Optimism In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Does Steinbeck reflect a desperate society or does he offer some hope and optimism in his novel "Of Mice and Men"

In Steinbeck's novel " Of Mice and Men" there are many different characters each expressing there own opinion on whether they are living in a desperate society or that there is indeed some hope and optimism in the world around them. At the time the book was set, which is in the 1930's great American depression, many people were unemployed and jobs were hard to come by. Steinbeck's novel centres around the exploits and happenings of a few men, and one women, at the time of this great depression. Steinbeck shows how the most unusual friendships can be created in the mist of this depression and sadness. Such as
This reflects the view of optimism and hope in the book. However some characters such as Crooks see the world around them as desperate and solitary. Crooks believes that no ones dream will come true and that nothing will ever get better, this is shown in the line, " Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land." (page 106) He also says that Lennie's dream will always stay as a dream and will never come true. The novel " Of Mice and Men" on the whole gives many views of hope and optimism and many views of the characters in the book living in a desperate society. I believe that the book balances itself out and that there are equal amounts of each view. The book being as equally optimistic as it is pessimistic.
The only scene we can pick out is the scene where he is about to shoot Candy's dog. He seems to make an enemy of most of the people in the room by wanting to shoot Candy's only true friend. He then tries to make up for this by saying, "You can have one of my pups if ya want Candy" (page 77). In this line he is trying to make people like him again and he may also feel sorry for Candy. He may also feel guilt at this time as