The Role Of Hope In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us” (14). That quote was the hope of their future that George always told Lennie during the Great Depression to get through the rough time, not knowing the troubles they would have at the ranch. Two farm laborers or best friends, George and Lennie, have always travelled together to keep each other company, but their hope shined through the dull lives in their era causing them to be outcasts. Lennie’s childlike behavior gets them in trouble at their new work place and suddenly all hope is lost when George decides to kill his best friend for their own good. The novella ends with Carlson's last words after George shoots Lennie, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” (107) In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, Carlson’s last words in the book are used to reveal his coldness, emotionless expression towards other’s hopes, dreams, and love such as when he shoots Candy’s dog or he rises to the opportunity to kill Lennie which portrays society at large trying to fight the Great Depression era. To begin with, the first example when Carlson pressures Candy to let him shoot his most beloved dog that he's

Pressuring Candy to kill his only friend shows the uncaring emotions people had to each other during the era. Carlson was willingly and selfishly ready to kill Lennie without understanding others and thinking about it. While Carlson’s last words really revealed the kind of man he was and how the Great Depression was and did to others. Even though people got through the Depression, the struggling time changed people and the way they