Literature Essay Outline: Shattered Dreams (student work)

Introduction:

• ·         Dreams thwarted by the natural tendency to provide for oneself – context of Great Depression – competitive environment – dreams shattered by the selfish actions of others (sexualisation of CW) (including discrimination, which is a form of self-preservation - eliminating the competition).

Lennie/George/Candy – the Dream Farm

• ·         It is the only tangible dream in the novel – brought closer by Candy’s monetary contribution.
• ·         Source of hope and purpose throughout the novel -‘each mind was popped into the future when this lovely thing should come about’. Necessary as it brings the characters together with a common goal that motivates them in the hostile environment of the Great Depression.
• ·         It offered potential for security and independence in a time of great economic and emotional unrest 
• ·         Motivates Lennie to ‘stay outta trouble’ and fulfil his dream of tending the rabbits. Motivates George to abstain from drinking and visiting the whorehouses – ‘I ain’t putting out no two and a half’.

• ·         The dream rejuvenates Candy – he is described as ‘grinning with delight’ at the prospect – shows that dreams have the potential to free people from the constraints of a judgemental society.
• ·         When the dream is shattered through the death of Curley’s wife, the characters are condemned to their lonely, disappointed lives as migrant workers
• ·         ‘Old Candy lay down in the hay and covered his eyes with his arm’ – shows the way that shattered dreams can reduce a person and condemn them to their situation ‘the halter chains rattled’. Covered his eyes with his arm – he is left to face his own redundancy as a crippled ‘old’ swamper.
• ·         The shattering of this dream was inevitable (Lennie’s lethal combination), and shows the dangers of investing hope in the future and other people in such a volatile environment (GD)
• ·         The dream was based in an idealistic world, not in reality. This realisation – George ‘tiredly’ accepts a drink – demonstrates the futility of having aspirations when the ‘best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley’.

• ·         As the dream subsides in the last pages of the novel and resignation takes over, the reader is left with a sense of the despair and pain caused by the Great Depression.

Curley’s Wife

• ·         Curley’s wife’s shattered dream justifies her vindictive nature – she is bitterly disappointed by her failure to become an actress in a male dominated, misogynistic society.
• ·         Her dream demonstrates how vulnerable women were in a time where people were ‘machines’ used by one another for work and selfish gain. Her dream was never a possibility, simply the result of her role as a gullible, ignorant woman who was manipulated into believing she could have been successful.

• ·         This shows the desperation of those who have been displaced by the hostile environment they are living (that of the Great Depression) – CW clings on to the idea – ‘I coulda been in the movies’ because it is better than admitting her own insignificance.
• ·         It absolves her character from any blame that may be placed upon her – ‘all the meanness and the planning and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face’ after death. This shows that her negative characteristics were a result of the environment she lived in, rather than any real malice. She was just a confused young girl – a victim of her situation.
• ·         This shows how disappointment can embitter a person and cause them to act destructively in an attempt to cling on to their dreams. ‘After a long time they get mean’.

Crooks

• ·         Crook’s shattered dreams demonstrate the injustice in a society where minority groups are marginalised – racial discrimination ‘They don’t want me in the bunk house…cause I’m black’.
•  His dreams of being educated and independent ‘-tattered dictionary’ -never have the potential to be fulfilled – he is a victim of cruel, selfish environment which suppresses minority groups in ‘survival of the fittest’.
• ·         He takes a stand of independence against Curley’s wife, but is instantly ‘reduced to nothing’ by the social threats associated with his voice being heard (lynching, etc.) This shows how social prejudices allow people to be manipulated and their personalities and dreams to be crushed. Context of GD – millions of people from minority groups would have been treated with the same disdain and dismissed – Crook’s shattered dream is not that of an individual, but one that millions would have experienced.

Conclusion

• ·         Significant because outside the microcosm of the story, it underscores the hopeless desperation many thousands of people faced during the Great Depression.
• ·         Offers potential for characters to develop throughout the story as they come to terms with their own failings and accept the inevitability of their situations.