Lennie and George’s dream was doomed from the start as Lennie was accused of attempted rape where they used to live in Weed due to his ‘bear like tendency’ to keep hold of things he liked and that felt soft. Steinbeck attempts to raise questions in the mind of the reader of whether these two people George and Lennie should be together as a partnership. Lennie constantly asks George to re-tell him their dream and ambition, “Come on, George. Tell me. Please George. Like you done before.”
Lennie is too innocent to survive in the world that exists as he doesn’t realise when he does things incorrectly but is a good worker as George says in chapter two “But I say he’s a damn good worker. He can put up a four hundred pound bale”.
George and Lennie’s routine was monotonous, always the same, but they had to do it in order to keep their dream of independence alive.
Steinbeck uses a language that makes the novel have an atmosphere of reality and what it was like during the depression. An example of the language used is when Crooks scowls at Lennie due to him trespassing into his room, “you got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room”. This shows that Crooks didn’t want anything to do with the rest of the ranch due to the racism and most of all the depression.
The other characters sucked into Lennie and George’s dream are Candy and Crooks. Crooks is a negro stable buck that “got a crooked back where a horse kicked him”. Crooks has an apple box which contained a range of medicine bottles, both for him and for the horses. Crooks is sucked into the dream as he wants to get away from the racism and abuse at the ranch and live on a bit of land like his father used to when Crooks was a child. Crooks’ father used to own a chicken farm and for Crooks it was like reliving happier days. Crooks was called things like a “nigger” and was threatened by Curley’s wife, “you know what I can do if you open your trap”. Crooks has to pull out of the attempted dream as George found out that Lennie had been telling Crooks about what they had planned, “ I thought I tol’ you not to tell nobody about that”. Crooks also pulls out because of Curley’s wife’s statement, “you know what I can do if you open your trap?” This reminds him of the racist attitudes towards him. Curley’s wife is at the bottom of the hierarchy of power along with Crooks but still has more power than Crooks. This gives a feeling of irony that a white woman has more power than a black man.
Candy is the “ol’ Swamper” and has only one hand as he lost his other one whilst working on the ranch whilst he was younger. Candy only has one permanent companion which is his dog, “I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup” Candy loses his dog as Carlson shoots it, we never find out its name. Candy gets sucked into the dream after his dog is shot as he has no one to talk to during the day and is rather lonesome “ cause I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing”. This gives a feeling of inequality, that there are things wrong, physically, with Crooks (crooked back), Candy (missing hand) and Lennie (mentally) and Steinbeck hints that for such characters, The American Dream is impossible, as society is too cruel.
Curley’s wife is the only female that we gather to be on the ranch. Her character is a flirty type as she needs love and attention because Curley doesn’t give it to her. That is the reason why she has the need to flirt with men. Her ‘American Dream’ was to become an actress, and she waited for that letter that never arrived “I never got that letter” “I always thought my ol’ lady stole it”. She instead decided to marry Curley but in a way that backfires as she isn’t treated with respect and the attitude he shows towards her isn’t pleasant “I don’t like Curley, He ain’t a nice fella.” Her death, in a way, was a release because she didn’t stop in her attempt to seek attention and Lennie, due to him being too innocent, didn’t understand what he was doing and consequently took her life.
Curley is a small, robust character whose dream was to become a professional boxer. He only really gets along with Slim and his father and despises Lennie and doesn’t show much respect for George either. This maybe because Lennie is a big character and possibly is superior to Curley which would build up jealousy. Curley thinks he is fast and powerful but it backfires when he has a scuffle with Lennie as he consequently broke nearly bone in his hand, “this punk sure had it comin’ to him. But –Jesus! He ain’t hardly got no han’”
All dreams, good and bad, are smashed as are some of the people involved. Steinbeck is saying that life in America during this period of time was difficult and the poor had to dream in order to cope with the hard ships.
In my opinion Steinbeck is trying to say that the American Dream is a goal every human being has in life or an ambition. Steinbeck is saying that it is hard to achieve when a country is going through a period of depression.
