George and Lennie's dream

In John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men George and Lennie struggle to achieve their ultimate dream. They want to save up and have a farm of their own. Lennie is as little retarded and George is just a typical guy and they use their friendship to stay together. While spending time on the farm, Lennie starts to talk to Curley's wife. They both want to be with someone so they aren't lonesome. In Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck uses George and Lennie's relationship to confirm the central idea of loneliness in the novel.

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, and lived the early part of his life in California. It was here that Steinbeck developed a knowledge and love of the natural world and the different cultures that figure so prominently in his works. Steinbeck's family was middle-class. John Ernst was his father and he was a miller and County official. His mother, Olive Hamilton taught in schools at various locations in California. As a boy Steinbeck was more of a reader than a scholar; he was vivid reader and read a wide varity of literary pieces.

Steinbeck wrote for the student newspapers at Salinas and at Stanford University. His reading background was both varied and intense, but he couldn't adjust to the disciplines necessary for a college degree, and never graduated. He had gone to college at Stanford University for five years, but also worked on ranches, and had a variety of other jobs. In the process he met friends that would later be characters in his novels.

In one of Steinbeck's weaker books he put in a statement that which he believed was true while he was growing up: "Men seem to be born with a debt they can never pay no matter how hard they try" (Gray 50). Steinbeck tries to tell people that man owes something to man. "Many of his novels, plays, short stories show efforts to pay his debt back. Steinbeck shows a consistent effort to establish the dignity of human life" (Gray 50).

Steinbeck then went to New York and did some construction work. While there, he also got a job writing for a newspaper company. In New York he came across a naturalist named Edward Ricketts, and they developed a close friendship. Steinbeck met the love of his life, they soon got married and lived in the family cottage. Steinbeck started working on a historical novel and it was called the Cup of Gold. Only a few reviewers took the book seriously, and surprisingly the book sold a little more than fifteen hundred copies, despite the shrug from the reviewers. Bad luck continued for Steinbeck's literary career for a time. After several attempts to get another novel going, he completed Pastures of Heaven in 1932. Then the publishing company went bankrupt and when the novel finally did appear, it moved slowly.

"Steinbeck's work formulated and dramatized the attitude of many human experiences of young men and woman" (Gray 51). In his work he never forgot the crucial character of the confrontation between man and his destiny. Later he developed a passion for all sounds, scents, and taste for things. He was in a family setting that he enjoyed. His family wasn't rich or poor but it was a strong one and this lead him to be the writer that he had became.

Not until the appearance of Tortilla Flat in 1934 did Steinbeck's creative work pay cash. Then his work took a turn for the better and he started producing novels that were winning awards and prizes. A few of them were titled The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, and there were many others. Steinbeck spent most of his time living in New York and traveling. By this time he was an Internationally acclaimed author.

At this time Steinbeck's career as an author went very well and a lot of his books came out with excellent reviews. Then on December 20, 1968, Steinbeck died in Sag Harbor, N.Y. His ashes were later returned to California by his widow.