George and Lennie are different compared to the other characters, because when something bad happens they have each other for support and comfort, unlike the other characters who are lonely and have no one.
“An, I got you. We got each other that’s what that gives a hoot in hell about us,”
George and Lennie are seen as very unusual men from other nomadic farm workers of that time. They travel around together, which gives people different impressions. The boss thinks George is exploiting Lennie, but Slim thinks that it is nice for two men to travel around together.
The relationship between George and Lennie is like parent and child. George is the cleverer one and he is the one who makes all the decisions for the both of them, and Lennie is childish and very strong. George and Lennie are total opposites but in-spite of all the differences, fights and the trouble that is caused by Lennie they both need each other.
Lennie acts and thinks like a child, he is annoying but he always does what George tells him. The thing that has got Lennie into the most trouble is his obsession for soft things especially mice. This obsession makes Lennie act more like a child.
“If you don’ want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time…” “ …if you don’t want me, you only jus’ got to say so, and I’ll go off in those hills and live by myself. An’ I wont get no more mice stole from me.”
Lennie is saying this because George took a dead mouse away from him, so he has a child’s tantrum.
George loves and feels sorry for Lennie and so he takes care of him, also George feels Lennie cannot survive if someone does not look after him.
“I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself.”
George always shows compassion for Lennie even if he seems to be ‘mad’ at him. “Poor bastard,” he said softly,”
George and Lennie want the American dream they want to make money and have a happy life.
“…Little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and―” “An’ live off the fatta the lan’,” “…we’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens.”
Lennie wants the dream so he can have his rabbits, and George wants the dream so he can relax and do what he wants.
“And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof ― Nuts!”
This dream sounded very nice to everyone, it sounded so nice that two other people became involved.
Candy wanted this dream because he was old, his only and life long companion a dog was shot dead by one of the ranchmen, he wanted a friend to live with and a place where he would grow old and die. When Candy heard about George and Lennie’s plan he jumped at the chance because it would fulfil all his needs and wants. He would have George and Lennie as his companions. Candy got involved because he had some money and he made himself sound helpful.
“…Tha’s three hundred, and I got fifty more comin’ the end a the month. Tell you what —… S’pose I went in with you guys. Tha’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some.”
George and Lennie did not have much money and found this offer very tempting so they agreed and now there were three people involved in the dream. At this point the dream seemed as if it was going to really happen and become reality after all these years of hoping and dreaming.
“ They fell into a silence. They looked at one another amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true. George said reverently, “Jesus Christ! I bet we could swing her.” His eyes were full of wonder. “ I bet we could swing her.” he repeated softly.”
The next person who became involved in the dream is Crooks a “…Negro stable buck.” Crooks wanted the dream because it sounded nice, it reminded him of his childhood years. He also wanted the dream so he could not be seen as an outcast, from the rest of them. He also wants a companion to share stories with and to play card with, if Crooks gets involved in the dream he would have all those things and he would also live with George, Lennie and Crooks and not in the stable. So Crooks also jumped at the chance to have his dream come true.
“…If you …guys would want a hand to work for nothing— just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand. I ain’t so crippled I can’t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.”
And then there were four, which made the dream seem even more real and gave them even more hope unlike the other ranchmen who don’t have much to look forward to.
The ranchmen had a range of dreams which were the American Dream the dream to be a cowboy and the dream to be famous. The ranchmen had very artificial lives they looked forward to reading the magazines and they pictured themselves in the magazines as glamorous cowboys as portrayed in the magazines. It seems very pathetic but it was necessary for their survival, if they did not have a dream they would be very depressed and have nothing to look forward to.
All the ranchmen did in their free time was play solitaire a one-man game, “ George laid out his deliberate solitaire hand…” and go to Susy’s, a brothel.
“Jus’ the usual thing. We go in to old Susy’s place. Hell of a nice place. Old Susy’s a laugh—always crackin’ jokes… You can get a shot for two bits… If a guy don’t want a flop, why he can just set in the chairs and a couple or three shots.”
The ranchmen have no stable companionship, relationship or sex life, all they have is the brothel. Where they go every week and spend their money or the women and drinking.
Also another person that has a dream, but it is not like any of other ones. It is the dream of Curley’s wife the dream of most young girls to become famous.
“I tell ya I could of went with shows. Not jus’ one neither. An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers…”
She is the character I feel the most sympathy for. She is the only girl on the ranch; she does not have any friends. She got married at a very young age and is now repenting it. She is married to Curley the boss’s son. Because she is married to him no one will talk to her in case they will get fired,
“ Don’t you even take a look at that bitch… I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her… well you keep away from her, ‘caus she’s a rattrap…” Because the ranchmen think like this she feels very lonely and tries to get attention from the workers by dressing up.
“…rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters…she wore a cotton house dress and red mules…”
She is not loved by anyone especially her husband; the only reason she got married to him was to get back at her mother. She tries to talk with the ranchmen but they only talk back, when nobody is looking because once they talk to her they also feel like they have a friend.
Steinbeck showed that every person needs a dream to keep his or her hopes up even if it is never going to come true. They all need a something to live for, a comfort, a goal, which would keep them motivated. It would provide them with confidence and self-respect. Even though each person knew that their dreams were never going to come true, they still they believed in it.
“Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” Even though Crooks got involved in George and Lennie’s dream he still believed in this quote. The only person who actually always believed in the dream was Lennie because he was not mature enough to realise that the dream would never come true.
Lennie always lived in the dream, he believed in the dream so much that he knew the dream of by heart, he could recite it at any time, any place. But when Candy and George found Curley’s wives dead body they knew the dream was back to being a dream, but still Candy tries desperately one last time to make the dream reality.
“ You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George? You an’ me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, George? Can’t we?”
Before George killed Lennie, George made it seem like Lennie was living in the dream so in fact the only person to ever live in the dream was Lennie. But when Lennie dies the dream also dies, and George and Candy go back to their artificial lives of dreaming and hoping for another chance to make their dreams come true.
By Jai Popat
