Dream In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    Curley’s wife was known as a tart and was avoided by the men on the ranch. At first the reader could assume her dream was to be noticed and talked to but her dream was to ‘be in the pictures’. A professional man had promised to make her famous and she waited for a letter that ensured this. She never received the letter and that’s where the decline of her dreams happened. Shortly after, her dreams started failing she married Curley who controlled her.

In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses Curley's wife's dream of becoming a movie star to illustrate the lack of encouragement for a woman's aspirations and how this forces them to settle for an often lonely marriage. When Curley's wife joins Crooks, Candy, and Lennie in Crooks's stable, she begins explaining the life she was destined to have, expressing, “‘Coulda' been in the movies, an' had nice clothes — all them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers take off me”’ (Steinbeck 84). When Curley's wife mentions wearing nice clothes, staying in luxury hotels, and having pictures taken of her, she subtly reveals her craving for recognition.

She always tells about her encounter with a travelling actor who told her she could join their show. Also likes to talk about how she got an offer to go to Hollywood but swears on her life that her mother stole the letter. She would never realize that men weren’t really interested in her talent at all. She’s self-obsessed and unable to judge herself and her position honestly, simply unsatisfied.*Curley’s wife says ‘If I'd went, I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet’ and this shows that at one point in her life, she had dreamed of being a notable luminary. She also continues to comment on her past by saying, ‘this guy says I was a natural’. This depicts how Curley’s wife may be influenced by the American dream so she may still have hope and dreams to carry out her task which failed in the past. The American dream plays a vital theme constantly throughout the book for other characters on the ranch too. George and Lennie have their dream of ‘livin of the fatha tha lan’, which fails in the end as George tragically kills Lennie. They are perpetually stirred with ideas to satisfy their dream and too eager to accomplish what they started which resulted in them accidentally involving Crooks and Candy in their fairytale. . Hope is important to all of Steinbeck’s characters because it brings strength, joy, peace, unfailing love and most importantly, rest (relaxation in hard times of the depression was critical). These are qualities the ranch workers lacked and desperately needed

Curley’s Wife had her own dream to prosper once. She had her own idea of an American dream, but none of the ranchers would mind to care. According to the novel, Curley’s wife states, “He was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural.

He says I could go with that show. ”(88) to make it clear to him that getting married to Curley was not what she really wanted. A: Steinbeck demonstrates to us that Curley's wife is not what she is portrayed, she really did want to do more in her life rather than being stuck on the ranch with no one to talk to. She had dreams to become something big like an actor or even a dancer not a woman who is isolated inside a home. It was as if after everything she wanted had failed, she gave up and settled for what she could get.

Curley's wife is, "A girl with full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red, and her hung hung in little rolled up clusters, like sausages" (Steinback 33). Curley's wife's dream is to, "Be in the movies, an' have nice clothes, and sit in them big hotels, an' have pitchers took of me" (Steinback 89). From the time she was 15 she has been dreaming about being in the movies, and living a rich, extravagant lifestyle, opposite of the one she is living now. She would be a star with fancy

The fact that Curley’s wife hates her life makes a huge contrast between her bad life and the possibilities associated with the American Dream. This contrast is shown in the line “Coulda’ been in the movies an’ had nice clothes.”(Steinbeck,89) Curley’s wife is presents the epitome of a person striving for the American Dream. She often says things like “I coulda made something of myself….maybe I will yet.”(Steinbeck,88) By Steinbeck using this character, he intended to show the difference between a “fake” yearning for the dream and a true whole-hearted desire for it. Curley’s wife would give anything to be successful in the future. This view is also seen by Kevin Attell who said “ To be sure, it is about dreaming of the future…”(Attell) The opinion from this critic show that this opinion or view is also seen by others who read this book.

For Lennie, other than his friendship with George, raising and petting the rabbits is all he really wants in life. He wants to hear George tell him over and over about their future, and the rabbit farm once they “get the jack together” for a “little house, and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and ---” “An’ have rabbits” (14) For George, owning land was freedom and happiness, “S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing.” “We’d just go to her,” “We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, ‘We’ll go to her,’ an’ we would.” (61) George never saw the dream becoming reality until Candy offered up his savings “This thing they had never really believed in was coming true”. (60) Crooks, another worker at the ranch, was the voice of a hard reality, “I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” (74) After the discovery of Curly’s wife’s dead body in the barn,, George realized his dream was over and it was confirmed when Candy had asked him. “Then -- It’s all off?”

