The second part of her dream parallels the men's desire for their own land. She wanted to be an actress in Hollywood. She imagines how great it would be to stay in nice hotels, own lots of beautiful clothes, and have people want to take her photograph. Both attention and financial security would have been hers. Like the men she desires friendship, and also material comforts, though the specifics of her dream differ from theirs.
She is a very lonely person; she has no one to talk to except the men on the ranch who don’t really listen to her. So to make them listen to her, or pretend to in most cases, she dresses provocatively to get attention. However Candy and Whit see her as a ‘tart’ and ‘jail-bait’ and she’s always giving the ‘eye’. Even Curly doesn’t notice her; he still goes out to the ‘cat houses’ with the other ranch workers, instead of staying with his wife. She seems to be hurt by this, she says. “Think I don’t know where they all went? Even Curley. I know where they all went.”
Curley’s wife’s dream is to be a star, when she was young, she was asked to go on a show, but her mother wouldn’t let her. Film work was one of the few types of work you could get as a woman, it was every girls dream, but it was often only a scam to take advantage of young women. Curley’s wife remembers how a man in the 'pitchers' said he was going to write to her about being in the movies. But she says her mother stole the letter when it came, when really it didn’t come at all.
Candy was
among the ones who could hardly manage the struggle to survive during
the Depression. His age has robbed his usefulness, so he was more than
happy to take part in the plans of George and Lennie. Their dream farm
was always on Candy's mind. He went on to figuring about how they could
earn money off the rabbits, and their lives then. However, he
discovered what Lennie has done, and saw that the farm which has once
seemed so real is now gone. Curley's wife dreamt of being a movie star
and regrets marrying Curley. Having encountered an actor when she was
fifteen, she was told that she was a natural in acting, but her mother
forbade her to pursue her dream. On the same night that she met another
actor, she met Curley. When no letter came from the actor, she marries
Curley. However, she has always wanted to make some achievements and
loved attention. She constantly wandered around looking for trouble.
When she was killed by Lennie, she was not able to go after her dream
anymore. Lennie, Candy, and Curley's wife were not capable of having
their dreams come true, but were full of hope. A problem got into each
of their way, which they have not the power to solve. They have shown
how big dreams often cause tragedies, and are unrealistic.
