Even Crooks, the nigga in the story says that he has a dream, to live by himself away from the racism and his suffering. Even though he may be the most intellectual man on the ranch, he has the worst job, a stable buck; this is suggested by the way he reads a lot. You would think that he would have a job in a higher position and earn more money.
The life these men live is very lonely, most of them have lost all contact with their roots, they never have a family and they can never keep any friends, unless they are prepared to travel together like George and Lennie. Where there is great companionship, George is like a parent to Lennie; he looks after him and tries to make sure that Lennie does not get into trouble, but he can stop him all the time, George does have a life he can not follow Lennie all the time. Lennie acts like a small child, because he has a mental disability and often forgets things and is unable to control his strength.
George and Lennie are like others because like others they have problems. Most people have problems. Like Candy says to George, many men come on Saturday night, when the work shift is over, and then they stay on Sunday, when they don’t have to work. Then they go on Monday morning, before the work starts, and no-one can stop them. He knew that they had actually come to work, because they came on a Friday.
George and Lennie, have circumstances like many others, they don’t have a family. Lennie used to have an Aunt called Clara, but she died. George promised her that he would look after him, keep him out of trouble. Apart from Lennie’s Aunt Clara they didn’t have any family or they had left them behind, they were long forgotten. Some did and they were only working because they needed to send money home to feed their family, also some would frequently write letters to other people.
Most miners, in less they stay in the same place and don’t keep on blowing of their money, are quiet poor. This is because they get a monthly wage, and on the first couple of weekends they go into town and spend their money. Also because many of them kept on travelling, by time they got to the next ranch they were out of money, because they would spend a lot of money on travelling. Like George and Lennie, when they got to the ranch they only had ten dollars between them. This may have not been George’s fault because Lennie was constantly getting them into trouble; they were running away from ranches and other places all the time, sometimes they may have not waited for their end of month salary, so work for free.
At the time when this novel was written, the event of the Wall Street Crash occurred, this was devastating to the middle class, because all their savings were worth almost nothing, and therefore twelve to fifteen million people were unemployed. The rich at the time were not very badly affected because, large companies would take over small ones and make a living, also the rich had many possessions and this would help them through depression. The poor would be getting even poorer and because they did not have anything, they were in the same position. Many land owners were happy because they could grow their own food and feed themselves. But it would be worth less selling because at time money had no value.
During the depression people would go out and try to find a piece of land, which they could buy cheap and live on the land, herding their own animals and growing their own feed. But some people would be reluctant to sell because they hoped that the depression would pass, and then the land would be worth a lot more. This could have been the case, with the land George wanted to buy with Lennie.
When George kills Lennie the sorrow is not because Lennie has had to be killed, but because George is like the common worker because he is all alone and his dream to one day own his own land, because that dream had been made with Lennie, he had never thought about the factor that he might not be there, even if Candy did buy the house with him, it would not be the same, because all the dream of rabbits and the childish behaviour of Lennie would not be there. Now George must live without him and travel by himself. He will feel the need to tell someone off, and act superior to someone.
Also the place they lived were small and cramped, they all lived together and would play cards at night. The nigga had to live separate because he was a nigga, and no-one liked him. If anything bad would happen to the nigga it would be justified as ‘it was the nigga’ and this could and would seem as a perfectly good excuse. No-one was allowed in his room, and he would then in turn try to kick out anyone that walked in.
The book reveals how Lennie and George were like so may other men at time. Their circumstances were like so many other itinerant workers because of the type of life they live and the way they constantly travelled, not only because of Lennie’s problem, but also in search for the ‘American Dream’.