In the book “Of Mice and Men”, Steinbeck uses hopes and dreams to thicken the plot and make the reader take a large interest into the character’s lives. Loneliness plays a large part in the book, which leads the people to develop dreams as a way to escape from their loneliness and depression, it also gives them hope for the future. The main characters in the story each have a dream, which they are unable to fulfil. The structure and the plot of the novel revolve around hopes and dreams, the drive to attain them and the disappointment when they are crushed. In Lennie’s case, his dream provides a relief from the harsh environment of the novel- especially when George is telling his dream as a story. A smile immediately forms on Lennie’s face at the mere thought of his dream, “Lennie was still smiling in delight at the memory of the ranch”.
From the first chapter itself, Steinbeck describes George and Lennie’s dream. George dreams of owning his own farm so that he could be a boss of his own but because of financial reasons he is unable to and his dream remains a dream not coming true. In the beginning of the novel we also see that Lennie is a burden on George and because of that he is not able to marry a girl. “I could get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want”.We also realise, that whenever George tries getting settled in a ranch, Lennie would do something horrific which would then lead them from escaping the farm, ‘You cant keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble.’ Every time this happens George’s dream of owning a farm fades away.
Lennie’s dream on the other hand, is a lot more immature compared to George’s because all he wants is to tend rabbits, ‘I can let you tend rabbits the rabbits all right.’ In some parts of the novel, his dream comes true such as in the first chapter when he kills a mouse, “Uh-uh. Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead”. Lennie is the most innocent character in the novel because when George says that they will have a farm of their own, he believes that it would come true and takes it from his heart. That is why, he always gets excited whenever George talks about their future being bright, ‘I forget some a’ the things. Tell about how it’s gonna be.’
George and lennie’s dream is completely different than that of Curley’s wifes. Steinbeck uses Curley’s wife to show that women in those days were not given a lot of freedom from their husbands and were only meant to take care of their homes and families. Curley’s wife’s dream was to become an actress or work in show business. “He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural”. Being an actress is her dream since she craves being the centre of attention and everyone looking up to her. Which is shown on the many occasion that she comes to the worker’s bunkhouse pretending to look for her husband and trying to get attention from the workers and stir up trouble. Her dream was shattered when at fifteen he mother forbade her to pursue becoming an actress so then she married Curley. On the ranch none of the workers will talk to her because they know that she is trying to stir up trouble. This makes her crave attention and someone to talk to even more. She feels that marrying Curley was a huge mistake and would still like to follow a career in show business. Curley’s wife is very cynical about achieving her dream as she is always regretting her past and never planning a way to escape from Curley to obtain a better future. She has almost given up on her dream. Curley’s wife’s dream shows us that she has quite a shallow personality since all she wants is attention.
As soon as George meets Lennie subsequent to the incident with Curley's wife, George knows that the dream will remain as a dream. I think that Lennie did end up getting his dream. As he and George sit, watching the water, George describes to Lennie, one last time, how it's gonna be. However, I believe that this time, he is describing Heaven to Lennie, rather than the little farm. Lennie begs George to let him go to the farm now, and George complies with Lennie's wishes. This dream was worth while for Lennie and George if it only provided Lennie a sense of peace before he died but not only them, but hundreds of men that it carried through their lives.
Altogether, hopes and dreams definitely help people to escape from the harsh realities of their ordinary lives. Every character in this novel has some problem or the other such as, the colour of their skin, being less bright and being lonely. After reading this novel, we certainly get a feeling of the difficult lives that were lived by the poor people of that time. Also, hopes and dreams make people stronger with their lives since they have a motive to live for.
