The American dream is an impractical feat to achieve. 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 a smart, hard worker. George's character is his best friend, Lennie, who is tall, unintelligent, and mentally deficient. Lennie stops George from achieving the American dream. As the short story continues, different visions of individual dreams are revealed. Steinbeck uses a variety of themes throughout the short story, but they all relate to the main theme; that the American dream is unachievable. Of Mice and Men uses a range of literary devices to relate to the theme that the American dream is unattainable. Symbolism is the use of intangible or imaginable objects to symbolize a greater meaning. An example of symbolism used in this short story is when Lennie asks George to tell him about the farm. Lennie pleads: “'Talk about what we'll have in the garden and the rabbits in the cages and the rain in winter and the stove and how thick the cream is on the milk and how hard it is to cut it. Talk to George about it’” (Steinbeck 63). This quote shows how symbolic rabbits are to Lennie. Lennie's dream is to have soft things to pet and rabbits 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. Much like the farm, Candy's dog has important symbolic meaning throughout the short story. “The old man squirmed uncomfortably. “Well, damn it!” 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: review.” Contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Thomas 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. Rep. in student novels. Ed. Diane Telgen. Flight. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Information Resource Center. Internet. April 27, 2011.McArthur, Debra. “John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and of Mice and Men.” » Marshall Cavendish repository. New York. 2009. Parini, Jay (09/27/1992). "FILM; Of Bindstiffs, Bad Times, Of Mice and Men. The New York Times: 7. 1937-12-05.