Outside the house would be land, with some animals. ‘“…a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs”’ would mean they could ‘“…live off the fatta the lan’”’, which Lennie delightfully shouts. I would say this is another genuinely essential part of the plan because it would mean they could be self sufficient. The cow would provide milk and eventually meat and the pigs would supply young for meat too. Having the land would mean they could grow vegetables and plan trees for fruit; no money would be going out yet none really needing to be spent anyway. Just them and the land.
For Lennie, the vital object is chickens and rabbits in a hutch. He listens in awe when George says, ‘“Sling some grain to the chickens”’ and chirps up on numerous occasions with suggestive saying like, ‘“I wish’t we’d get the rabbits pretty soon”’ and ‘“…they’d nibble an’ they’d nibble”’. Lennie needs something to pet and we have learnt that early on in the story, when George tells the reader of what happened and why they had to move; also when George bans the stroked dead mouse. Rabbits would be tougher than mice and would breed to create more things to pet. Lennie needs something to fuss over as it gives him the feeling of security and it’s what he enjoys.
A fire in a stove is yet another building block to the final picture. A “…little fat iron stove, an’ in the winter there’d be a fire goin’ in it” is exactly what they would like. With this main bit of equipment they could cook proper food well and keep themselves warm sufficiently through the night or day. If it were raining they would be able to get dry and stay waterless for as long they would need. It would be permanent if they wanted which would be new because the fires they create when living outdoors get put out when it rains.
Thick cream on the milk is what they dream of. ‘“…how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it”’ is what Lennie shouts to George about. They are looking forward, for once, being able to eat food which is nice and rich. Something incredibly tasty compared to plain baked beans. I judge that it’s key in there fantasy; everyone, after all, is entitled to the delicacies of life.
George and Lennie’s dream will never become a reality which means sadly and consequently Candy’s (our next character) won’t either. Being on the ranch means word travels quickly, if anyone else finds out, I am sure their plan will be in ruins. Lennie doesn’t like this place and he makes that quite clear when he cries out to George ‘“I don’ like the place, George”’. It is as if he knows the place will shatter their dreams and quite honestly get them into serious trouble. The events which appear next are the final straw weights which break the dreams’ back.
It is in the middle of chapter 2 that we are presented with Candy. The description of him is brief yet we find out that he is “…old” and incredibly nosy. He lost his hand on the ranch which George and Lennie go to work at. As compensation he was given $250 and a permanent job there. ‘“Lost me hand right here on the ranch”’ and because of that ‘“… they gave me two hundred an’ fifty dollars”’. Candy lost his hand slaving for them and the ranch owners felt guilty. They paid him the money to shed the heavy guilt burden they would have had to carry on their shoulders.
Candy has a dream to go with George and Lennie because he reckons the ranch owners will sack him soon; after all he is getting older and less able to do odd jobs with one hand. ‘“They’ll can me purty soon”’ is his way of saying the will sack him pretty soon. He is having this conversation with George and the language used is one of dialect and slang. This would be common at the time of migrant workers. Old Candy got hurt four years ago and he has now aged and can’t do the jobs as well as he used to. When he is of no use at all and they call it quits on him, he has to have somewhere to go.
When talking about his dream he becomes lost in wonder of it all and rushes ahead with the sharing of his stuff. He is even willing to do anything he can possibly do, ‘“Give you guys my money”’ and ‘“… you’ll let me hoe in the garden even after I ain’t no good at it. An I’ll wash dishes an’ little chicken stuff like that”’. He warms to the idea; ‘“…went on excitedly”’. This tells us that Candy gets lost in the moment and is excited about the good things and ideas in life. Perhaps it also tells us that he agrees to the point so quickly there is room to get hurt or disappointed rapidly too.
To be able to work unpaid, just doing things for his keep, is the ingredient he adds to the dream’s recipe. ‘“I could cook”’ is what he offers as well as all the odd jobs. All these little responsibilities he enjoys and would like to do for free. He wants to leave the world of money alone and work for his keep. Food and a bed is what he’d look forward to every night; debt free and knowing he has enjoyed his day. I am certain that he would not be made to “…swamp out wash rooms”.
Could his dream become a reality? Nothing is impossible yet no one can be convinced that George actually knows of such a place as he elucidates during this chapter. There is also a great doubt as to whether Lennie and George would be able to earn that 50 bucks as soon as possible. After all, their brief introduction with Curley, the husband of our next established character, did not go amazingly and it is pretty evident that these men will not get on well. And as for Candy, would he be able to keep it a secret? ‘“Don’t tell nobody about it”’ is what George tells him to do. In spite of the plan, they have only just met. It’s possible that the word of the ambition will get around before the money is essentially secured.
Curley’s wife does not have a name; she is made out to be incredibly evil. Steinbeck makes her out to be worse than Satan himself. I imagine this is reflective of Steinbeck’s relationships with women and experiences which he has never go over; to him women are inferior. Her entrance is not flattering but entirely the opposite; she appears dressed in red from head to toe. Red is a colour a lot of people relate with the devil and hell. By comparing her to this fire red perhaps indicates that her temper can be like flames too. Up and down. His understanding of women is that they are appallingly immoral. Her hair, seemingly, looks like “…fat sausages”. Her dream is different to George, Lennie and Candy’s but is still an American girl’s dream which is sadly an impossible goal in the lives of many women.
