Dreaming Through The Hardships In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Dreaming Through the Hardships During the hard times of the Great Depression, many people were out of work or losing their jobs. Many worked as farm hands on ranches for some extra cash and usually a few free meals. In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, there are a few men working on a farm in Soledad, California doing just this. For three of these men, all they want is to have their own ranch to live off of and work to fulfill their own needs. For Candy, George, and Lennie, this is their all time goal-what they’ve been dreaming about forever-and they intend to soon fulfill this. Steinbeck shows that you have to accept that not all of your dreams will come true, in Of Mice and Men, through the actions of Candy, George, and Lennie. First, Steinbeck shows having to come to the realization of this fact through the actions of Candy. After Lennie had just killed Curley’s wife and ran away, George and Candy find her dead in the barn. Candy and George both realize that everyone will

After Lennie had run away, George set out to go find him before anyone else did. Lennie immediately confesses and tells George what he did. He then asks George to tell him the story about their ranch and the rabbits that he will tend. George tells the story while he is depressingly realizing that their dream will never become a reality. George says, ‘“We’ll have a cow,” said George. “An’ we’ll have maybe a pig an’ chickens… and down the flat we’ll have a… little piece of alfalfa--”.’ (pg. #). George is giving Lennie one last chance of hope for the ranch and for his rabbits. George has to later shoot Lennie and that is when it really hits him that their aspirations will never become a reality. George will always be working for someone else, on their land, under their rules. This loss of innocence shows George the hard parts of life and that dreams don’t always come