In this essay I will be discussing the point,” How does Steinbeck explore the use of dreams in Of Mice and Men”. I will review what each main character’s dreams are and how they attempted to fulfil or fulfilled their dreams, and how Steinbeck displays different emotions and sways how the reader feels about the novel. After this, I will compare how the irony of the title to how the book ends. The theme of the novel is set in the 1930’s, and the novel plays out over a period of around 3 days, with it starting with best friends George and Lennie out in the wild, with nothing.
The first character I am going to review is George and what his original dreams are, and how far he has come to them by the end of the novel. He is the first character introduced and shows simple understanding of basic common sense (something which his partner-in-crime doesn’t have), “Lennie, for God’ sakes don’t drink so much”. Lennie at this point is drinking from a “green pool”, and George immediately realises the dangers and tells Lennie what to do, which is a sign of things to come. Georges dream is basically a carbon copy of the “the American dream”, and he realises that it is possible for himself and Lennie to achieve the dream – because he thinks (and perhaps more to the point hopes) that a combination of his brains, and Lennie’s brute force (which is plain to see throughout the novel) will lead them to where they want to be. Although at the end of the novel George has to kill Lennie, he decides to stick with him throughout the story. George repeatedly says” I’d be better off on my own”, and Lennie offers more than once to go away but George knows that he would never be able to leave Lennie on his own because he would die, and he would never be ever to live with that on his conscience. We don’t find out what happens to George and whether he achieves his dream, but we know that he won’t