Another character in the novel who has dream is Curley’s wife. You get the impression that she is deeply unhappy on the ranch as she is the only woman and has no one to talk to, “think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” You also get the impression that she is not happy with Curley as her husband and she finds him almost unbearable, “The girl flared up. ‘Sure I gotta husban’. You all seen him. Swell guy, ain’t he? Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guys he don’t like and how he don’t like nobody. Think I’m gonna stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twice and then bring in the ol’ right cross?” she also says, “I get lonely…you can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.” She confesses to Lennie that she only married Curley so that she could get away from her mother, “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it. Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t get nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters….so I married Curley…Maybe I ought’n to. I don’t like Curley.” This again, shows she’s not happy with her marriage. Curley’s wife explains her dream to become an actress to Lennie, “I coulda made somethin’ of myself…a show came through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me. She says because I was on’y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet...He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural…coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes – all of them nice clothes like they wear.” This is yet another example of a failed dream, as Curley’s wife does not become an actress, she is killed. This also shows the novel’s approach to the American dream, and how it is unrealistic and won’t work.
Another character in the book who has an aspiration is Crooks, the stable buck. I think that he has a dream to be part of the other men working on the ranch and to be accepted into the society. Crooks seems to be aware of the fact that this is unrealistic, “Crooks said darkly, ‘Guys don’t come into a coloured man’s room very much.’” I think he wants to be treated fairly. Throughout the book Crooks is referred to as “the nigger” by everyone accept for Slim. I think this shows how he is almost seen as inhuman and unworthy of a name. He talks about how “The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty n ice.” He seems to talk about it as though It was the ‘good old days’. When Crooks has some of the other men in his bedroom he feels accepted for once, “’Come on in. If ever’body’s comin’ in, you might just as well.’ It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger” This suggests that Crooks is secretly very happy that people are for once sort of accepting him, although he is trying not to show his contentment as it might show his weakness. It seems that Crooks is the only one who has come to terms with the fact that dreams very rarely come true when he says “I see hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come in, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it.” I think this shows how the American dream can’t be realised.
I think the theme of the American dream is outlined most in Lennie and George’s dream which is talked about repeatedly throughout the Novel. They have a dream to “have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and…live off the fatta the lan’….and have rabbits” The first time we hear about this dream is just after Lennie and George have had an argument. It seems that Lennie needs to be reassured by George that he is needed and that him and George have a special relationship. “Lennie spoke craftily, ‘tell me – like you done before’” he goes on to speak about how “guys like us are the loneliest guys in the world” but how “not us! An’ why? Because….because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.” As he is saying this Lennie “laughed delightedly.” I think this indicates that their dream may mean more to Lennie than George. Throughout the Novel, Lennie and George’s dream is mentioned each time Lennie has done something wrong, or the two have an argument. It is Lennie’s way of making sure he hasn’t lost George. Every time the dream is talked about, Lennie seems completely enchanted by it. He is described to be “delighted” when talking about it, and his hard to be “beating hard”. When he hears what he wants to from George he cried “happily” and “in triumph”. These all show just how enchanted he is by this dream. Later in the Novel, Candy also becomes infatuated by the dream. When he overheard Lennie and George talking about it he “turned slowly. His eyes were wide open. He watched George carefully.” He talks about the dream “excitedly” And when he offers to contribute some money, making the dream more realistic he “leaned forward eagerly” and “interrupted him” He talks about it in a lot of very short sentences. I think this shows his excitement and angst to for fill their plans. All of this shows just how amazing the thought of not living under somebody else’s orders and being able to do what you want was. At the very end of the Novel, when Lennie has killed Curley’s wife, George knows he is going to have to kill him as he is his best friend. After the incident with Candy and his dog, where candy states “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog” George realises that it is a lot better to be killed by someone you’re close to than a complete stranger. I think this is why George kills Lennie, because he knows it is the best way for him to end his life. As he is shooting Lennie he goes back to their dream. Telling him about how they’re “gonna do it soon” and “ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t no more trouble.” This means that Lennie dies in the best possible way; thinking about what he wants most in life and with the person he loves most. However, the plan still goes very wrong, leaving George with “nought but Grief an’ pain” as the Robert Burn’s poem states. Their dream symbolises the fact that the American dream is not realistic and won’t work.
In ‘Of mice and men’ The American Dream is a reality in the minds of most of the characters and the optimism and hope they have of changing their lives for the better helps them going. However, as the story unfolds, the grim reality is that the American Dream is simply that – a dream.
