Shattered Dreams
John Steinbeck, the author of Mice and Men describes “When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp” (Steinbeck, back of the book).The American Dream is available to any American it’s the highest goal that can be reachable. Immigrants come over to America and start their own American Dreams. The drive and hardship to live a happy life is most immigrants’ dreams. Most immigrants come to America because they did not have a good life in their country. Lennie, Candy, and Crooks are characters from John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men whose struggles with impost, discarded, and loneliness lead to broken dreams that negatively impact their lives.
To begin,
…show more content…
Lennie, George, and Candy ended their conversation about their dream, “Candy sat on the edge of his bunk. He scratched the stump of his wrist nervously. ‘I got hurt four year ago,’ he said. ‘They’ll can me purty soon’” (Steinbeck, 60). He is getting to a point where the farm that he is working on is not going to need his help; Candy is getting old and he is hurt, he is going to be useless to the farm. After George and Candy found the body of Curley’’s wife, Candy reveals, “You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George? You an’ me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, George? Can’t we?” Before George answered, Candy dropped his head and looked down at the hay. He knew” (Steinbeck, 94). George is heartbroken after what Lennie has done; Candy asks if their broken dream would work out. Candy’s dream became a broken dream because he has been rejected from the idea of sharing the ownership of the …show more content…
Crooks is talking to Lennie, Crooks shout “’Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me” (Steinbeck, 68). He was cut out from all of the group’s activities because he has a different skin color. Crooks announce, “ ‘I said s’pose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more.’ Crooks pressed forward some kind of private victory. ‘Just s’pose that,’ he repeated” (Steinbeck, 71). He was cut out from the others and Crooks became a person that saw the worst in people. Crooks look at the world with a sour look because of his skin, and his isolationism let him have a broken
As a black man in the 1930s, Crooks is treated as less than because he is black, despite having worked at the ranch for a significant amount of time. Crooks is lonely and does not have much of a chance at communicating with others since he is separated from everyone else. The text states, “They play cards in there, but I can’t play because I'm black. They say I stink” (Steinbeck 68). This quote shows how discriminated against Crooks is.
Unfortunately, Lennie is indirectly the only person holding back the dreams of George. Going into the ranch the two of them work at, George was already cautious about the kind of behavior Lennie displayed. He emphasized to Lennie to remain in his best behavior so that everything could go as planned. Candy, an elderly man missing a hand devotes all his money to the same dream that George and Lennie have. They were all so close to moving on until Lennie ruined their dreams.
Furthermore, Crook’s and Candy’s unrealistic notions revolving ambitions prohibited them from accomplishing them. Candy’s dreams are obstructed due to ageism. Candy is in a rush to fulfill any last ambitions before he passes away. He could finally view himself in a peaceful mindset, with proper people. However, once Curley’s wife was found dead, and Lennie was dead, Candy uttered when worried his last year of life would not be fulfilled, "You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George?
Lennie and George find themselves becoming more hopeful after Candy successfully manages to turn a dream that was originally meant for two men into a dream for three. He tries to help George and Lennie attain their dream, and convince them that, “S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some” (59). He also shows the two friends of the possibility towards failed outcomes- symbolized through Candy’s inability to kill his own dog.
Additionally, When Crooks is talking to Lennie, he says, “Cause I’m Black. They play the cards there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well. I tell you, all of you stink to me.”
Crooks was very lonely because he was isolated from everybody else due to the color of his skin. He was the only colored man around which left him without anyone to talk to because of how prevalent racism was, Steinbeck described him by saying, “... Crooks was a proud, aloof man. He kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs.” (Steinbeck, 67).
Candy, an old and injured worker, offers to invest his life savings into the dream. He sees it as his only chance to have a sense of security in his old age. When George and Lennie first tell Candy about their dream, he says, “If you…guys would want a hand to work for nothing—just his keep, why would I come and lend a hand” (Steinbeck, Chapter 3). Candy’s willingness to put his faith in the dream emphasizes its power. Here is a man who has seen the harsh realities of the world, yet he still believes in the possibility of the
In the 1930s with the Great Depression affecting millions of people in America, it was common to see immigrant’s working on agricultural labor. John Steinbeck, a great writer of the 20s, portrays the suffering of what an immigrant agricultural worker went through better than any other writer of the time. Publish in mid 1930s, Of Mice and Men tells the story of two immigrant workers, Lennie and George, and their experience of working in the fields of Salinas Valley of northern California. Throughout the novel Steinbeck vaguely tells the readers, through the protagonist Lennie and George, an unrealistic American Dream. It comes to the question of how far-fetched was George and Lennie’s American dream?
When Lennie questions why Crooks is all alone in the stable, Crooks responds, "'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you stink to me,"’ (Steinbeck 69). Crooks is segregated into a small and lonely room where he has no company and only himself.
All people have goals, but some have no chance of achieving them. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Candy, Crooks and Lennie all live on the same farm, but are faced with different circumstances holding them back from achieving what they desire. Through the characters of Candy, Crooks, and Lennie, Steinbeck shows that issues outside the control of an individual often limit the achievement of an individual’s dream. Throughout the novel, Lennie is faced with obstacles that are in the way of him attaining his ultimate goal.
Candy says, “Maybe if I give you guys my money you’ll let me hoe in the garden even though I ain’t no good at it” (Steinbeck 60). Candy is now wanting to go with them and says he has money to put in. He tells them he has money he can give them right now and that changes everything for them. They were all filled with joy when they realized things were actually going to come true. When George realizes it he says “We’ll fix up that little place and live there” (Steinbeck 60).
Steinbeck states in the novel, “You seen what they done to my dog tonight?”(60). An example of Candy telling George and Lennie his problems. Candy still feels upset over his dog death by Carlson. But by using that excuse he got George to agree with him, to let him live in the ranch once they earn enough money. With Candy’s help with George and Lennie’s dream, it is easier and now faster for the three of them to get their ranch.
We see that all of these characters and their situations depict that a dream of an American is not always possible. Steinbeck shows that the unrealized dream was a major part of life in the 1930s and in the book Of Mice and
I ain't so crippled I can't work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.’" (76). This dream that Lennie and George have has the power to change others’ lives. Candy believes in this dream so much that he even defends it against Curley’s wife and her insults. " ’Maybe you just better go along an' roll your hoop.
Towards the end of the story, Candy, George, and Lennie gather up enough money to afford a farm, but as the last section of the last chapter unfolds, the reader learns that Lennie has to be killed for murdering Candy’s wife, which in turn ruins the dreams of not only George and Candy, bt Lennie as well. As chapter 6, page 106 entails, “ He pulled the trigger. The crash from the shot rolled up the hills and down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” When George fires this shot, he knows he ruined Lennies dreams.