Shattered Dreams
Shattered dreams is a repeated theme throughout the novel Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck portrays in this novel that no matter the sacrifices you give to make your dreams come true, sometimes they simply just don't. From the begging of the story George and Lennie always wished to make enough money to have a house that they can call their own. They eventually let Candy in on their hopes and dreams of getting a place of their own, for Candy was getting older and weaker since he did only have one hand and he needed a place to stay and a job to do whenever they let him go at the ranch. Lennie always dreamed of tending to the rabbits when they had their own house and George would tell Lennie if he got in any kind of trouble he wouldn't be allowed. Also, if anything happened and Lennie got in trouble and fired they wouldn't have enough money to buy a place of their own. All dreams were shattered whenever Lennie's strength got the best of him and he killed Curley's wife.
Candy stood next to the lifeless body of Curley's wife. Tears began to fill his eyes as he said to the lifeless body what a tramp she was: "I could have hoed in the garden and washed dishes for them guys. If there was a circus or a baseball game... we would of went to her... jus said ta hell with work, an went to her. Never ast nobody's say-so" (Steinbeck 96). Candy was angry at Curley's wife because he knew she was a flirt ,and he knew that Lennie would never hurt somebody on purpose. I believe Candy blamed Curley's wife for shattering his dreams because if she would have just stayed home and not began flirting with Lennie none of that would have happened.
Winifred L. Dusenberry, a critic of the novel Of Mice and Men, sheds light on Steinbeck's realization of the struggles of those who worked on a ranch in the early to mid 1930s: "Steinbeck has made bitterly real the impulsive hunger of the ranch hand for a home of its own" (Dusenberry 346). I agree that Steinbeck does show the hardships of migrant workers in the 1930s. I believe that one of the main reasons Steinbeck wrote and published this novel is to show what a hard time migrant workers were having throughout their struggles and awful working conditions to those who didn't realize what they were going through. It is hard to have such a big dream shattered and Steinbeck does an excellent job of portraying that in his novel.
Candy stood next to the lifeless body of Curley's wife. Tears began to fill his eyes as he said to the lifeless body what a tramp she was: "I could have hoed in the garden and washed dishes for them guys. If there was a circus or a baseball game... we would of went to her... jus said ta hell with work, an went to her. Never ast nobody's say-so" (Steinbeck 96). Candy was angry at Curley's wife because he knew she was a flirt ,and he knew that Lennie would never hurt somebody on purpose. I believe Candy blamed Curley's wife for shattering his dreams because if she would have just stayed home and not began flirting with Lennie none of that would have happened.
Winifred L. Dusenberry, a critic of the novel Of Mice and Men, sheds light on Steinbeck's realization of the struggles of those who worked on a ranch in the early to mid 1930s: "Steinbeck has made bitterly real the impulsive hunger of the ranch hand for a home of its own" (Dusenberry 346). I agree that Steinbeck does show the hardships of migrant workers in the 1930s. I believe that one of the main reasons Steinbeck wrote and published this novel is to show what a hard time migrant workers were having throughout their struggles and awful working conditions to those who didn't realize what they were going through. It is hard to have such a big dream shattered and Steinbeck does an excellent job of portraying that in his novel.