Dreams Lost, Never Found To quote a translation of Robert Burns’s poem, “To a Mouse”, “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men often go awry and leave us nothing but grief an' pain for promised joy” (Shoomp). This quote well compliments John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, which has a universal theme of dreams being predestined to failure. Among the most prominent examples of unrealized dreams are George and Lennie’s shared dream of owning a farm to call home, Crook’s dream of being accepted as an equal to the other white men, and Curley’s wife’s dream of becoming an actress and making something out of herself. From the very beginning of the novel, George and Lennie share a dream of buying a farm on which they could belong and live harmoniously on. Hence George often describing their dream farm to Lennie to renew their hopes for the future (Steinbeck 14). After Lennie accidentally murders Curley’s wife, not only did they lose their dream but Lennie also loses his life, and George loses his best friend. In Chapter 1, George foreshadows his future …show more content…
Similar to Crooks, she wanted to be respected and loved by many instead of being lonely and sidelined like she is on the ranch. Therefore, because of her loneliness, she confides to Lennie that she lost her dream when she married Curley to get revenge on her mother who, from her point of view, did everything to prevent her daughter from becoming an actress (88). In the end, she regrets marrying Curley who caused her to be isolated and she reminisces over her lost dream by telling Lennie, "I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself. If I'd went, I wouldn't be livin' like this, you bet” (88). The loss of her dreams affects her because instead of becoming loved by many as a famous film star she became isolated and loved by none, not even her own husband. Unfortunately, her life, like her dream, came to an abrupt