“Old Candy turned slowly over. His eyes were wide open. He watched George carefully”
The fact that even Candy seems to be deeply affected by the dream suggests the power of the dream on George and Lennie; they are the ones who the dream originally belonged to and Candy’s awe is evidence for the fact that the dream has even more power over George and Lennie, becoming a significant and essential part of their lives.
George begins to change throughout the text, from his tired nature where he ‘sighed’ due to Lennie’s ignorance, suggesting that he could ‘remember anything if there’s anything to eat in it’, to a gradual build up where George’s is described as ‘growing warmer’, an effect that the dream has on him. George suddenly changes his speech from short, sharp sentences to longer sentencing and repetition, showing his own excitement for the dream:
‘We gotta get a big stake together. I know a little place we can get cheap, but they ain’t givin’ it away’
George’s repetition which begins to build up throughout the text indicates George’s increasing excitement of the dream, and the fact that he recalls this from memory suggests that it evidently is an essential part of his life. After protesting against Lennie, George agrees to tell him about the dream, suggesting that they ‘got a little win’mill. Got a little shack on it….Got a kitchen…. Got a few berries’, which are all components of their dream. Lennie once again interrupts George, exclaiming ‘An’ rabbits, George’, showing his own excitement when George is recalling the dream.
When George is recalling the dream with Lennie the text also describes their physical appearances as changing, when ‘George’s hands stopped working with the cards’, suggesting that the dream has overpowered what is reality in their life. Lennie’s physical response to the recollection of dream is described as Lennie ‘[watching] him with wide eyes’, and even Candy is described as watching George, once again reminding the reader of the essentiality of their dream. Lennie’s voice is also described as changing as a result of the dream, as Lennie gradually becomes more desperate to when Lennie ‘begged’ George to continue recalling the dream.
George’s actions gradually also begin to change, with George described as looking ‘raptly at the wall over Lennie’s head’, suggesting the depth of his and Lennie’s connection to the dream, and is later described as ‘entranced with his own picture’.
The dream is described as powerful throughout the text, and in particular when George and Lennie attempt to recall the dream, describing their situation in the future. There is a constant shift in George’s personality when the dream is recalled, with George sitting entranced and his voice growing warm compared to his usual harsh brittle nature, while Lennie is described as desperate to hear the dream from George. Lennie is also described as watching George ‘with wide eyes’ whenever George tells him the dream, suggesting that both characters see the dream as an essential part of their lives which they share.