During the 1930s, many Americans were victims of the Great Depression that had hit the country violently. Millions of people did not have stable incomes and were forced to travel across the country in search of employment that could support them for a period of time. Most of these people had a similar goal; they all dreamed of reaching a heavenly place where they wouldn't have to worry about anything and where they would have everything they ever wanted. This is also what George and Lennie feel in the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. These two men wander Northern California in search of a stable job that would allow them to settle down, and maybe even earn them enough money to buy the land of their dreams. However, their shared dreams disappear at the end of the story when George is forced to shoot Lennie in the head. Among the themes addressed by Steinbeck, there is one that is the most significant. No matter how hard people try to achieve their dreams, fate will inevitably destroy them. Steinbeck uses symbolism to show George and Lennie's efforts to achieve their dream. One of the symbols used in this novel is depicted in the scene in the barn, where Lennie accidentally kills his puppy and tries to hide it from George. "I didn't think you'd get killed so easily." » He ran his fingers over the puppy's soft ear. (86) The puppy that Lennie kills symbolizes the dream of the country that he and George are trying to achieve. Lennie does his best to try to keep the puppy alive as long as he can, however, he ultimately fails and kills the puppy (dream), as he does everything he tries to keep alive. The puppy is also a lot bigger compared to whatever he's trying to keep alive, but he's in the middle of paper......that sends him not having to deal with real life and what is actually plausible and possible. . This shows that achieving his dream is not possible in real life, because he has stopped caring about real life (cards). His dreamland would always remain in dreams and would never appear in the “game of life”. All of the foreshadowing and symbolism that Steinbeck provides in this novel all point to a central theme of loneliness, hopeless dreams, and ultimate failure. All of this comes together to show that even though people work extremely hard to achieve their dreams, their dreams will eventually be destroyed by fate no matter what. Steinbeck made excellent use of many literary devices which were all skillfully intertwined in a beautiful way. Each of the different literary devices take different paths but are connected to each other and all lead to a universal theme..