Dreams
George and Lennie’s dreams are very different. However, in many different ways that you would not understand why they are together. Lennie is a slow, child like man. He is not intentionally bad, but he is naïve and so he gets himself in trouble all the time, which he and George have to run from. This is how they find themselves on the ranch where the story is set. We will meet the characters outlined below, and follow the events that lead to tragedy with the death of Lennie. George Milton and Lennie Small are a dying breed — migrant workers
who roam the Western frontier looking for work, food, and a place to bunk down. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck reveals the difficulty of dreaming big
for such small things. Lennie and George are just ordinary men, yearning for
their own space to find peace, leisure, and self-fulfilment: just "a little house and a couple of acres." But their plans go horribly wrong; they cannot seem to avoid their inevitable defeat just by yearning for a different fate.
Lennie dreams of having a farm of his own, where he can have rabbits of his own. He thinks that he and George are able to earn and save enough money to buy a piece of land and make it a farm. He wants to have lots of rabbits there, which he can pet whenever he wants; he likes the feel of soft things, which is why he strikes Curley’s wife’s hair!
However, when he realises that Curley’s wife is dead, he looks down at her, and carefully he removes his hand from over her mouth, “I don’t want to hurt you,” he says, “but George’ll be mad if you yell.” And then he whispers in fright: “I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing.” From outside the barn came a cry of men and the double clang of shoes of metal. For the first time, Lennie becomes conscious of the outside. He crouches down into the hay and listens.
He panics after killing Curley’s wife, not because he killed somebody, but because he is worried about the future of his dream. This becomes obvious in how he reacts. “I done a real bad thing,” he said. “I shouldn’t of did that. George’ll be mad. An’… he said …an’ hide in the brush till he come.”
Here, he knows that his dream will never come true because “He done a bad thing,” but he doesn’t even know he’s done a bad thing. He only thinks he’s done a bad thing because of what George has told him and what George will think when he finds out and it clearly shows the importance of this dream to him. He thinks that after this ‘accident’ his dream will not come true, and he is worried that George would realize their dream without him.
If someone says something and George says another, he will always believe George.
In the end when George talks to him, he makes Lennie believe in their dream again. George is doing this because he wants Lennie to have happy thoughts before his death. George thinks he has to shoot him in order to prevent Curley killing him in a crueller way.
George is the story’s main character, a small, quick man with well-defined features. A migrant ranch worker, George dreams of one day saving enough money to buy his own place and be his own boss; like any other ranch worker does, living off of the land and settling down with Lennie.
The majority of George’s energy is devoted to looking after Lennie, whose blunders prevent George from working towards his dream, or even living the life of a normal rancher. George and Lennie have a really close relationship. One could describe their relationship by saying that George is the leader of both because he is cleverer than Lennie. That’s why Lennie admires George, he is his role model and he imitates George whenever he can. They have travelled and worked together since Lennie’s Aunt Clara, whom George knew, died. So George feels responsible for Lennie because of his mental disability, and not knowing how to look after himself since his Aunt always used to look after him, and if he were alone, he would not be able to find any work. In addition, one can see that Lennie and George are good friends; however, at times their relationship is more like one between a father and his son.
The old, one-handed swamper Candy is the first worker to befriend George and Lennie at Soledad. Humble and weary, candy seems to be at the end of his line after Carlson shoots his last possession and companion, his old blind dog. Candy also feels that he too can be disposed of when he is no longer useful, “when they can me here, I wisht somebody’d shoot me,” he says to George and Lennie.
He dreams of having somebody to share the last few years he has left with. He doesn’t want to die alone so he offers all his money to be in on the dream. His substantial sum of money and the fact that he knows of a place make it impossible for George to refuse him. Candy clings to this hope of a future as a drowning man would to a piece of driftwood. The idea of getting their land enchants the three men who were “bemused by the beauty of the thing and when this lovely thing should come about.”
Like Candy, Crooks is also a victim of circumstance. Crooks is a small man with a crooked spine who doesn’t have any family or friends. The only thing that he has is his books. In the chapter where he is in his room, you can see all the books on the shelves and you can tell that he is an intelligent person and the only company he keeps are his books.
