Of Psychology and Men
Mankind exists by accident. Yet, with our superior intelligence over other species on earth, we strive to find meaning in our every action. Without the search, our lives remain meaningless. John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men tells the stories of his ranch working characters slaving away at the fields to one day find their meaning. Viktor Frankl, the psychologist claims that, “… the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment.” A man’s every reason to live becomes their meaning of life. Reasons they can not leave this world for the next. George works towards protecting Lennie and ensuring his …show more content…
Lennie’s dream that nearly becomes a reality. Before the two men reach the ranch where they are to work, Lennie and George discuss their future. “Lennie shouted... ‘Tell about what were gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it’...’Why’nt you do it yourself? You know all of it,’” (Steinbeck 14). Lennie lives off of those words. Like a child requesting a fairytale, Lennie has George recite that dream word for word. The group of men got so close to that dream, but with a heartbreaking twist of events, it was all taken away.
Looking through a psychoanalytic lens while reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the story conveys the message of lonely men being in constant search of purposes and meaning to their life, further emphasizing the futility of these men, for they never find what they look for. The men have their meanings but they are not satisfied with them. They want to actually achieve their dreams instead of them being their drive in the world. There is no satisfaction in their
Mankind exists by accident. Yet, with our superior intelligence over other species on earth, we strive to find meaning in our every action. Without the search, our lives remain meaningless. John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men tells the stories of his ranch working characters slaving away at the fields to one day find their meaning. Viktor Frankl, the psychologist claims that, “… the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment.” A man’s every reason to live becomes their meaning of life. Reasons they can not leave this world for the next. George works towards protecting Lennie and ensuring his …show more content…
Lennie’s dream that nearly becomes a reality. Before the two men reach the ranch where they are to work, Lennie and George discuss their future. “Lennie shouted... ‘Tell about what were gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it’...’Why’nt you do it yourself? You know all of it,’” (Steinbeck 14). Lennie lives off of those words. Like a child requesting a fairytale, Lennie has George recite that dream word for word. The group of men got so close to that dream, but with a heartbreaking twist of events, it was all taken away.
Looking through a psychoanalytic lens while reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the story conveys the message of lonely men being in constant search of purposes and meaning to their life, further emphasizing the futility of these men, for they never find what they look for. The men have their meanings but they are not satisfied with them. They want to actually achieve their dreams instead of them being their drive in the world. There is no satisfaction in their