They also put all their money in the bank to make sure no one spends it out in town. Candy says he’s seen people with the same dream who haven’t completed it because they spent all their money in the ‘whore houses’ in town. George and Lennie have obviously thought of these problems, and so stored their money wisely.
When George goes into town, he will not let Lennie go with him. Lennie says ‘George says I gotta stay here an’ not get in no trouble’. This is possibly because George knows that if Lennie gets into trouble in town, they will not be able to go through with the dream. He wants to protect him to make sure that nothing happens to Lennie that will put their dream in danger. He wants to protect the dream.
Candy is unhappy with his life on the ranch. He seems to be considered too old to know what he’s doing or what he’s talking about. When the men are talking about shooting his dog Candy is told ‘He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Whyn’t you shoot him Candy?’ this tells me that people seem to think that they know what’s best for him, and possibly that he is incapable of leading his own life properly. They are trying to persuade Candy that he should shoot his dog; Candy doesn’t really have a choice.
Candy feels like he is a burden to the ranch. He says ‘They’ll can me purty soon, just as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses they’ll put me on the county’. Candy feels that the only reason he still works at the ranch is that the boss feels sorry for him because he was injured there. He feels as if he is not really wanted and the bosses are simply waiting for an excuse to sack him.
However, we are told that Candy has a higher status because of his seniority. Other workers respect him. ‘When Candy spoke they both jumped as thought they’d been caught doing something reprehensible’ tells me that George and Lennie feel that Candy has experience over them. I believe that Candy has this respect because of his age and the time he has been working at the ranch.
Candy is very keen to join George and Lennie in their dream. I can tell he is interested as the story says ‘ Tell you what, he leaned forward eagerly’. He leans forward to get closer to the men, and further in on the deal.
We learn that Candy repeats the ideas of the dream over in his head as if to keep him going. The story says:
‘He paused, and then went on in a singsong. And he repeated the old
words. If there was a circus or baseball game… we would have just went
to hell’ said ta hell with work, an’ went to her’.
The phrase ‘singsong’ tells me that he says this in a set rhythm. This is possibly because he has said this so may times before he now says it in a certain pattern as if he has memorised the exact words. He uses this dream as a glimmer of hope to keep him going through hard times at the ranch.
Candy doesn’t want to be told what to do. This is one of the main reasons he wants to join the dream. The dream offers him a chance to work for himself. He also gets to reap the rewards of his work on the land. Candy says ‘maybe if I give you my money, you’ll let me hoe in the garden even after I ain’t no good at it. I’ll be let to work in our own place’.
Crooks is treated very badly on the ranch, this is because he is black. We are told that Crooks ‘had his bunk in the harness room, a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn’. This shows that Crooks is not treated as a human, he is just put into this small room and no one is really bothered. Crooks is separated from the rest of the workers in this room. One of the men says ‘they let the nigger come in that night’. Crooks is an outcast because of his colour, he is separated from the men and only allowed to mix with them on special occasions.
We are also told that the boss takes his anger out on Crooks. This is possibly because the boss believes that Crooks is not equal to him, he feels Crooks is inferior and unimportant. We are told that Crooks ‘got a crooked back where the horse kicked him. The boss gives him hell when he’s mad.’ Possibly, the boss knows that no other ranch will take on a stable buck with a crooked back, so he doesn’t need to worry about Crooks complaining or leaving.
We are told that Crooks feels lonely and outcaste. He realises that he is separated from the rest of the workers because of his colour. Crooks says to Lennie ‘spose you couldn’t go in to the bunk house and play rummy cause you was black’’. The story suggests that Crooks is a private and social person by saying that ‘Crooks kept his distance and demanded that other people keep theirs’. However, I believe that Crooks does not mean to seem antisocial, he is just not used to company and so he is scared, he does not really know how to mix and socialise with people. Crooks wasn’t allowed to play with white children when he was younger. He says:
Sometimes I went to play with them (white kids), and some of them was
pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I didn’t know till long later
why he didn’t like that. But I know now.’
He has been left out all his life, and doesn’t really know what to do.
We do know crooks is lonely though. He says ‘A guy needs somebody to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody’. Crooks is saying that he has lived all his life alone, and he feels lonely. He believes that a person needs company or they will just go mad.
At first, Crooks is not interested in joining the dream. He doesn’t think that George and Lennie will ever really get their land. He’s seen hundreds of men, all with the same idea. Crooks says ‘they come an’ they quit an they go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a goddamn one of ‘em ever gets it.’ Crooks has worked at the ranch for a long time and has faced up to the reality that none of the other workers have ever reached their dream.
However, after Crooks hears that Lennie, George and Candy already have nearly all the money that they need, he is interested in joining. This is because he realises that it is possible. The thought of owning a small piece of land reminds him of when he was younger, Crooks says ‘ I remember when I was a little kid on my ol’ man’s chicken ranch’.
