George and Lennie’s dreams were very similar in their own way. Georges dream was about getting a piece of land of his own and Lennie’s dream was to tend to the rabbits on their own piece of land. George and Lennie’s dream was the main dream throughout the book where they thought of owning a ranch of their own. Lennie’s concern in the dream was about tending the rabbits, which is emphasised in the number of times he mentions it during the book, “tendin´ the rabbits”. George has a complete different view on the same dream. He wants the land so he can be dependant on himself, so he doesn’t have to work for other people. Candy over hears a conversation George and Lennie were having about the farm. As Candy believes he cannot do much with the rest of his life, he fully invests all the money he owns on the idea, shown in the quote “S’spose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hundred and fifty bucks I’d put in”. However this dream dies out when Lennie kills Curley’s wife. When Candy sees Curley’s wife dead, he knows that the dream will never come true.
Curley’s dream is not a main part of the story but does have an important contribution to the central basis of the story’s theme of dreams. His dream is about being physically bigger, being respected, having a job, a house and a wife. He got all the things he had hoped for apart from being bigger, getting respect and having a ‘perfect’ fairytale wife. To Curley his wife is the main bad thing in his life. Curley spends most of his time looking for his wife, while his wife is always looking for him.
Curley’s wife’s dreams consist of fame, fortune and admiration. She has high hopes of going to Hollywood and being an all time rich film star, which has been portrayed in the line “I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus’ one neither. An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in the pitchers”. Her thoughts are formed to try and get back at her mother, as her mother didn’t let her go to all the parties and auditions for her to become a movie star. The dream is ended when Lennie accidentally kills her. But it was highly unlikely that she would have been a movie star, even if her death had not come so soon.
Crooks has a dream, he pictures the freedom he had when he was a young child. He hates being who he is, this is shown in the line “There wasn’t another coloured family for miles around. And now there ain’t a coloured man on this ranch”, as he feels like an outcast to all the other ranch members. He has almost definitely had the worst life out of all the other ranch members. From the time he was kicked in the back by a horse shows how unlucky he was. All the other ranch members have come and gone who have also had dreams, for example “I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land, but ever´ time a whore-house or a blackjack game took what it takes.” His past life as a child, was a good life where race didn’t matter.
Slim is an important part of the story, yet he didn’t have a dream. He had the abilities to give good advice and listen to people. Slim had the most respect out of all the ‘ranch hands’. It is unusual the way Steinbeck has showed this character, as he owns such a big part of the story yet doesn’t have a dream. Whit also shows that he wants to do something with his life as he read his friend’s letter printed on the magazine, he felt slightly jealous.
John Steinbeck has portrayed the theme ‘dream’ very well in the book. The way he has made nearly all the characters have a dream where they display high hopes. In George and Lennie’s case, being their own bosses. This dream can be metaphorically described as the Great American Dream, which shows anything you have in your mind you can achieve it, if you try your best and work hard for it. Unfortunately in ‘Of Mice and Men’ neither of the characters achieve their dream due to certain circumstances.