John Steinbeck created a book called ‘Of Mice and Men’, in his book he demonstrates the two main characters George and Lennie had a dream of buying their own property, dreams are important for people because I can help them achieve their dreams, and because it can push that person to work hard to accomplish that dream. George and Lennie are two pals from Northern of California from a town called weed, George and Lennie used to work at weed, Lennie’s aunt died so George has been taking care of him since she died. Dreams can affect people’s choices and decisions in many ways, one example is that when someone puts a dream in their mind their number one option is to achieve that dream, if someone doesn’t achieve that dream can affect that person’s choices and decisions.George and Lennie were at Salinas River and Lennie asked George to tell him the dream:

This was her Unattainable American Dream. Curley’s wife had a dream she would never get and become, it was difficult for her as well during this era. Women were still treated as unequals, so her chance of being an actress was small, which is why it became unattainable for her. When Lennie and Curley’s wife interact they both have something in common. They both do not get their own individual dreams and they speak about it during chapter 5.

Throughout life people use dreams as something to motivate them or to look forward to. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, John uses dreams to show what George and Lennie wish to have. George and Lennie find work in Salinas, California on a ranch as migrant workers. In order to obtain the dream that they have, they must work hard and not let anything come in their way. In the book Of Mice and Men dreams play roles in various characters’ lives as well as affect other people.

Curley’s wife is stuck on a farm and trapped in a marriage to her prideful husband, Curley. She has big dreams of becoming a movie star, and throughout the novel she acted very confident that one day she would. However, this is extremely unlikely due to the state of the economy during the Great Depression and her current position. She is the only woman on the farm and all the other men are low-class migrant workers of whom she has most of her conversations. The chances of her getting discovered to be a movies star are slim to none. In the article, “The Migrant Bunkhouse in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men: Images and Dreams of Home,” by Cecilia Donohue, it states that Curley’s Wife, “harbors an American Dream, hers rooted in an industry relatively new to California at the time- being “discovered” for Hollywood movies. Although her fate can be seen as permanently cast by virtue of her marriage to Curley, in no way has she sounded the death knell to her dream” (Donohue). In this quote, it expresses how Curley’s Wife holds on strongly to her dream of being a movie star, but can never achieve it due to her current position she is stuck in. In society, Curley’s Wife can be compared to several people. These types of people may find themselves stuck in a position where the American Dream is not feasible for them, yet they still believe that they will achieve

She assumed that her mother took her letters form the agents since she believed that her daughter was too young to pursue her dream, as she was only fifteen. The nature of Curley’s wife, her young age and the nature and personality of her mother, being overprotective, were obstacles that Curley’s wife faced that prevented her from achieving her dream of being an actress. When she confides her story to Lennie, she explains that she “coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes - all them nice clothes like they wear” (Steinbeck 89). Through Curley’s wife’s dream and her conversation with Lennie, Steinbeck portrays that even after her dream didn’t come true, she still reminisced about how her life could have been much better rather than trying to improve her current situation. Curley’s wife’s dream serves as a good example to Steinbeck’s idea that dreams are not attainable due to the course of events in life because of her gender, age, and

Curleys wife wants to be famous and free. The text says, “but the guys said, i coulda. If id went, i wouldn't be livin like this, you bet.” (p.88-89). This shows that her dream is to be famous.

She hoped to be on the big screen with adoring fans giving her all their attention. Sadly, she didn’t follow her dreams because of her parents. Her mother and father thought being in movies wasn't a real or suitable job. Curley’s Wife chose to obey her parents, though she was resentful of it. To escape her parents smothering rules, she married Curley. However, she wasn’t actually in love with Curley. Curley’s Wife was so desperate to leave her parents that she chose to stay with a man she didn’t truly like. However, this didn’t bring Curley’s wife much closer to her dreams because Curley isolated her and deprived her of attention. Because of her social deprivation due to the possessiveness of her husband, Curley’s Wife seeks attention by flirting with all the other men on the ranch, because all she’s ever wanted was the attention and to be adored. Finally, Curley’s Wife is killed by Lennie. This, again, symbolizes that when one dies, their dream