Of Mice and Men :: English Literature

Of Mice and Men The novel is about the American Dream, where America is meant to be a land built on promise and opportunity. It promises independence, land and a decent living through honest work. It also means, in theory, that anyone can become successful. The American Stock Market on Wall Street crashed catastrophically in 1929, this led to a massive economic depression in the 1930s.Poverty and starvation stalked California and other stricken states. The migrants were worst off. All of the suffering was much worse if you were black; America was still a highly racist and segregated society. The bunkhouse conditions were not very basic "what the hell kind of bed you giving us anyways. We don't want no pants rabbits." The ranch was obviously not nice. The boss is a bit aggressive and doesn't like George speaking for Lennie "then why don't you let him answer ?"He thinks George is getting something from lennie because migrant workers don't normally travel together''you takin' his pay away form him?" Curley the boss' son is a mean character , he dislikes Lennie from the beginning "well nex' time you answer when you are spoken to." Curley dislikes Lennie because he's not big himself. George's version of the American Dream is to own his own land "if I was bright , if I was even a little bit smart , I'd have my own place." George always knew the dream would fail " I think I knowed we'd never do her." George was possibly only possibly using the American Dream as an escape.The fact that he was fond of the American Dream is evident in the personification he refers to the American Dream as 'her'. Lennie's version of the American Dream is to have his own place ,dog, rabbits and chickens "we're gonna have a dog an' rabbits an chickens.'' Lennie and George have the same dream but approach it in a different way. Candy overhears George and Lennie's plans for a place of their own and decides to become a part of that dream " maybe if I give you guys my money ,you'll let me hoe in the garden even after I ain't no good at." This is probably the happiest and most optimistic bit of the whole book. You start to believe their dream is possible. You know it's a great idea and forget it's a dream , it seems to be changing into a practical plan. Crooks reminisces about his child hood when he could play with white kids " the white kids come to our place , an' sometimes I went to play with them and some of them was pretty nice.