Reality In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Dreams are impossible realities fabricated to shadow the actuality of our imperfections however ironically, dreams tend to be made impossible on the consequence of our imperfections. This is one of the harsh realities that Steinbeck expresses in this novel. “ The best laid schemes of mice an men, gang af agley, an lea us nought but grief and pain, for promised joy.” - ‘To a mouse’, Robert Burns. Inspired by the poem, Steinbeck 's novel explores the idea that even the best laid plans, with relevance to our dreams , often go astray due to our imperfections and leave us with nothing but grief in the repercussions from the unfulfilled promises for joy. This theme has been expressed in a myriad of different characters and their circumstances. However,

Representing Lennie’s dreams is the quote, “It ain’t no lie. We’re gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an’live on the fatta the lan!” , and in contrast, the quote explaining his reality states, “ George, I done another bad thing..”. The first quote indicates the dream that Lennie desires while the reality quote, explains that Lennie’s trait of doing ‘bad things’ is the main factor that causes the impossibility of the dream. “ Someday - we’re gonna have a little house together and a couple of acres.” and, “ I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”, are the quotes from George that represents his dreams and reality. His first quote explains his aspirations for independence and freedom to enjoy an unrestricted lifestyle but his reality reveals the impossibility of the dream as in his quote, he acknowledges the impossibility of his dreams and negligence of his reality as a result of his

Although this theme is seldom expressed openly, it does not invalidate its impact on our lives. This portrayal of the theme takes a critical view of the actuality of these dreams in relevance to our imperfections. Dreams however remain an innate yet unpredictable source of our imagination with the ability to alter and influence one’s perception and perspective to life and so although restricted and limited, the pursuit and strive for dreams no matter the impossibility will continue