Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men
"O.K. Someday—we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and—" "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted. ”An' have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that George." (119-123) “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is a novel about the American Dream. Steinbeck mixes emotions by telling a cold hard truth about the U.S. in the 1930s.
In Steinbeck’s world, working men like George and Lennie have a hard time to shape their own lives. Many times, working men had to move from job to job trying to save enough money to buy their own land. Unfortunately, back then many men took their money to the bar to spend on alcohol or hookers or they gambled away their paychecks. In the book George says, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.” (pg 113) This quote is a perfect example of the lives of working men in the 1930s. George and Lennie’s dream to buy land, farm, and keep rabbits is the typical American dream in the 1930s. In Steinbeck’s vision, George and Lennie never had a chance of accomplishing their goal. Every time George and Lennie had something going well for themselves, Lennie would mess it up for them by doing something to upset someone with his lack of knowledge on what was okay and what wasn’t. This would force them to move from job to job, like many working men in that time period. Steinbeck believed the 1930s was a nearly impossible time period to make a life for oneself. George talks a
"O.K. Someday—we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and—" "An' live off the fatta the lan'," Lennie shouted. ”An' have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell about what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that George." (119-123) “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is a novel about the American Dream. Steinbeck mixes emotions by telling a cold hard truth about the U.S. in the 1930s.
In Steinbeck’s world, working men like George and Lennie have a hard time to shape their own lives. Many times, working men had to move from job to job trying to save enough money to buy their own land. Unfortunately, back then many men took their money to the bar to spend on alcohol or hookers or they gambled away their paychecks. In the book George says, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to.” (pg 113) This quote is a perfect example of the lives of working men in the 1930s. George and Lennie’s dream to buy land, farm, and keep rabbits is the typical American dream in the 1930s. In Steinbeck’s vision, George and Lennie never had a chance of accomplishing their goal. Every time George and Lennie had something going well for themselves, Lennie would mess it up for them by doing something to upset someone with his lack of knowledge on what was okay and what wasn’t. This would force them to move from job to job, like many working men in that time period. Steinbeck believed the 1930s was a nearly impossible time period to make a life for oneself. George talks a