I have a dream OMAM Jonathan Peel JLS 2021 Essays for exams Lit Usual essay stems Jonathan Peel JLS 2021 We can rephrase these questions Jonathan Peel JLS 2021 Q In what ways are dreams an important theme in this novel ID: 1045964
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1. Saturday, 09 January 2021I have a dream… OMAM Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
2. Essays for exams: LitUsual essay stems:Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
3. We can rephrase these questions…Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
4. Q: In what ways are dreams an important theme in this novel?Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
5. Structure the essay to help the examiner to relax.Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
6. 1: IntroSteinbeck’s trilogy of novels written in the late 1930s is a response by a socialist writer to the manner in which the USA had failed to cope with the Crash and the depression which followed (and specifically, the dustbowl) in a caring and socially responsible manner.The American Dream had already moved away from the Pioneer virtues of hard work and self sufficiency (living ‘off the fatta the lan’). Steinbeck wishes to show that in the new USA , the American Dream is almost unrecognisable. The intertextuality shows us this. The ‘new’ short cut dreams such as an acting career are similarly short lived. There are no short cuts.Dreams are therefore used to illustrate the differences between the characters who inhabit the ranch and their attitude eto the country in which they live.Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
7. Arguments:1: American Dream:George and Lennie embody this ‘dream’ – the farm dream is utterly typical – hard work, freedom, self-sufficiency.On the first appearance : The tone echoes a religious ceremony, suggesting the importance of the dream. Self sufficient Pioneer dream – but George no longer believes it to be possible to achieve.Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
8. Most characters have never seen anyone succeed or tell tales of men who try but failCharacters split into 2 groups –believers such as Lennie, Candy and even Crooks for a short time, and non-believers such as Crooks (again),CW, Curley, Carlson and even Slim. George is ambivalent – for most of the text he views this dream as one might view a bedtime story – Lennie’s comforter.Time gives hope, but underlying this hope is the intertextuality of Burns’ poem – ‘the best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft agley…’ Steinbeck suggests that in this damaged country, such dreams are doomed to fail even if they seem to have solid foundations.American Dream 2Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
9. Other dreamsThe short cut to celebrity dream.In the 1930s Hollywood exploded with quantities of escapist movies designed to distract from the reality of the suffering of many.CW has a dream which is not unusual, though her ‘nasal, brittle’ voice will not helpShe seeks not success and respect for her hard work, however, but something elseHer dream is a new type of dream and equally unlikely to come true. Steinbeck suggests that not even the new type of dream which has grown up in this new century can be relied upon to help.Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
10. More Dreams?Crooks joins the pioneer dream briefly, only after Candy has provided money which might bring it to fruition.Even this is a vain hope: the farm may well have been sold long since and even if not, they do not have the required sum.George is caught up in the excitement almost despite himselfSteinbeck needs us to sympathise with this group so that we feel the pain of the destruction of the American Dream for ourselves.Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
11. End of the taleLennie is killed in a moment of sheer joy as he imagines his unattainable dream.Slim and George pair up, giving some hope that the Pioneer spirit may win out in the end.The ‘new men’ Carlson and Curley are bemused. In this world, a world devoid of hope and of dreams, they simply do not understand the manner in which dreams give hope and inspiration, although, this hope and inspiration will always be destroyed by the grim reality of life.Jonathan Peel JLS 2021
12. In what ways are dreams an important theme in this novel? ConclusionSteinbeck uses dreams to show both the constant human trait of resilience and hope and also to show how his country, once sustained by a Pioneer dream based on hard work and self sufficiency is now ‘damaged goods’- a place in which the Pioneer dream has been replaced by wishes to find short cuts to success, and success is now judged by wealth and celebrity.Even these dreams are only as solid as the film on which they are created. IN the face of the new Darwinistic society exemplified by Curley and Carlson, dreams stand no chance. They may be comforting, but like Burns’ mouse, the dreamer is always doomed to be disappointed.Jonathan Peel JLS 2021