This essay explores John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men by applying Freudian psychoanalysis alongside critical perspectives on literary naturalism. By examining the novella’s portrayal of loneliness, dependency, and the collapse of the American Dream, the analysis aims to show how Steinbeck constructs a world in which emotional connection is both necessary and impossible. Drawing on Freudian concepts such as the id, ego, and superego, the essay interprets the internal conflicts and emotional bonds between characters, particularly focusing on George and Lennie. These psychological dynamics are understood not as isolated traits but as symbolic expressions of Steinbeck’s broader thematic concerns. Simultaneously, the essay draws on critical interpretations of literary naturalism to illustrate how Steinbeck depicts an environment governed by socio-economic determinism and emotional repression. At the ranch and in surrounding social contexts, moral and behavioural norms appear to take on a life of their own. However, not as expressions of a judging environment but as internalised social codes that functions as a symbolic external superego. These codes shape shape behaviour and restrict emotional expression, not because the world enforces them consciously, but because the characters have absorbed them as part of reality. This discussion is supported by selected textual examples and secondary sources in psychoanalytic and naturalist criticism. It argues that dreams, in Steinbeck’s narrative, function both as psychological defence mechanisms and as literary motifs that expose the futility of hope under naturalist conditions. Ultimately, the essay concludes that Steinbeck’s novella presents human need, particularly the need for connection, as incompatible with the deterministic world in which his characters live. By integrating Freudian theory with naturalist analysis, the essay highlights how emotional survival in Of Mice and Men is not only fragile but systematically crushed.