dreams

• Key point in Of Mice and Men is that the American Dream is not achievable for most people - most characters in OMAM do not achieve their dreams.
• Title - comes from a Scottish poem by Robert Burns ‘to a mouse’ in which the narrator feels guilt for destroying a mouse nest. “The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft a-gley” - the plans of mice and men go wrong.
• Crooks becomes interested in joining Lennie and Candy on their own ranch when they visit his room. ”If you guys want a hand to work for nothing - just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand”
• Crooks sees a better future for himself with George, Lennie and Candy. He is willing to work for nothing because of the benefits it would bring to his life. On the ranch he is segregated and lonely and would like the companionship this dream of the future would bring.
• Curley’s wife destroys this idea when she destroys his confidence and his hopes for the future with the threat to get him “strung on a tree”
• ”well just forget it’ said Crooks ‘I didn’t mean it. Jus’ fooling I wouldn’t want to go no place like that”. Crooks is brought back to the reality of the situation. He is not equal to George, Lennie or Candy and will never escape the racist attitudes of society.
• Candy is willing to put in his entire life savings to join George and Lennie - $350
• Candy offers after his dog has been shot - he is worried about what his future holds as an old and physically disabled man
• Candy's dogs death illustrates how people viewed those who are old/disabled/weak - they should simply be ignored or removed. “When they can me here I wish some body’d shoot me”
• Their dream almost becomes reality - at this point it seems achievable, but like the others their dream does not come true when George has to kill Lennie. “I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her” George when Lennie Killed Curley’s Wife.
• The American dream is shattered for George + Candy - even when it may seem possible it is still not achievable especially when social factors play a part, such as attitudes + prejudice against weakness + disability.
• George and Lennie’s Dream - George - self-sustained + security - he wants to own his own land - Lennie - tend rabbits - innocent/childlike dream ”Live off the fatta the land” - George, Self sufficient ”We’d belong there… we’d have our own place where we belonged” - George, Security
• • Security is non-existent for migrant workers. Difficult finding work due to Great Depression - travel a lot. - Safety for Lennie - 1930's America, Dangerous society for people like Lennie - own place = safety - Their dream is destroyed - Steinbeck's view on American Dream
• • Curley’s Wife’s dream was to be a movie star - fame, fortune, recognition - “I coulda made somethin’ of myself” - Curley’s wife talking to Lennie just before he kills her.
• “I coulda made somethin’ of myself” - Curley’s wife talking to Lennie just before he kills her. We learn details of her dream and what her life could have been like just before she is killed - impact.
• Female movie stars were becoming popular in 1930’s. One of the few respectable roles for women. Many women were expected to be housewives which is what she become when her dream does not come true.
• “so I married Curley” - Marries Curley because as a women in 1930’s she had very few options. She also believes that her mother destroys her letter but in reality it was most likely never sent - shows her naivety
• Again her dream does not come true - her dream is naïve and is not really a possibility - Steinbeck is suggesting the American Dream is also a naïve belief that will not happen.
• Ranch workers such as Carlson and Whit have dreams + ideas of a better life and of improving their situation. They are impressed by simple things such as William Tenner writing a letter that gets published in a magazine. This highlights the mundane life that many ranch workers lived. They travelled alone and life was hard and so many had lost hope of thing actually improving. They were excited by small events and Saturday nights out in ‘flop houses’. It also highlights that the only dreams that are achievable in 1930's America for ranch workers are very small dreams.