How far do you think Steinbeck presents dreams as futile in Of Mice and Men?

Answer 1

Steinbeck presents a lot of dreams as futile in his novel of Mice and Men. All the characters dreams are different and they all are in someway broken. The first example of this is Crooks, Crooks' had his dream when he was younger but it was taken away from him. This is ironic compared to white people. On page 105 crooks says about his dream when he was younger "I remember when ... white chickens they was"

Another example is Candy, Candy is perceived as an ill and weak man in the novel. Being old means he is desperate to fulfill his dream before he dies. His dream is to be with George and Lennie, this is crushed when Lennie killed Curley's wife. "Old candy watched ... for them guys" (page 132) this shows that candy has no respect for Curley's wife even though she is dead.

A third example is Lennie, George and Lennie's dream is to have there own farm and have rabbits so Lennie can pet them because he likes to pet things but in the end he always ends up killing them. They see this dream as a fantasy or something to look forward to in life because they know deep down that they cane never achieve this dream. They don't actually get the dream in the end because Lennie endures a problem with Curley's wife and ends up killing her by mistake. When the rest of the ranch-hands find out about what has happened George knows where Lennie has gone so he goes to the bush and finds Lennie. George starts to tell Lennie about there dream and shoots him in the back of the head, so this leaves Lennie in his last moments of his life thinking about the dream he is going to have and himself petting the rabbits. So the dream never actually happened in the end of the novel.

A final example is Curley's wife, when Curley's wife was fifteen her mother shattered her dream of becoming an actress. On page 124 (chapter 5) "I live ... if I'd went, I wouldn't be livin like this" this explains that is she had gone with the show she would not be living like the way she is now. Her dream gets shattered because she gets killed by Lennie.

In conclusion, John Steinbeck presents the dreams as futile (pointless) because Candy, Crooks and Curley's wife all have dreams but they are all broken during the novel. This has an effect on the reader because the reader does not know at the beginning of the novel whether the dream is successful. The dreams all don't actually happen and so they are fairly pointless to the characters.

Answer 2

Steinbeck suggests that dreams are often seen as futile in "Of Mice and Men" through the characters of George and Lennie. Despite their strong desire to achieve their dream of owning a piece of land, various obstacles and circumstances prevent them from realizing it, highlighting the harsh reality of the American Dream during the Great Depression. This sense of futility is further reinforced through the tragic ending of the novella, where George is forced to make a heartbreaking decision that ultimately shatters their dream.