A Small Seed of Community Planted in the Midst of the California Dream Deferred in Of Mice and Men
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This paper aims to examine possibility of community in the midst of the California Dream deferred in Of Mice and Men in light of Michael Sandel’s liberal communitarian conception of the constitutive community. George and Lennie in the novel share a dream of owning land and running a farm together in which they appear to share the same, but impossible dream. Sandel warns those with the common “shared final ends” in the sense of sentimental community that their so-called community is still limitedly based on their individual desires and sentimental bonds. George and Lennie, however, do not look into the same direction in which the latter only wishes to raise rabbits with soft fur while depending on the former. What seems to be a sentimental community between them has not even started on the right foot. Lennie’s obsession with soft objects leads to the murder of Curley’s wife that eventually forces George to shoot him dead. Upon Lennie’s death, George’s California Dream seems to fade away or at least to be deferred momentarily. Steinbeck does not leave him alone at the end of the novel where he suggests a new friendship between George and Slim. As they walk up from the riverside to the highway, George’s once deferred California Dream is revived by possibility of community through Slim. Of Mice and Men could have been dismissed as a novel of sympathy towards a social misfit if Steinbeck left George alone upon Lennie’s death. Instead, he is planting a seed of community through George’s new comradeship with Slim who has revived George’s California Dream deferred.
Abstract
This paper aims to examine possibility of community in the midst of the California Dream deferred in Of Mice and Men in light of Michael Sandel’s liberal communitarian conception of the constitutive community. George and Lennie in the novel share a dream of owning land and running a farm together in which they appear to share the same, but impossible dream. Sandel warns those with the common “shared final ends” in the sense of sentimental community that their so-called community is still limitedly based on their individual desires and sentimental bonds. George and Lennie, however, do not look into the same direction in which the latter only wishes to raise rabbits with soft fur while depending on the former. What seems to be a sentimental community between them has not even started on the right foot. Lennie’s obsession with soft objects leads to the murder of Curley’s wife that eventually forces George to shoot him dead. Upon Lennie’s death, George’s California Dream seems to fade away or at least to be deferred momentarily. Steinbeck does not leave him alone at the end of the novel where he suggests a new friendship between George and Slim. As they walk up from the riverside to the highway, George’s once deferred California Dream is revived by possibility of community through Slim. Of Mice and Men could have been dismissed as a novel of sympathy towards a social misfit if Steinbeck left George alone upon Lennie’s death. Instead, he is planting a seed of community through George’s new comradeship with Slim who has revived George’s California Dream deferred.
참고문헌 (25)
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