Dreams (OMAM)

Question 1

What is the American Dream?

Answer 1

A belief that many members of the working class adopted after the effects of the Depression took hold on America in the 1930s. It was an escape from the hardships and suffering in society, and offered freedom, security and independence through self-sufficiency.

Question 2

What quotes show how the George and Lennie’s dream offers self-sufficiency?

Answer 2

“live off the fatta the lan”

“catch a hundred salmon”

“sell a few eggs”

Question 3

What does Lennie continually ask George to do?

Answer 3

“tell me about the rabbits”

Question 4

What does tending the rabbits symbolise for Lennie?

Answer 4

An idyllic, fraternal life with George where they are both secure and happy

Lennie’s dream gives him comfort and hope, as his innocence leads him to believe that it is achievable

Question 5

How does George tell Lennie about their dream and what does it reveal about the nature of the dream itself?

Answer 5

George describes the dream like a story, a fictitious and unobtainable vision at what their life could be like

Question 6

What quotes show that George craves the dream too?

Answer 6

“voice was growing warmer”

“raptly”, “entranced”

Question 7

What does George’s captivation of the dream tell us about it?

Answer 7

The dream is something that can only be wondered at, it is completely unachievable

Question 8

What happens to George and Lennie’s dream?

Answer 8

It dies at the end of the novel alongside Lennie, proving that the American dream is really that - a dream

Question 9

What did the Great Depression cause?

Answer 9

1 in 4 men were unemployed
Vast amounts of poverty, homelessness, unemployment
Many travelled around the country attempting to find a job

Question 10

What does George say that proves he was skeptical about fulfilling the dream?

Answer 10

“i knowed we’d never do her” - Lennie’s innocence and belief gave George hope that it could be achieved, when in reality, he knew deep down that it was an unobtainable feat

Question 11

Why does Candy attempt to buy into George and Lennie’s dream?

Answer 11

He is becoming increasingly old and weak, and will soon be unable to work on the ranch, and have “no place to go”

Old and disabled people were deemed as having a lack of purpose in this hostile society, and were unwanted

Question 12

Why is Candy willing to use his life’s savings to fund the dream?

Answer 12

He is desperate to escape a miserable future and the hostility that society surrounds him with on the ranch

Question 13

Why does George not attempt to continue the dream with Candy?

Answer 13

It was Lennie’s dream, and George is loyal to him as his greatest companion

Question 14

What does Candy say to try and convince George to work with him?

Answer 14

“Can’t we George?…Can’t we?” - repetition shows desperation

Question 15

Who does Candy take out his anger on?

Answer 15

Curley’s wife

Candy’s response is wholly misogynistic as he blames her death for the end of his dream

Curley’s wife can be seen as a biblical reference to Eve, who destroyed Candy’s ‘Eden’ - the farm, by getting Lennie into severe trouble

Question 16

What quote shows Candy blames Curley’s wife for the destruction of his dream?

Answer 16

“you done it”

Question 17

What quotes display Crooks’ cynical attitude to the American Dream?

Answer 17

“I seen hundreds of men” with the “same damn thing in their heads”

“nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land”

Question 18

Contextually, what is significant about Crooks seeing “hundreds of men” pass through?

Answer 18

Itinerant labourers were in vast numbers after the Depression took hold on America in the 1930s, and most of these men would carry the idolised “American Dream” with them as they travelled across the country, hoping for a better, secure life

Question 19

Why does Crooks compare the dream to reaching Heaven?

Answer 19

Heaven is a conceptual belief that comforts those moving towards the afterlife, the same way in which dreams comfort those moving forwards in life

Achieving the American Dream, for those who struggle the most in society, would be equivalent to reaching Heaven

Question 20

Why does Crooks act pessimistically?

Answer 20

Crooks has a cynical attitude due to the loneliness and disrespect he has experienced in his own life

Steinbeck is reinforcing the message that suffering is an endless cycle; those who suffer go on to make other feel the same way they have

Question 21

Crooks cynical attitude completely contrasts…?

Answer 21

Lennie’s innocence and belief of the dream

Question 22

What message is Steinbeck trying to deliver when he says “nobody never gets no land”

Answer 22

For the lowest reaches of society, escape from their circumstances is impossible due to the systematic barriers that exist. The working class, people of colour and the disabled are unable to achieve the dream, as the structure of society gives them no way to do so.

Question 23

What happens to Crooks’ attitude when Candy makes the dream appear more concrete?

Answer 23

Candy reveals the details of the dream, causing Crooks to have a moment of hesitation and vulnerability

He offers to join the dream, highlighting how is desire to feel inclusion is stronger than his bitterness/pessimism

Question 24

What quote shows Crooks offering himself to the dream?

Answer 24

Crooks says he can “lend a hand”

He wants to exist in a community and have a sense of belonging, a place where he would not be marginalised because of his race/disability

Question 25

What conclusion does Crooks come to?

Answer 25

He retracts his offer, telling them to “jus’ forget it”

Question 26

Why does Crooks retract his offer?

Answer 26

Social inequality and racism has shaped him to believe that a future as perfect as the dream is impossible for someone like him.

Question 27

What’s Curley’s wife’s dream?

Answer 27

She dreams of starring in Hollywood films, where she would be a part of the glamour, luxury and fame that would follow

Question 28

Why does Curley’s wife want her dream to happen now more than ever?

Answer 28

She is dissatisfied with her life of loneliness and neglection

Hollywood is the complete opposite to what life on the ranch is like for her

Question 29

What repeated quote portrays the luxury of Hollywood life?

Answer 29

“nice clothes”

Question 30

Curley’s wife met a talent scout many years ago, who said he was going to…?

Answer 30

“he was gonna put me in the movies”

Question 31

What does the talent scout’s empty promise reveal about Curley’s wife?

Answer 31

She was easily manipulated due to her desperation to achieve her dreams

She has to rely on men to help her reach her dreams, enforcing how women in the 1930s had very little power/influence

Question 32

Contextually, why were so many young women attracted to Hollywood and its culture?

Answer 32

Women in the 1930s had few opportunities for independence

Hollywood was a growing industry that allowed women to escape the restrictions of their gender and social status, and procure fame and fortune for themselves.

Question 33

What did the talent scout say to Curley’s wife to manipulate her?

Answer 33

He told her she “was a natural”, which caused Curley’s wife to gain a false belief of her talents

She was gullible to this as she craves validation, seen throughout the novella

Also shows how the American dream promotes the myth that anyone can be successful

Question 34

What happens to Curley’s wife’s dream?

Answer 34

She is killed, causing her dream to remain unfulfilled

Question 35

Through the death of Curley’s wife (and therefore her dream) what is Steinbeck highlighting?

Answer 35

The impossibility of someone like her achieving the dream, due to the hardships and societal barriers that exist which stop her from doing so