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Dreams And Misfortune In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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Dreams and Misfortune

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novel that provide us a story about characters who were bemused between reality and dreams. “I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it. Just like heaven.” (pg. 74) Dreams and misfortune comes together and is shown constantly throughout the course of the books through the main characters in Of Mice and Men.

Candy cried, “Sure they all want it. Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Somethin’ …show more content…

He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me. She says because I was on’y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet.” (pg. 88) Curley’s wife is another character which relates strongly to dreams. She does not want to live the way she is living right now, the in ranch with a man she does not care about. She’d always wanted to be an actress but things did not turned out as as well as she had hoped. Her dreams are crushed by the misfortunate event of her old lady stopping her from getting into acting career. “‘Nother time I met a guy, an’ he was in pitchers. Went out to the Riverside Dance Palace with him. He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I is a natural. Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write me about it.” “I never got that letter she said. “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t gonna stay in no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters. I ask her if she stole it, too, an’ she says no. So I married Curley.” (pg. 88) Curley’s wife thought marrying Curley would be an escape from her controlling mother and an opportunity to get into the acting career. She soon later realized that marrying Curley was just a mistake and doesn’t benefit her in anyway. Just like Candy, she was let down when her dreams were not

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544 Words | 3 Pages

Curley’s wife responds with, “Aw, nuts! What kinda harm am I doin’ to you? Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live… I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella… Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes…”

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694 Words | 3 Pages

Curley’s wife had big dreams about being a movie star. When she married Curley, all of her dreams and aspirations went down the drain. Once living on the ranch, she became an isolated and friendless housewife. Once, when she actually got a chance to talk to someone, Curley’s wife expressed, “'I get lonely,' she said, 'You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley, else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to nobody'”

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555 Words | 3 Pages

“he says he was gonna put me in the movies. says i was a natural” Curley's wife tells this to Lennie and when she didn't get a letter back her fate changed from movie star to wife of a men farm worker. “coulda been in the movies and had nice clothes. all them nice clothes like what they wear”. Curley’s wife is saying she would of had a great fate with nice clothes and luxury things but ends up with

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505 Words | 3 Pages

Of Mice and Men Dreams help motivate people to keep moving forward with a goal in their life. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George and Lennie travel together as migrant workers through California looking for a job. Their dream is to own their own ranch after finding a job that pays well. But impossible from the challenges that they gain along the way. The dreams in the novel affects the characters lives on how they feel towards one another, and themselves.

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720 Words | 3 Pages

Curley’s Wife says “Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” Usually she seems like a strong person, but when she says this, it exposes a more vulnerable and dependent side of her. Generally a married couple gets along pretty well, but it is different with Curley and his wife.

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153 Words | 1 Pages

In this quote it shows how Curley’s wife’s dream of becoming a movie star is crushed. She married Curley to get away from her mother who she thought was stealing her letters. Her dream of becoming actress has failed because she chose to take the quick way out and marry Curley. She no longer a dream to aim for, other than somehow escaping from her horrible husband Curley, “I don’ like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella.

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605 Words | 3 Pages

This scene shows that Curley’s wife never wanted to be on the farm, she wanted to go be a star and get out of her small town. This dream ended when she married Curley, who moved her to an even smaller town. In addition, during this time period it was practically impossible for women to divorce their husbands. This meant she couldn’t leave Curley, even in the name of the law.

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974 Words | 4 Pages

All people have goals, but some have no chance of achieving them. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Candy, Crooks and Lennie all live on the same farm, but are faced with different circumstances holding them back from achieving what they desire. Through the characters of Candy, Crooks, and Lennie, Steinbeck shows that issues outside the control of an individual often limit the achievement of an individual’s dream. Throughout the novel, Lennie is faced with obstacles that are in the way of him attaining his ultimate goal.

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825 Words | 4 Pages

Considering her age, Curley’s wife probably did not understand her mother’s reasons. In reality, her mother may have been protecting her from blindly following others and eventually obtaining an uncertain and disappointing future. After a while, Curley’s wife seemed to partly give up on her dream. This caused her frustration, anger, and hate for the life she ended up

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384 Words | 2 Pages

Finally, Steinbeck dehumanizes Curley by the negative criticism that always pursues her and her loss of identity when accompanying someone or something. This is why she is always commonly known as “Curley’s Wife”, proving that she is an unimportant and insignificant character in this book. Plus, everybody in the book says that Curley’s wife causes trouble for everyone; as George says, “She’s a jail bait all set on the trigger,” (Steinbeck, 49) and is constantly getting blame for all that goes wrong in Soledad; as Candy says, You God damn tramp. You done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad.

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877 Words | 4 Pages

Curley’s wife has lost her dream and she lives an unhappy life. Curley’s wife had a dream but that dream turned out as hopeless as her fate in the end of the book. She could have made something of herself but she quickly gave up on her dream as soon as something discouraging happened. Now she has to live regretting giving up so quickly. " ’I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this.

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621 Words | 3 Pages

Seems like they ain’t none of them cares about how I gotta live. I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made something of myself” (88). Furthermore, Curley’s wife dreams of doing things in life and by marrying Curley those dreams were put on hold. So, as of right now she is not happy with what her life has become.

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1110 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the theme of the unrealized dream is displayed through characters such as Lennie, George, Candy, and Curley’s wife. The unrealized dream, also known as the American Dream, is portrayed differently for a few different characters in the book. Best friends George and Lennie have a shared dream which is to have a serene farm ranch, even if it is small, with a mediocre house, a rabbit pen, and a garden where they can grow their own vegetables and herbs. They long to live independently away from rude bosses and harsh ranches. This is seen differently for a character such as Candy who only wants to keep his job even though he is disabled.

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982 Words | 4 Pages

Their dreams give them purpose, hope and the passion to want to work hard. Their dreams become connected to save them from their loneliness, and give them all control over their own destiny, in a time when most people were at the mercy of happenstance and serendipity. Despite the mood in Of Mice and Men, which foreshadowed tragedy even in the most optimistic times, not one of the characters could have for seen that the loneliness of one person would to affect them all by being the demise of their dreams, both collective and

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833 Words | 4 Pages

The couple fails to admit to each other that they are not in love for fear of losing their power and status as individuals. Curley’s marriage is revealed to be a sham through his wife’s conversation with Lennie, “Well, I ain’t told this to nobody before. Maybe I oughtn 't to. I don’ like Curley.” (pg. 89 Steinbeck)

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