Of Mice and Men
Prompt #16 · Of Mice and Men
Prompt Type: Character Arc
George's attitude toward the dream farm shifts from a comforting story he tells Lennie to a genuine possibility and finally to an impossible fantasy. Analyze how Steinbeck uses this evolution to trace the rise and fall of hope in the novel. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof—Nuts!”
Chapter 1
Argument
Early in the novel, this quote establishes George's baseline attitude toward the dream as a comforting fantasy he recites mechanically, revealed by the abrupt dismissal 'Nuts!' that undercuts the vivid imagery and signals his own disbelief in what he's describing.
Quote 2
“They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.”
Chapter 3
Argument
At the turning point when Candy offers his money, this quote captures the moment George's attitude shifts to genuine possibility, as the narrator's observation that 'they had never really believed in' the dream emphasizes the transformation from ritual story to tangible hope.
Quote 3
“—I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.”
Chapter 5
Argument
In the final stage after Lennie kills Curley's wife, George's confession 'I think I knowed we'd never do her' marks the dream's collapse into impossible fantasy, acknowledging that his brief belief was self-deception born from Lennie's enthusiasm rather than real conviction.
Quote 4
“I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it.”
Chapter 4
Argument
During the middle stage when the dream seems achievable, Crooks's cynical observation that he's 'seen hunderds of men' with the same dream who 'never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it' provides crucial context for George's temporary hope, foreshadowing the inevitable collapse while highlighting how rare and fragile George's moment of genuine belief truly is.
Quote 5
"Well, it's ten acres," said George. "Got a little win'mill. Got a little shack on it, an' a chicken run. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, 'cots, nuts, got a few berries. They’s a place for alfalfa and plenty water to flood it. They’s a pig pen——"
Chapter 3
Argument
At the turning point when Candy's money makes the dream tangible, George's detailed enumeration of the farm's features—'win'mill,' 'chicken run,' 'orchard'—demonstrates his shift from vague fantasy to concrete planning, marking the peak of his hope before the dream's destruction.