He is very intelligent but extremely lonely. It is important to mention that Crooks is a black person. In general black people who live under white people have the dream to be white too, thus having acceptance in society.
The personal dream of Crooks is to be accepted by the other white people so he can be equal to them, rather than being judged by them because of his colour. “They play cards in there,” he says to Lennie, “but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink…” It appears that this is more a case of just having friendships regardless of skin colour, Crooks is desperate to have human companionship.
When George and Lennie talk about their dream, Crooks is very sceptical. He doesn’t believe in the dream because he thinks about it very realistically. He has experience in failed dreams of farm workers, “Nobody never gets to heaven and nobody never gets no land.” As a result of constantly being discriminated against, Crook’s has clearly become cynical which is why he reacts so scornfully when he hears about the dream of Lennie and Candy.
In this story the main characters have dreams to flee from their own wretched lives. Crooks for example dreams of being accepted by the other farm workers because of his black skin; Curley’s wife dreams of being a film star at the movies, to be away from Curley, who doesn’t like to see her flirting with other men because of his jealousy. He is like a prime male who thinks that the only place his wife should be is at home.
Curley’s wife dreams of having a lot of friends because she feels lonely in her situation: she is the only woman on the farm and she is not allowed to speak to the farm workers because Curley is very jealous. Thus she has only Curley to speak to. Although she is married to Curley and has good living conditions, she would like to change her life; perhaps to become a famous movie star because she believes that she has got the talent and the clothes, “ I tell you I ain’t used to living like this.” She says to Lennie.
Concerning her every-day life, it should be mentioned that there is nothing she has to work on. Therefore being Curley’s wife also means being alone a lot and having hardly any friends, for Curley is a jealous type of guy. Besides, Curley always keeps an eye on her in order to be currently informed where she is and what she is doing. For instance, when he sees Curley sees his wife talking to the other ranch workers, he comes and asks what they are talking about. It can deduced that because of all these reasons, one can say that Curley’s wife is a very lonely person. Thus, in chapter four, when Curley’s wife is once again feeling lonely, she goes and talks to Lennie in order to create a friendship.
She tells him about her dream of being a famous movies star before she married Curley. At first Lennie tells her to back off, apparently because he would get in trouble if ‘George’, finds out that he has been talking to her, “if George sees me talkin’ to you, he’ll give me hell,” Lennie says cautiously. “He tol’me so.”
She gets angry and cries, “What’s the matter with me? ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?” Lennie feels bad because he’s upset her.
“You’re a nice guy. I don’t know why I can’t talk to you. I ain’t doin’no harm to you.” She says this because she thinks that George thinks that she’s going to harm Lennie and that’s why he told him to stay away from her, but when it’s actually the other way around. George is afraid that Lennie is going to harm Curley’s wife.
The idea of dreams develops throughout the novel. In chapter one, we only learn about George and Lennie is dreams when they are running away from Weed, and as we get to know the other characters, we learn more about their dreams as we read further into the book. In addition, there are many instances that foreshadow the final act of Lennie’s murder by his best friend. For example, when Candy says that he hopes to be shot if he gets ‘canned’ this serves as a prophesy to Lennie’s demise for Lennie has reached the end of his journey by actually committing murder.
Thus, the story ends where it began — in a grove of willows by the edge of a river. Heartbreaking circumstances have ruined a journey to find happiness. A safe haven for schemes and plans becomes the stage for violence and death. A dream dies before it can live.
The final chapter brings the novel to a conclusion at the same point where it began, the clearing near the Salinas River. In this one instance Lennie did follow George's orders, remembering where he should go in case an emergency occurred. The novel thus comes full circle, with Lennie once again repeating a pattern of harmful behaviour that causes the two characters to need to escape. Yet in this instance both George and Lennie realize that continuing to move from ranch to ranch is now impossible. Lennie suggests removing himself from society completely, living in a mountain cave, while George finds another solution.
