident caused by Lennie.
When Slim enters the bunkhouse later on "with a majesty achieved only by royalty and master
craftsmen", it seems as if a demi-god has walked into the room. From before he even does anything,

Steinbeck tells us that "there was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped
when he spoke". Seemingly the ideal guy, Slim contradicts the idea of the American Dream since he's
perfect to an almost supernatural point, but he works on the ranch just like all the other farm hands.
However, Slim is also the only character who is completely immune to the Dream and therefore
Steinbeck could be hinting that it is because of this immunity that Slim is the "prince of the ranch". In
spite of this, it seems Slim is not immune to the brutal nature of society as he tells the other hands
about his dog who "slang her pups last night," and how he "drowned four of 'em right off" and "kept the
biggest." This symbolises the idea of survival of the fittest and how in those times, physical strength
was of the utmost importance.
Steinbeck's descriptions of the dream flesh out and become more tangible when George and Lennie
begin work at the ranch, when Candy offers to chip in $300 and the dream finally seems to become a
possibility. Steinbeck lets George run wild with his vivid descriptions of the dream, and he enthuses
that the cream from the cows would be "so God damn thick you got to cut it with a knife and take it out
with a spoon." This surreal suggestion hints that even as the vague dream they previously had was
becoming a viable option, George had begun to describe the dream in such detail that it became a
fantasy again, especially as he reckons the working hours will reduce from eleven to "six, seven hours
a day" which is impossible on the large ranch they currently work on, let alone a small farm with only
three hands working. Here Steinbeck is conveying that no matter what happens that looks like it will
bring the characters closer to their dream, it is forever unattainable.
It's in Part 4 when George and Lennie's companionship starts to disintegrate, and therefore so does
the dream. George is out with most of the other hands in town, leaving Lennie behind on his own.
Lennie decides to visit Crooks, the "negro stable buck" in his bunk. At first Crooks is hostile towards
Lennie, as he "stiffened and a scowl came on his face" and speaking "sharply". He's bitter over his
ostracisation from the ranch community due to nothing but the colour of his skin, but "his tone was a
little more friendly" when he sees that Lennie is (mentally) harmless, and lets him "come on in and set
a while," Crooks' room is filled with material possessions, possibly to compensate for the company he
so longs for. He's alone in the world, like many other farm hands, but for once this isn't by choice, and
he's excluded from the American Dream for obvious reasons. This exclusion meant that he could see
the dreams in their reality and was completely cynical of them, and he tells Lennie so: "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." Of course, Lennie is completely oblivious to what Crooks is telling him but the last
sentence links back to the religious imagery of the Garden of Eden in the opening scene and the idea
of Curley's wife being the Eve who tempts and distracts Adam away from the "dream".
One parallel between characters in the novel is the one between George and Curley's wife. Both at
various points rant about how without their respective partners, they could have achieved their dreams
already. George explodes at Lennie in Part 1, telling him "if I was alone I could live so easy" and that
he "could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble" with "no mess at all." Then, later on in the novel,
Curley's wife starts telling George and Lennie about her personal dream, insisting "An' a guy tol' me
he could put me in pitchers Says I was a natural. Soon's he got back to Hollywood he was gonna
write to me about it." but ending with "I never got that letter," and "I always thought my ol' lady stole it
I ast her if she stole it, too, an' she says no." It's evident that although the dream seemed so real for
her, it was a lie made up to appeal to her. This symbolises however real the dreams may be to the
dreamer, they appear absurd to anyone else who hears the dream.
In Part 6, Lennie kills Curley's wife and it's here the possibility of the dream ends. Death is ever

present throughout this chapter, especially when Lennie kills Curley's wife - "And the meanness and
the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face," and she was
"very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young". The dreams take their toll on the
characters and it's only when the dream ends that the characters are at peace. The last of the
religious imagery is shown in the beginning of this part, with Steinbeck bringing it full circle and back
to just George and Lennie alone together again in the same Garden of Eden style setting as the
opening scene. Here there are three paths - George could let Lennie succumb to the ranch hands and
Curley, George and Lennie could run as they have so many times before, or George (who by this point
is at last letting go of the American Dream) could end it all, and the latter is what he does. After acting
"woodenly", "shakily" and "stiffly" with Lennie, he finally shoots him dead and the dream which was
only living on through Lennie was now over as Lennie was integral to George's dream and he
continually reminded him of it, never letting him let go. Evidently, the only escape from the dream is
death, as shown when Lennie recites his dream which is cut off by the gunshot. Killing him was not
only to save Lennie from a possibly cruel fate but to release George of a burden and was even
advantageous for him - he could now move on from this hopeless American Dream without Lennie
pulling him back.