The characters in Of Mice and Men all have original and unique characteristics inside of them, but no matter how different, they all have the same reactions of giving up when thinking about dreams. The main characters George and Lennie, recently unemployed migrant workers, move to a new ranch for work. Thrown into a cruel, misshapen life that doesn’t end well for the majority of characters, George and Lennie find themselves in a dilemma that seems all too familiar. John Steinbeck uses the characters in Of Mice and Men to show that dreams are fragile and they need friends to support them.
Curley’s wife has a dream of becoming a famous actress, but her dream falls apart due to the fact that she has no support or help. She never has reliable friends
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Crooks then feels excited to believe, because George and Lennie actually tried to accomplish the dream together. Normally, when Crooks sees people dreaming, they never have a real plan to go with it; George, Lennie, and Candy do. Crooks was still leery about the idea until Lennie explained how close they were to accomplishing the dream. At first, this seems like the perfect idea, until Curley’s wife ruins the hope of poor Crooks. He now accepts his fate of being lonely and an outcast stuck on this ranch. Once Curley’s wife came into Crooks’ room, all the positive outlook and the dream faded away. She picked out his weakness and forced Crooks to submit to her will. After constantly having everyone put him down because of his race, he no longer believes in himself; his new hope extinguishes easily by her. Also, it barely takes any time for him to back out. On page 83, Crooks said, Talking about the dream only lasts about a day for Crooks; he never lets himself have time to ponder over the best decision for him. This could have been his step in the right direction and a way out of the ranch, but he lets it slip through his
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.
Everyone looked at him diferently because of that he never had a dream on the other hand Lennie and George's friendship was what made them want to prosper and have a dream. Without someone to be their with you to complete dreams with you to support you then it is nearly impossible to complete. Crooks is lonely in the story of mice of men because of this he feels anger towards other and he never completes his dreams because no one ever
Dreams Lost, Never Found To quote a translation of Robert Burns’s poem, “To a Mouse”, “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men often go awry and leave us nothing but grief an' pain for promised joy” (Shoomp). This quote well compliments John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, which has a universal theme of dreams being predestined to failure. Among the most prominent examples of unrealized dreams are George and Lennie’s shared dream of owning a farm to call home, Crook’s dream of being accepted as an equal to the other white men, and Curley’s wife’s dream of becoming an actress and making something out of herself. From the very beginning of the novel, George and Lennie share a dream of buying a farm on which they could belong and live harmoniously on.
In the end of the novel we see how Crooks was right as Lennie dies and George realises that his goal wasn’t ever going to be possible. Steinbeck uses Georges and Crooks doubt to foreshadow that George and Lennie were never going to reach their
Crooks is very lonely and solitude for being alone every day. As a result, he wants to have friends who he can communicate with. No one has come into his room except for Slim and the boss, so when Lennie and Candy come, it is difficult for Crooks to “conceal his pleasure with anger” (75). Although he wants to express anger about people coming into his room, inside he is happy about it and enjoys it. This instability and loneliness that he has leads him to say how he could work for George, Lennie, and Candy on their farm.
Curley’s wife has many unrealized dreams. Before her death, Curley’s wife confesses her desire to become a movie star, “Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes-all them nice clothes like they wear... An’ all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural.” p.89
Even though Crooks has treated brutally on the ranch, he is willing to be the help of the land Lennie, George, and Candy are purchasing, just as long as he gets the opportunity to pursue his dream, hanging with white people and having fun playing games with them. Crooks has known Candy for a while, and now a little about Lennie, so Crooks trusts that the neither of them will turn him down and kick him out. Crooks’ confidence in his dream being pursued is now at a higher substantial thanks to trust of new
He feels brought down and dehumanized. After Curley’s wife left, Candy tells Crooks that she shouldn’t have said those things. Crooks says, “it wasn’t nothing…you guys comin’ in an’ settin made me forget. What she says is true” (82). This shows that Crooks knows that even though he thought he could get a place with the other guys, he knows is would never happen, because he is black and he will always be treated
George and Lennie appear to share the same dream, but it is evident that it is George’s dream. Specifically, Lennie goes along with the dream and perhaps at some point, he took ownership of the idea, but it was always George’s dream. Eventually, Lennie starts to fall in love with the dream. Unfortunately, Lennie doesn’t know better or enough and does things that hinder the chances of George’s dream materializing.
He says, “You talk about it a hell of a lot, but you won’t get no land.” Crooks has seen many people with that dream that never did it, and he didn’t get to see someone get the land they wanted anyway. These events lead to and foreshadow the farm dream being dead. The second event that Steinbeck uses foreshadowing is, curley’s wife being killed. George tells lennie to hide in the brush if he gets in trouble.
In order to be motivated Lennie constantly ask George to explain the ranch and its surrounding areas. After being told multiple times about the ranch, George and Lennie feel hope and believe that they could get the ranch. Dreams can go two ways, a good way, and a bad way. But in the novel George and Lennie’s dream went in a good because it helped them believe they could achieve it.
On page 72 Crooks says, “Well s’pose, jus’ s'pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?” Curley's wife tries to persuade Lennie to not do exactly what George always tells him to do. The characters in Of Mice and Men show many different sides of the human condition.
Even Crooks, the black man who she “‘[can] get strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny’” (81) pushes her out. With a wounded pride, she is indignant at the men who ostracize her. She resents their black and white perspective: the prejudice that she, as a “trouble” woman, has no morals nor dreams of her own. Curley’s wife, from her iconic behavior, is classed by the men as a wanton woman who lives for the present moment.
Crooks’s pessimistic views and unkind exterior highlights Lennie’s own optimism and also plants a seed of doubt in Lennie’s head about George. Even so, Lennie still follows George’s orders, showing mankind’s yearning for any kind of companionship. Steinbeck hides a tiny piece of foreshadowing about the last shooting when Crooks says “went into town and you never heard of him no more.”
Crooks is a black man who isn’t allowed to be in the house with all the men. The men won’t allow him to come in because of his color. Crooks is lonely and he doesn’t bother the men. One night Lennie came in and was talking to Crooks and telling them about the farm that they were going to get. For once Crooks thought well maybe I won’t be lonely I could go with them and don’t have worry about none of them.