In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, many references are made to the struggleto achieve an impossible goal. Almost every character confesses their desire to lead adifferent life. George, Lennie, Candy, Curley's wife, and even Crooks mention theirfantasies of a better, more enjoyable and admirable life.George and Lennie's fantasy is the main example used to express the struggle torealize impossible dreams. George created this elaborate vision of a wonderful farm andhouse, that just the two of them would share, with bunnies and all sorts of soft animals forLennie. He created it to help control Lennie when he gets angry, and to keep Lenniehappy after someone hurts his feelings. After a while of talking about this dream, Georgestarts to believe it. It helps them to keep sane in a hostile world, and gives them hopes ofgoing on ...view middle of the document...
He wants to go and hoe in their make-believe garden,because he wants to feel he isn't inferior, and he likes Lennie because Lennie doesn'tmake him feel like he is unequal. All of their dreams of the house and land vanish assoon as Curley's wife is dead, because Lennie will have to die, and George doesn't wantthe house without Lennie. No one really does.Another example is the situation of Curley's wife. Although for a great deal ofthe book she is portrayed as just another mindless flirt, right before her death sheconfesses that she always craved the idea of being an actress. She has a low self-esteemand is desperate for attention, leading to her love of a career onstage, and her name inlights. For she is one who wants everyone to look at her and acknowledge her, probablybecause few people have ever really treated her well, because she flirts with everyone andprobably is not very smart. But, when she reveals her secret, that she always wanted tostar in the movies and only married Curley because she did not really have a choice, herbrainless façade fades away, and the reader realizes that she has hopes and aspirationstoo, that she will never reach, and will die before any of them come close to happening.One of the main things that this novel represents is the distant fantasy, the dreamthat will never become a reality, and the endless struggle towards that goal. George'shouse was a place for Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and George. A place that they couldalways escape to in their mind was erased right before their eyes, as soon as Curley's mendiscovered his wife dead. Curley's wife's dream of being a star faded with her life. Allof their dreams ended in an untimely fashion, and their struggles to reach them seempointless. But, in the end, if they hadn't fought for their fantasy, they wouldn't be thepeople we learned about, but entirely different people altogether.--Alexa Gilliland
