Of Mice and Men
Hopes and dreams are important
to discuss
By Sarah Wakeley & Mahjuz Lashkor
George and Lennie’s Dream
George and Lennie share a dream - to own a little patch
of land and live on it in freedom. He is so set on the idea
that he even knows of some land that he thinks they
could buy. In the book they repeatedly talk about their
dream “Someday-we’re gonna get a jack together and
we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres
and a cow and some pigs and-” No one thought that their
dream would come true but Lennie and George believed
that they could make it come true because they had
each other. This was during the time of the ‘Great
Depression’ so this was unlikely to happen. Lots of men
on ranches had the same dream but none could ever
make it come true, most of these men came to America
chasing the ‘American Dream’( They go to America to
escape poverty and to make their fortunes)
Lennie’s dream
Lennie wants to have land with George but he is more
interested in having the rabbits. George says “Somedaywe’re gonna get a jack together and we’re gonna have a
little house and a couple of acres and a cow and some
pigs and-” and Lennie adds in “An’ live of the fatta the
lan’,” Lennie shouted. “An’ have rabbits.” This quote
shows Lennie’s simplicity, all he wants to do is tend the
rabbits, this shows how child like he is. Because he’s like
a child he looks up to George and wants to stay with
him, as he’s known George from when they were young.
So Lennie trusts him.
George’s dream
George’s dream would be to settle down and
have a wife, but he has Lennie instead. “ If I was
alone I could live so easy. I could get a job an’
work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when
the end of the month come, I could take my fifty
bucks and go into town and get what ever I
wanted.” This shows how caring George is
because he talks about how easy life would be
without Lennie, yet he chooses to stay with him.
This again contributes to the idea that Lennie is
childlike so he needs someone to look after him.
Curley’s wife’s dream
She dreams of being a movie star. Her hopes were raised
by a man who claimed he would take her to Hollywood,
but when she didn't receive a letter from him, she
married Curley. She talks to Lennie about her dream
“Nother time I met a guy, and he was in the pitchers. We
went out to the riverside dance palace with him. He said
he’s gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural.
Soon’s he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to
me about it.” This shows how ambitious she is but when
her dreams were ruined she married Curley and is now
feeling lonely so she talks to Lennie about her dreams
even though she knows that he’s not really paying
attention to her.
Candy’s dream
Candy joins George and Lennie's plan of owning a piece
of land. In chapter 3 lennie and George talk about their
dream. Candy overhears them and offers to help them
pay for it. They agree to tell no one. Candy’s quite old
and can’t work on the ranch forever so once he finds an
opportunity he has to take it. “They’ll can me purty soon.
Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses and
they’ll put me on the country. Maybe if I give you guys
my money, you’ll let me hoe in the garden even after I
ain’t no good at it.” His savings make the dream actually
possible to achieve. He is very disappointed when he
finds out the dream is not possible because he’s not
going to have anywhere to go when the ranch is done
with him.
Crooks’ dream
Crooks dreams of being seen as equal to everyone else. “My old
man had a chicken ranch, ‘bout ten acres. The white kids came out
to play at our place, an’ some of them was pretty nice.” “There
wasn’t another coloured family for miles around. And there ain’t a
coloured man on this ranch an’ there’s jus’ one family in Soledad.”
He knows his civil rights. He remembers fondly his childhood, when
he played with white children who came to his family's chicken
ranch, and longs for a similar relationship with white people again
but can’t while he’s on the ranch, and now that he’s older he
understands why people treat him differently.
Lennie goes into Crooks’ room. Crook senses he has power over
Lennie and tries to persuades him that George isn’t coming back.
When it looks like Lennie’s getting angry , Crooks backs off. Crooks
is trying to show Lennie what it’s like to be lonely and have no one to
look after him, but Lennie takes it seriously and thinks that George
isn’t coming back. He then tries to reassure himself by saying
George will come back.
Curley’s dream
Curley dreams of being big this is why he hates big guys. Candy say
“He hates big guy. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guy’s. Kind
of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy.” He likes to show
off by getting in to fights because he’s good with his fists “Curley’s
pretty handy. He done quite a bit in the ring.”, “he’s a lightweight,
and he’s handy.” He picks on bigger people, because if he wins he
proves that he’s a tough guy, but if he loses big guy gets blamed
and told to pick on someone his own size, by doing this he is
showing off. “Maybe he’s showin’ off fer his wife”. He sees his wife
as a possession, and is very protective of her, that’s why he’s
always looking for her. “ Well, that glove’s fulla Vaseline.” and “Well,
I tell ya what – Curley says he’s keepin’ that hand soft for his wife.”
One reason he does this is because he hits his wife and he doesn’t
want the bruising to show. He is trying to keep control of her and
make him self look big.
Why are dreams important?
Dream were very important at this specific time
because of the ‘Great Depression’, it was
something that would keep people going and
give them hope. All the immigrant workers that
came to America, came looking for the
‘American Dream.’ They came to America
believing that the streets were paved with gold,
and everything was perfect. But they soon came
to believe that it wasn’t all it seemed. There was
no jobs and if they did get a job they would have
terrible pay and minimal living conditions.