In this chapter Lennie's behaviour moves from simplistic innocence to complete lunacy. He experiences wild hallucinations that draw out his fear that George will harm or abandon Lennie. These visions reveal once again the simplicity of Lennie's thoughts. He is literally haunted by his rabbits. The image of Aunt Clara is more problematic. She is a domineering mother figure that lends well to a Freudian analysis of the text, and perhaps explains the docile tendencies in Lennie despite his massive strength. Lennie had been cowed by the little old lady, who despite her death years before still holds great sway over the dim-witted man. Both the rabbit and Aunt Clara reinforce the idea that Lennie fears that he is a burden to George and that he would be better off living alone and isolated.
In this novel, they talk about dreams a lot but none of the dreams comes true because they all fall apart because of the incident between Curley’s wife and Lennie. Curley’s wife’s dream dies with her, Crooks just drops out because he knows that it’s not going to happen, he’s seen lots of farm workers coming and boasting about their dreams and about how it’s going to come true but they never actually get there, something always happens, it’s as if the farm is possessed.
George could fulfil his dream if he wanted to with Candy, but there is no hope for him because Lennie is dead. Lennie loses his life but George loses his dream as does everyone on the ranch who was in on the dream.
"Lennie never done it in meanness,” George says... "All the time he done bad things, but he never done one of 'em mean."
John Steinbeck uses the theme of the American Dream in his novel because that is when the Great Depression took place.
The storyline is very realistic it’s like he is talking from experience. The way he describes the characters and their dreams has a meaning to it, just like the people who lived through the Depression felt like. Of Mice and Men is a mournful, distantly heard lament for the loss of American innocence, just like the Great Depression. This has always been in the Steinbeck novella, but it is the dominant mood of the book and film, which is gorgeous in the idealized way of beauty remembered. The wheat fields are golden, the skies blinding blue.
John Steinbeck knew his subjects well. Growing up in Salinas, California, Steinbeck lived in the heart of a region that relied heavily on migrant farm workers like Of Mice and Men's George and Lennie. With both this novel and with The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck focused the attention of his readers on the troubles of these people who were denied a real chance at achieving their dreams due to circumstances over which they had no control. In doing so, Steinbeck cemented his reputation as a writer whose compassionate commitment to the broken members of society is virtually unmatched.
Of Mice and Men doesn't mean to be either realistic or melodramatic. George is a recollection of a simpler way of life that was swept aside by the realities of the Depression and all the momentous social changes that followed. In particular it is about the relationship of George and Lennie, which is not all that simple. George is father, mother and brother to Lennie. The two men are a mismatched couple, making do with what fate has dealt them. Early in the story it seems as if they finally are going to realize the dream of their own spread. The one-handed Candy, who has $ 400 saved up, offers to throw in with them. It is almost enough to swing the deal. Then Curley's wife, who remains unnamed, ruins everything, the dream mostly.
It seemed that everyone can be moved by the tragic plight of two solitary friends driven by a dream that was so simple yet so unattainable. In this way, John Steinbeck arouses sympathy for the oft-forgotten breed of migrant workers, who suffered silently in the post-Depression era. He took a simple tale and wove into it a moving, empathic questioning of something usually taken for granted — who could take part in the American Dream?
However, George realises that the dream is over because Lennie is going to die no-matter what and there is nothing he can do about it. The best thing to do is just cover up his own tracks because if he doesn’t, Curley will think that Lennie and George planned it together, (to kill his wife.)
Of Mice and Men is a novel of compassion. It does not protest about life. It observes life and recreates it, leaving the reader to judge. Steinbeck introduces many characters that are not fully accepted by the society and reveals just how badly they are treated by other ranch hands. This makes the reader empathise and as one can clearly observe, the book seems to be a novel of ‘compassion.’
Dreams in general are in certain phases of sleep, more or less clear or predominated pictorial mental experiences with irregular situations, time and personality consciousness. Maybe dreams are important for humans, to make up some worlds of their own, where they can get or reach everything they want to. Perhaps they might be good if you’re sad, to make you become happy again. However as dreams are just a kind of illusion, it may be dangerous to live always in a dream world.
