Importance of Dreams in the Novel of 'mice and Men'

John Steinbeck's short novella Of Mice and Men is a classic story that has been read and taught by thousands of people since its first publication in 1937. Of Mice and Men is well-known not just for the amazing story it delivers, but also for the numerous themes and concepts about life and society that Steinbeck conveys to the audience through character development. Among many of these themes, dreams hold the most significant impact on the characters' lives, influencing their motivations as well as providing an escape from a grim world. Steinbeck employs dreams as a method to enrich the narrative, emphasizing their significance throughout by making them the main theme.

Dreams are essential to the characters in Of Mice and Men because they map out the possibilities of human fulfillment. Dreams assist Lennie, George, and the others understand where they are and where they're headed, similarly as a map helps a person identify themselves on the road. Turning the characters’ otherwise meandering lives into journeys with a purpose, as they take pride in actions that support the achievement of their dreams and reject actions that do not. Having a destination gives the men’s lives meaning. Guys like them "that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. . . With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us." This quote illustrates how much George believes in his dream and how it would keep him motivated. It not only makes him not want to give up on his aspirations, but it also motivates him to try and work harder to attain them.

Dreams help the characters feel like more active participants in their own lives because they allow them to believe the decisions, they make can have real, tangible benefits. They also assist characters in dealing with adversity and hardship, preventing them from succumbing to the difficulties they experience regularly. In their darkest moments, George and Lennie invoke their ranch like a spell that can temper their daily sufferings and injustices. George often begins with "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." George and Lennie almost always fantasize about the ranch after some traumatic event or at the end of a long day, suggesting that they rely on their dreams as a kind of salve. The dream of the ranch offers George, Lennie, Candy, and the others a goal to work toward as well as the inspiration to keep struggling when things seem grim.

The characters' personalities are affected by their dreams, and so are their actions. Their dreams weaken them, causing them to do things they later regret for the sake of attempting to make their dream come true. Although dreams may be a source of strength for the characters, they also play a significant role in their vulnerabilities, which leads them to their fatal actions. When Lennie hadn't let go of Curley's wife's hair, "She screamed then, and Lennie's other hand closed over her mouth and nose". Lennie said "Oh! Please don't do that!" George'll be mad George gonna say I done a bad thing. He ain't gonna let me tend no rabbits... You gonna get me in trouble jus' like George says you will." Consequently, Lennie's dream of tending the rabbits lead him to shake "her then, and he was angry with her.. he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck." Lennie murdered Curley's wife because he didn't want her to interfere with his dreams. He couldn't differentiate between what was right and wrong as his dream rendered him blind. He acted impulsively. His dream was his priority, so much so that he inadvertently sacrificed a human. Not only did dreams play a key role within the novella, they also played an important role in the characters' lives.

Ultimately, in Of Mice and Men, it appears to be an unbreakable law of nature that dreams go unfulfilled. Steinbeck illustrates the characters' most cherished aspirations, which continually fail to materialise, such as in George and Lennie's dream of owning property, as well as the hardships they endure, contributing to the overall development of their behaviour. However, the fact that they dream—often long after the possibility of attaining those dreams has passed—indicates that dreams serve as the most significant theme which drives the novel.