‘Dreams in Of Mice and Men offer the characters nothing but false hope’. To what extent do you
agree with this statement?
Dreams are a key theme in Steinbeck’s novella ; on the face of it dreams provide hope and
optimism during times of hardship but the harsh reality is that during the era of the Great
Depression of the 1930s the American Dream often amounted to a false hope of prosperity.
Steinbeck can be seen as voicing this opinion through Crooks, the negro stable buck when he
says “Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land”. The American Dream promised
that in ‘the Land of the Free’ all men had the opportunity to work towards prosperity and an
environment where “Nobody gonna hurt nobody”.
Steinbeck originally gave his book the title ‘Something That Happened’. However, he changed it
after he read Robert Burn‟s poem To A Mouse , a poem telling the lamentations of a farmer
who destroyed a mouse’s nest while plowing his field. This poem thus deals with the themes of
life’s unkept promises and a mouse’s ability to enjoy the present without fearing the future,
contrary to men. Indeed, the novella is about failed dreams, lost hopes and loneliness.
Steinbeck’s change of title therefore reveals the brevity of life and its relative lack of importance
when compared with the whole history of mankind but also the similarities between a mouse’s
life and that of a human, both struggling to keep their houses and to stay alive as long as
possible. The Scottish poet Robert Burns’ entire verse suggests the somewhat pathetic aspect of
this eternal struggle for a little bit more time on earth: “the best led schemes o‟ mice an‟ men
gang aft agley”. The irony resides in the fact that despite the smallness of their lives, both men
and mice keep making plans to secure the future, which are inevitably destroyed like a nest or a
farm. This note of irony reaches its high peak at the end of Steinbeck’s novel with Lennie’s death
and the destruction of the dream at the same time.
The aspirations depicted by Steinbeck range from Curley’s Wife dream of being an actress as she
claims she “coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes” to George and Lennie’s dream of
owning their own piece of land. Curley’s wife’s dream has already been shattered and we are
given the impression that the shared dream of the protagonists George Milton and Lennie Small
is in all likelihood unattainable. George and Lennie, two migrant workers of the 1930s who have
a friendship bond that sets them apart from the other ranch workers, share a dream of owning
a small ranch and of living “off the fatta the lan” where the cream from the animals “is so God
damn thick you got to cut it with a knife”.
The way George recites the dream to Lennie in a ritualistic way is reminiscent of a fairy tale
being recited to a child and this foreshadows the dream not coming true. Foreshadowing is also
present as Lennie’s accidental killings progress from mice to a puppy. This hints at something
worse to come and at their dream failing. At one point when reciting the dream George says e
that they would have to protect the rabbits from cats and Lennie says “I’ll break their God
agree with this statement?
Dreams are a key theme in Steinbeck’s novella ; on the face of it dreams provide hope and
optimism during times of hardship but the harsh reality is that during the era of the Great
Depression of the 1930s the American Dream often amounted to a false hope of prosperity.
Steinbeck can be seen as voicing this opinion through Crooks, the negro stable buck when he
says “Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land”. The American Dream promised
that in ‘the Land of the Free’ all men had the opportunity to work towards prosperity and an
environment where “Nobody gonna hurt nobody”.
Steinbeck originally gave his book the title ‘Something That Happened’. However, he changed it
after he read Robert Burn‟s poem To A Mouse , a poem telling the lamentations of a farmer
who destroyed a mouse’s nest while plowing his field. This poem thus deals with the themes of
life’s unkept promises and a mouse’s ability to enjoy the present without fearing the future,
contrary to men. Indeed, the novella is about failed dreams, lost hopes and loneliness.
Steinbeck’s change of title therefore reveals the brevity of life and its relative lack of importance
when compared with the whole history of mankind but also the similarities between a mouse’s
life and that of a human, both struggling to keep their houses and to stay alive as long as
possible. The Scottish poet Robert Burns’ entire verse suggests the somewhat pathetic aspect of
this eternal struggle for a little bit more time on earth: “the best led schemes o‟ mice an‟ men
gang aft agley”. The irony resides in the fact that despite the smallness of their lives, both men
and mice keep making plans to secure the future, which are inevitably destroyed like a nest or a
farm. This note of irony reaches its high peak at the end of Steinbeck’s novel with Lennie’s death
and the destruction of the dream at the same time.
The aspirations depicted by Steinbeck range from Curley’s Wife dream of being an actress as she
claims she “coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes” to George and Lennie’s dream of
owning their own piece of land. Curley’s wife’s dream has already been shattered and we are
given the impression that the shared dream of the protagonists George Milton and Lennie Small
is in all likelihood unattainable. George and Lennie, two migrant workers of the 1930s who have
a friendship bond that sets them apart from the other ranch workers, share a dream of owning
a small ranch and of living “off the fatta the lan” where the cream from the animals “is so God
damn thick you got to cut it with a knife”.
The way George recites the dream to Lennie in a ritualistic way is reminiscent of a fairy tale
being recited to a child and this foreshadows the dream not coming true. Foreshadowing is also
present as Lennie’s accidental killings progress from mice to a puppy. This hints at something
worse to come and at their dream failing. At one point when reciting the dream George says e
that they would have to protect the rabbits from cats and Lennie says “I’ll break their God
