The American dream is an impractical feat to grasp. In John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, two best friends discover the hardships of the Great Depression in Salinas Valley, California. George is short, intelligent and hard-working. The opposite element to George's character is his best friend, Lennie, who is tall, not very intelligent and has mental problems. Lennie is stopping George from achieving the American dream. As the novella continues, different visions of the individual's dreams are revealed. Steinbeck uses a variety of themes throughout the tale, but they all relate to the main theme; that the American dream is unattainable. Of Mice and Men uses a number of literary devices to relate to the theme that the American dream is unattainable. Symbolism is the use of immaterial or imaginable objects to symbolize a greater meaning. An example of symbolism used in this story is when Lennie asks George to tell him about the farm. Lennie pleads, "Tell us about what we'll have in the garden and the rabbits in the cages and the winter rain and the stove and how thick the cream is on the milk and how you can hardly cut it." Tell about that George'” (Steinbeck 63). This quote shows how symbolic rabbits are to Lennie. Lennie's dream is to have soft things to pet and the bunnies symbolize his dream of soft animals. This quote also shows George's dream of owning a farm and growing his own crops in the garden. Just like the farm, Candy's dog has significant symbolic meaning throughout the tale. “The old man squirmed uncomfortably. "Good, devil!" I've had it for so long. I've had him since he was a puppy. I herded sheep with him…he was the best damn sheepdog I ever saw'” (Steinbeck 56). This quote is symbolic for George and Lennie... middle of paper... York: Penguin, 1993. Print.Levant, Howard. “John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men: Critique.” Contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Tommaso Votteler. Vol.75. Washington DC: Gale Research Inc.,1993. Print.MacNicholas, John. Twentieth-Century American Playwrights Part 2: KZ, pp. 271-276. Detroit: Gale Research Co. 1981. Scarseth, Thomas. "A Good Teachable Book: Of Mice and Men." Censored books: critical points of view. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress and John M. Kean. Scarecrow Press, 1993. 388-394. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Network. April 27, 2011.McArthur, Debra. “John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.” Benchmark Marshall Cavendish. New York. 2009.Parini, Jay (1992-09-27). "FILM; Of Bindlestiff, Bad Times, Mice and Men. The New York Times: 7. 1937-12-05.