Crooks tries to persuade the others to let him join the dream by saying ‘if you... guys would want a hand to work for nothing - just his keep, why I’d come and lend a hand.’ He makes out that he only wants to go with the other men as a favour to them. This is possibly in case the other men say they don’t want him to come, Crooks will then not really be turned down in his request to join them. If Crooks is able to join the dream, he will have a chance to get away from the ranch and gain his freedom.
Curley has a much better quality life on the ranch. He has a wife and a proper house to live in. all the other characters dream of freedom but Curley has his freedom already. Curley is proud of his status and dressed to show this. ‘He wore high heeled boots and spurs to prove he wasn’t a labouring man’ tells me that Curley also enjoyed showing off to the other men. He enjoyed rubbing their noses in the fact that he didn’t have to work at all, and they worked eleven hours a day for hardly anything.
Curley dreams of becoming a professional boxer. He ‘got in the finals for the golden gloves’ Curley nearly realizes his dream, He still clings on to the hope that he will complete it. He dreams of this because he likes to be known as hard. Curley is small and ‘he hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kinda like he’s mad at ‘em cos he ain’t a big guy.’ Curley wants to be seen as tough to make up for his size, he wants to get his own back.
However, Curley’s dream is destroyed by Lennie hurting his hand. ‘Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was ‘flopping like a fish on a line.’ After Lennie attacked Curley, ‘he sat down on the floor, looking in wonder at his crushed hand’. We learn that Curley is now scared of Lennie, after his hand has been harmed he doesn’t try to hurt Lennie again, he simply backs away. He must also be quite brave as although his hand must be severely damaged, he doesn’t shout or appear to show his pain. This could be because he doesn’t want the other men to think he is a wimp. Curley’s hand in injured so badly he can’t box anymore.
Curley’s wife feels very lonely at the ranch. Although she is married to Curley, she still feels alone. She says that Curley ‘spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guys he don’t like, an he don’t like nobody. Think I’m gonna stay in that two by four house an listen to how Curley’s gonna lead with his left twice and then bring in the ol’ right cross?’ Curley’s wife is lonely. She wants his attention but he always talks about other people. We are told that Curley’s wife goes to other places to look for attention.
‘I’m tryin’ to find Curley, Slim’
‘Well you ain’t tryin’ very hard. I just seen him goin’ in your house.’
This tells me that Curley’s wife is obviously not looking for Curley, she just wants to go and see the other workers. Instead of looking for Curley, she is looking for attention.
We also learn that Curley’s wife gets frustrated with him. She says to Lennie ‘I’m glad you bust up Curley a little bit. He got it coming to him. Sometimes I’d like to bust him up myself.’ This is because she gets annoyed with Curley, possibly because he doesn’t give her the attention that she needs.
However, we are told that Curley is proud of his marriage although we cannot be sure that he is proud of his wife. ‘Seems like Curley is cockier’n ever since he got married’ tells me this. We are told ‘maybe Curley’s showin’ off for his wife’ although it is also possible that the reason Curley is behaving in this way is that he feels he has another one up on the other men.
Curley is quite possessive over his wife. She says ‘I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like to talk to nobody?’ this might possibly be because he knows how much attention she needs and knows that she will get it from the other men. Curley’s wife also says ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?’ she feels trapped, and possibly separated because she’s the only female.
We are not told exactly why Curley’s wife married him. She says ‘I don’t like Curley, he ain’t a nice fella.’ She has possibly married for money and stability. Her mother wouldn’t let her be in films so she got married to move away and be secure.
We are also told about how Curley’s wife looks and dresses. The story says:
‘She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair clung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers.’
She is very dressed up; this is not the typical thing to wear around a working ranch. I feel that she dresses like this because she wants the attention and she knows dressing like this will get her it. She tries to impress people all the time.
The red fingernails are a sign of danger. Red is a very provocative colour. It catches the eye but also warns people off.
We are told on another occasion:
‘She wore her bright cotton dress and the mules with the red ostrich feathers. Her face was made up and all the sausage curls were in place.’
This shows that Curley’s wife always dresses herself up. She is very glamorous and dreams of the attention and glamour welcomed from being in films.
She is also very pretty. Lennie says when she walks into the room ‘Gosh, she was purty’. When Slim walks past her he says ‘Hi, good-lookin’’.
Curley’s wife dreams of being in shows and pictures. She has been told she could be an actress, ‘A guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers’ and ‘He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural’ tells me this. We learn that this guy may not really have been able to do this though, as she says ‘ Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it. I never got that letter.’ Its’ possible that the man was only trying to impress her and take advantage of her being so naïve. She says that she thinks her mother hid the letter from her but possibly she only convinces herself this to hide her disappointment.
Dreams are very important to all the main characters in ‘Of Mice and Men’. They all have dreams about what could be or what might have been in Curley’s wife’s case. All the characters want what they cant have, be it their freedom and a piece of land or to become a famous actress. It could be said that these characters are so wrapped up in their own dreams, they often forget about the importance of their own lives in fulfilling them.
Mainly, these dreams are just a way of helping them through their lives. Living during the depression must have been very hard as there was very little money around. Their lives were difficult and their hopes and dreams for the future just helped them get through the hard times.
