Theme Of Steinbeck's Dream In The Grapes Of Wrath

George is a character that display friendship by caring for Lennie in the book Of Mice and Men. He overcomes the dreadful and unfit society by staying loyal to his friend Lennie. “Guys like us, that on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world they got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stack and the first thing you know

In latin “Solitaire” (the card game the men play) means alone and isolated. Some of the characters in the book have been described as more isolated and lonely than the other character, with the ones in particular ; Crooks, Candy and Curley’s Wife. Crooks is lonely because he is black and has a crooked back which is physically isolating him, Candy is lonely because he is old and only has one hand, Curley’s Wife is lonely because she is the only woman on the ranch. All the people living on the ranch are lonely to some extent. This is proven when Steinbeck describes the bunkhouse where all the workers sleep.

I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend chickens and hoe the garden some.’ ”(59). Candy thinks of himself as a useless old man with only one arm. However, Candy wants to help George and Lennie’s dream so he can at least be helpful before he dies of old age. He knows he is going to be fired soon so he’s giving the money to George and Lennie. Candy also tells Crooks about George and Lennie’s dream and invites him in on it.

Tracy Kidder paints a picture of a man, Paul Farmer, and his father, the Warden, whom seem to have nothing in common. Dr. Farmer’s father was a humble man who loved his children but did not show his love with words, but in “Mountains beyond Mountains,” Dr. Paul Farmer grows to become compassionate of his fellow human beings, just like his own father. When Paul Farmer was still in college he had left a fraternity because he felt he could not belong to an all-white party (Kidder, ch. 5). I believe because of his upbringing and watching his father transition from a salesman to teaching slower students, helped young Paul to understand the compassion of other’s.

He gradually forgets his black identity and begins to look down upon the poor blacks of his community. Before obtaining his possessions and wealth, while embracing his black culture on the farm, he was remembered as being a nice and caring person. Despite acquiring the material success he had longed for, he sensed an indescribable hollowness and loneliness. Macon Dead II is never able to get rid of his sense of loss due to the fact that he ignores and suppresses his cultural ties from the

“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/ gang aft agley,” (Burns 38). This precise verse from the poem “To a Mouse” inspired John Steinbeck to compose the widely-known novel Of Mice and Men. This book depicts the story of a clever man named George and his faithful yet mentally disabled companion, Lennie, working on a Californian ranch during the Great Depression. The two have an American Dream of owning their own farm, but this is all shattered when Lennie unintentionally murders the boss’ daughter-in-law. In order to protect his closest friend from a most terrible and cruel death sentenced to him by society, George shoots Lennie humanely.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows the destructive imbalance of social power structures in American society. The importance of idealized relationships between men, or the social structure, is proven by the many characters that live on the farm. Some are at the top, while others are so far below the bottom, they are not necessarily considered within the structure. While the American Dream is real for most people, there are people that will not be able to obtain in, like Lennie, and perhaps even George because of his relationship with Lennie. Like George said in chapter one, "guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.

George and Lennie, the main characters of the novel share a genuine friendship that no one seems to understand. In contrast, Crooks, a black stable buck, is segregated from the other men. Similar to Crooks, no one wants to speak to Curley's wife because she is described as "jail bait"(32) to the men and there is no

Although Steinbeck shows sympathy for his characters, it doesn’t compel him to give the story a “happily ever after” ending. For example, George is a farmer with a good heart, but in the end he ends up shooting his best friend Lennie out of mercy. Steinbeck also contradicts poverty and minimal resources with friendship and dreams of having a better life. George and Lennie are traveling farmers searching for work, they don’t have a permanent home. However, they have a dream of owning their own farm and Lennie gets to tame the rabbits.

Entering the lonely town of Soledad, which literally translates to 'solitude', George and Lennie have a mutual dream and a friendship which immediately sets them apart from the other characters. For instance, when George and Lennie confront Curley's father for him to let them work, he asks, "I said what stake you got in this guy? You taking his pay away from him" (Steinbeck 22)? With this question in the air, it's easy for the reader to assume that Curley's father cannot even fathom any reason as to why two men would stay together in those times other than for one to take advantage of the other. This relationship between George and Lennie is also compared to that of Cain and Abel's, "Cain's question is the question again at the heart of the novel: "Am I my brother's keeper"" (Owens 146)?