Furthermore Curley’s wife sneaks around mysteriously. She brings danger with her and bad things happen to people who communicate too much with her. She is, as they boys describe her, ‘“…a rat trap”’ and she speaks ‘“…darkly”’ to people. I think Steinbeck is trying to describe the way she regards the people around her and the way her voice is of a high tone with some people yet incredibly harsh with others. This confirms that she cannot be trusted; no one wants to be with her because she will get you into trouble. It seems that the trouble she will get you in has been chosen by Steinbeck to be mainly sexual. Many clues are given towards this such as the way she dresses, her flirting and snooping around male sleeping quarters. ‘“Oh, I seen her give the eye”’ suggests she look at other men regularly.
Before I mentioned how George and Lennie describe hoe lonely they are. Curley’s wife needs her dream because she to is lonesome. When having a conversation with Lennie she says ‘“I get lonely”’. This could either be a plea to get him into bed or it could be because of the trouble she has got men on the ranch into before, nobody wants to talk to her in case she may hurt them or make them lose their jobs. Jobs at this time were scarce and that’s why she was left alone, by herself.
While talking about her dream she tries to impress people and show off her hidden talents. It’s as if she wants to be the centre of attention constantly. ‘“She looked closely at Lennie to see whether she was impressing him”’ gives you the idea about how she wants to have friends and make an impact on all the men. She tries to do so by showing off about how good she is with her one claim to fame.
The dream of Curley’s wife is to be famous and star in numerous movies. ‘“He says I could go with that show”’ and ‘“…he said I was a natural”’ show that she almost met her aim. By being famous and popular she then would have friends, that is obvious link to why her dream means so much to her.
Her dream will never become an actuality because the man, who promised her, her connection to fame, never sent her that letter. It’s possible that he was not in it to make her a star but to make her happy by saying this. That way he could gain his sexual intentions with her. She would believe everything he said. She however blamed her the whole thing on her mother; she thought she hid the letter out of jealousy. To prove a point to her mother she married Curley. ‘“So I married Curley”’ is how this rather long discussion between her and Lennie in the barn ends. Curley is too controlling and he will never let her achieve her dream, so by proving a point she has wrecked her chance of being the only one in the book to make her dream into life.
(A little while later we meet Crooks.) Crooks is “…a proud aloof man” who is quite defensive and scowly. “His eyes he stiffened and a scowl came onto his face” proves this. His “…old man” owned a chicken ranch and he is a black skinned man who over the years faces immense racial discrimination. That factor will always ruin his wishes; growing up black meant he was constantly the target of racist bullying. This had a major impact on his personality and I don’t blame him for being defensive if you’re constantly under shelling.
Crooks’ needs a dream because he is another character who is lonely and he doesn’t have anybody. Even George has Lennie (and vice versa) and Curley’s wife has Curley but Crooks doesn’t have a soul. There is not another black in the community; he is alone. He wants to live normally and have someone he can talk to without the hitting or abusing him physically and mentally. “…didn’t have nobody” and ‘“…a guy needs somebody to be near him”’ proves my point immeasurably. He just wants to be treated right normally and not have to sit by himself in another room; the removal of segregation.
As soon as he talks about his dream it affects him deeply. It sends him back to his childhood: back to where he was recognised as a person. ‘“I was born right here in California. My old man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres. The white kids came to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice”’ shows that he wants his dream because it takes him back to his happy days with friends and family. The times when he just got to enjoy himself freely, without restrictions.
His dream is to get off the ranch where he is disrespected and he is willing to work for free and lend a hand. He wants o have friends and be treated like a fellow citizen not some thing that apparently doesn’t have feelings. He want somewhere to belong and somewhere he can stay when he gets to crippled and ill to work. He doesn’t mind working for free, rather like Candy, a bed and some food but most importantly friends, is all he needs to be happy. His dream allows him to have a sense of belonging and it allows him to be in a world where skin colour does not matter.
Miserably, his dream will never become a reality either. After completely falling into the dream when discussing it, Curley’s wife hits him back down to the bigoted earth. “She closed in on him, ‘You know what I could do?’…Crooks seemed to grow smaller” illustrates just what she uses against him, emotional blackmail. She knocks him down and destroys his thoughts of happiness. She does this just because he spoke to her slightly out of turn or from another point of view, like a white person. She shrinks him back down to the place where he can be accused of anything.
Perhaps she says it because if she cannot be happy why should anyone else. If her dream is never going to be achieved why should others have the benefit of attaining theirs? Especially if their skin is a darker shade then hers; to her this is outrageous. When she is described to have ‘“…a brittle quality”’ her actions towards Crooks are explained. Crooks is more emotionally hurt than anything else. All he wants is somewhere he fits in and is valued. It’s people like Curley’s wife who make life so much harder for him and make it nearly impossible to achieve anything. Just because of his skin. Disgusting.
When Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife, George and consequently Candy’s and Crooks dream is destroyed. In a way their grouped dream is like a puzzle; each one of them is a piece and without Lennie the picture is not complete. They may all potentially lose their jobs because of this death and that means no money. Without the money they cannot by the small ranch of the old couple. This means they will have to start from the beginning and work their way up, saving money and getting to a point where they have enough money to secure the place they want to. Just one factor will change; there will be no Lennie.
The characters from “Of Mice and Men” all have reasonable dreams which could be easily achieved in our society. Their dreams, sadly, are all shattered by causes some of us would never really consider being a heart crushing thing such as not being able to earn enough money or not receiving a letter. The contents and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, though they have been topic of speculation and interest throughout history. They now seem to be something you do to make you happy. The dreams of George, Lennie, Candy, Curley’s wife and Crooks, nonetheless will never become a reality, making the dream a rather depressing burden of life for many people in an already fragile 1930’s American world.