Essay On Hope In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Because she thinks she can accomplish it and we as readers truly see she cannot, we see that her life is built on false hope and is sad. But this dream is important for keeping Curley’s wife going. Because she cannot see the false hope of the dream, she has hope that she will be able to escape the nightmare that is Curley. “I don’ like Curley.” (Steinbeck, 89), she pouts.

George and Lennie's dream is mentioned in the text many times. Yet all the characters have an American Dream,such as Curley's wife. Everyone see’s her as Curley's wife and the girl who has eyes for every man but she too had a dream. “...I met one of the actors, he says I could go with that show...

George and Lennie’s dream of the farm is just out of their reach which motivates them to continue to work tenaciously so their dream will become a reality. As the novel progresses others start to join in on the dream of the farm to bring them some hope as well. Crooks, though at first was hesitant, asks if the “guys would want a hand to work” and that he can “work like a son-of-a-bitch if [he]” wants to. The dream of the farm is wish that George and Lennie would “have a little house”, “a cow and some pigs” and that they would “belong there”. Their dream is also a symbol of their brotherhood, claiming that they have “got a future” and somebody that “gives a damn about [them]”.

“I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella,” (86) Curley’s wife did not actually like him; she married him to prove her mother wrong. She thought he was too focused on how well he could fight. However, Crooks grew up always being discriminated from against the world because of his color, but even that after a while got to be lonely. Although he did not put his self out for everyone’s attention, he just stayed alone and read his books.

In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, hope is a recurring theme. Hope is a feeling of expectation and a desire for something to happen. The characters cling to hope as a motivating factor.Sadly, clinging to hope becomes difficult. The main characters George and Lennie find themselves reaching for hope.

Throughout Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck uses Lennie, George, and Candy’s failed dream for a farm to convey the theme that thought some dreams are not attainable, they can give hope especially during times of great calamity. Steinbeck enhances his belief that hope is the outcome of having dreams, even if they are unrealistic, when he reveals how George and Lennie have a dream, but cannot put the dream in motion, when Candy offers to provide funding for the wish and increases chances of fulfilling it, and when George retells the dream to Lennie before he shoots him. First, Steinbeck introduces the theme when George and Lennie begin talking about what their big dream is, with George repeating and telling it to Lennie. “O.K. Someday-we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and-” (Steinbeck 14). Steinbeck displays how people develop their hope

Ever since humanity has come into existence, the world has allowed dreams to blossom into beautiful flowers or be rejected and die like a fly swatted in a household. Each dream may end in a success or a tragedy, but it is up to the discretion of the cruel, but rewarding world humans inhabit. In the novel of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, a myriad of characters all have dreams that they passionately want to fulfill. Curley’s wife, who remains unnamed in the book, has a dream of becoming Hollywood’s biggest star. Crooks, the black stable-hand only dreams of being able to have friends and be seen as an equal to others. Lennie and George are a pair of migrant workers who want to live the American dream and have their own ranch. Each of these characters’ dreams were all torn down by the world, illustrated by Steinbeck as a cruel place where dreams cannot come true, no matter how passionate a person may be.

The War on Optimism If you look through the news, you will find a plethora of despondent-sounding articles telling of mass shootings, acquitted offenders, and ongoings of current wars. But where is the “good news,” the essential faith in humanity? It is drowned out by the cries of the throbbing mob that demands negativity and cynicism. Why?

Right from the start of the novel, Lennie and George’s dream was made very clear to the reader. Their dream was to save money to buy their own ranch. They never accomplished this dream because George spent a lot of money on gambling and alcohol. Whereas Lennie was childlike and money or anything else did not bother him at all.

’”(Steinbeck 96-97). This suggests that the situation she is in now was never what she wanted; she felt like she had all of these opportunities but all were taken away. This also further emphasizes the elements of fiction in setting as you get to know what Curley’s wife really wanted in life and kinda an insight of who she is and makes you set a scene of what she looks like as well as what her life could have been. Clearly, settings are going to be significant in this story, and we can expect that Steinbeck will continue to develop the thematic idea of how important the idea of dreams being hit with reality is. John Steinbeck uses details of the characterization to begin to explore the thematic idea of dreams clashing with reality.

Relating to Crooks as an equal, they share the plan to buy a farm. Race is forgotten, until Curley’s wife appears. Forgetting to remember that he is black, Crooks’s orders her out of his room when she becomes belligerent and insulting. The backlash is immediate. Curley’s wife attacks Crooks in the most despicable display of racism in the novel. Warning him to remember his “place” and stay in it, she reminds Crooks that she can have him “strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny,” implying that she has the power to kill him by accusing him of rape or some other heinous assault. The threat is chilling because Crooks knows it’s true. His word means nothing, and Lennie and Candy’s testimony would not save him from her false

Many people have dreams. They have the motivation to achieve that dream, however sometimes there are conflicts that do not make that possible. Of Mice and Men took place in the 1930’s where depression has taken a toll on most Americans. While going through these hard times, they would often dream of a better life. People would have their own definition of the American dream. In the story, there are three characters, Curley’s wife, Lennie, and George, that had dreamt of a better life and what the American dream had meant to them. They did have the motivation to achieve the dream, but they were not able to or had lost the motivation.

Hopes and dreams can be very important for peoples’ needs and survival. In Steinbeck’s story, Of Mice and Men, each of the main characters is driven by their hopes and dreams; it provides a sense of motivation and animation to each of their being. From Lennie and George being driven by their hopes and dreams of owning a farm, to Curley’s wife’s dreams of becoming an actress, having dreams plays an essential role in giving hope to the characters of Steinbeck’s story. Although dreams and hopes are essential themes in Steinbeck’s story, in a sense, Steinbeck does seem to emphasize that dreams are not meant to be achieved, and that there are other factors that are essential for survival. I believe Steinbeck included their dreams to give

George and Lennie’s dream is to have a patch of land with some pastoral and agricultural farming with nobody to boss them about and this relates to the American Dream because every migrant worker wants this but never gets it because “They come to a ranch and work up a stake and then they go into town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re pounding their tail on some other ranch.”. It gives them hope for their future because without the dream, Lennie and George have nothing to look forward to so they can go on living without a worry because even if something does happen, they know at some point they will eventually be able to get away from it. The other characters that are affected by the dream are Candy because

Hope-an illusion. Hope-something to be seen but never achieved. Hope-something to look forward to, never a reality. Reality comes from action, not wishes. Hope-a thing with feathers, flighty, beautiful, unreal. In both “Hope is the thing with feathers”, by Emily Dickinson, and Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, hope is portrayed as keeping up one’s spirit, and welcome when times are grueling, and sounding promising but not always making sense. Curley’s wife dreams of being a movie star, and this keeps her married, if unhappily, to Curley, but her dream is actually a delusion, and while promising much, never actually delivers. George and Lennie are sustained throughout their troubles by their dream of a farm and escape from the migrant