Theme Of The American Dream In Of Mice And Men

In the second to last sentence in the second to last stanza Robert Burns writes, “The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men/Gang aft agley” (Burns 39), which translates to how to farmer believed the mouse he had ended up killing had all these plans, but in the end wasn’t allowed to fulfill them due to his death, similar to Lennie. Therefore, Steinbeck was foreshadowing what was going to happen to Lennie in the end of the

In the beginning of the story, George and Lennie are at a river looking for work. George takes care of Lennie because of Lennie’s mental health issues. A result of Lennie’s mental health issues is that he kills things with no intent to. Specifically when he killed the puppy, the mouse, and Curley’s Wife. Steinbeck conveys his view of the American Dream from the events and symbols used in the novel.

In the film Sunset Boulevard many characters struggled with wishes, lies and dreams of fame and fortune. The film states the corruption in Hollywood and that people will do anything to get ahead. With hope and delusion each character tries to gain happiness, while only being self-destructive and isolating themselves. The characters ultimately deny their problems and confuse those around them. One character in the film who struggles with her wishes, lies and dreams is, Norma Desmond, a washed up actress.

It is said from the beginning to stay away from her because only bad circumstances will come out of it. Curley’s wife was talking to Lennie how her life could have been a lot better; “I tell ya I could of went with shows” (Steinbeck 78). Not much before she married Lennie, Curley’s wife could have been an actress and lived a very rich and successful life. There was a guy in the shows that told Curley’s wife that she is an amazing actress and could be in the shows. She never gets a letter from the guy in the shows so she ends up marrying Curley; “I couldn’t get nowhere or make nothin of myself… so I married Curley” (Steinbeck 88).

George knew they were either going to kill him or keep him locked up in a cage until he dies. Either way, George couldn’t let that be the ending for Lennie after all they had been through. Therefore, George wanted to be the one who kills him. George had learned from Candy’s experience that he should shoot Lennie himself. The only way that Lennie could be peaceful in his final moments was thinking about the ranch where he would be tending to his rabbits.

You always killed ‘em.” (9) This, alongside with Curley’s wife’s murder, proves Lennie’s uncontrolled strength. The poor woman’s death is what starts the manhunt after Lennie, and after so many wrongdoings on his part, Lennie is shot by George, just like Candy’s dog was shot by Carlson. Lennie, much like Candy’s dog, is decided by George that he is better off dead, as he has no chance of surviving in the society his in, especially with the pugnacious Curley, the ranch owner’s son, after

Later in the story Lennie is in a barn inspecting a dead puppy he used to take care of. The story doesn’t give much detail of what happened but Lennie apparently “bounced” the puppy too hard killing it. He starts to yell at the puppy things like “Why do you got to get killed?” “You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard.”.

The two hunter’s feel pity towards the eggs that they see, as they feel that most of them are going to be killed before the animal inside is even able to see the light of day, however this is ironic, as these hunter’s themselves are here to steal that light from the animals, which is made even worse when considering that the eggs would be killed for nourishment, while the humans will be killing for pleasure. The poet makes this irony even more effective in creating a sense of ethics in the reader by having the title of the poem as The Wild Duck’s Nest, even though that is not what the poem is about. Randolph Stow uses animals to successfully convey deeper emotional and philosophical thoughts and to create a sense of morality and ethics with the subject matter, theme and the literary devices. Through this, the reader realizes the message: humans are the ones to be afraid of, as the creatures that humans often fear are even more frightened of

Perhaps George got tired of Lennie and took his life out of anger as his job and dream of sharing a farm with Lennie became impossible, or maybe George had had enough and killed Lennie because “(…) he [Lennie] gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb.” (OMM, 42). On the contrary, after Lennie had killed Curley’s wife George knew what Curley’s lynch mob would come for Lennie and make his death painful by “(…) shoot[ing] the guts outa that big bastard” (OMM, 96-97). George simply helped Lennie the only way he knew how, by taking his life quickly after telling him what he wanted to

Similarly, love can be fantasised but the illusion can recurrently be destroyed by reality. Women in the 1920’s were objectified and perceived only for their beauty and social status. These themes are not only present in the novel but were also seen in Fitzgerald’s context. Ironically, the downfall of the American Dream occurred through the pursuit for the American Dream.

Likewise, George and Lennie’s plan to own a ranch after they finish

George knew what he had to do. When Candy’s dog got put down, someone else did it for him. He told george that he regrets not killing his own dog. George found Lennie by the river. Lennie asked if George was mad at him.

Then all the guys went looking for Lennie. George lied and said he went South. In chapter 6, Lennie had two hallucinations; about his Aunt Clara was scolding him about how he treats George and the Rabbit said if Lennie was to have rabbits they would die. Next, George found Lennie in the brush by the river so he went over and talked to Lennie about the dream to distract him.

It started going astray in Weed when they were forced to run away and find new work. Their progress was good but Lenny 's desire for soft things ended up stopping one of his small plans of taking care of a puppy and raising it. Even though he was a good worker, he was forced to run when he accidently killed Curley 's wife when he panicked and refused to let go of her hair, when she offered him to pet it. In the end, he was killed and would never live his plan of taking care of rabbits and other soft animals. Candy 's plan of his life was to just work on the farm he was currently at.

In the novella Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck incorporates many thematic ideas into his text. He includes the ideas of dreams and reality, the nature of home, and he difference of right and wrong. He develops these ideas throughout the story. The first theme incorporated is the idea if dreams versus reality. Lennie and George have a plan.