Dreams
Many people have dreams; dreams are what keep people moving. They drive people to work hard to accomplish something in life. Without dreams, people wouldn’t have invented all of the cool technological gadgets we have today. In the novel Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie’s dream related to the typical American dream, which was to have a piece of their own land.
Lennie always asks George to tell him how it will be one day, when they leave the ranch where they work at and go buy their own farm. This will be the day when they can be independent and live their American dream. George says that they will have their own little house to live in without any rules or restrictions. George and Lennie’s dream is so appealing that Candy and Crooks want to join their dream because they think that George and Lennie are close to accomplishing their dream. Steinbeck writes, “Candy said, ‘I ain’t much good…How’d that be?’” (Steinbeck 59). This quote shows that the dream also appeals to Candy because it is everything that they also want to have but were never able to achieve. Candy and Crooks want to be able to live out the American dream even if it meant entering someone else’s. George and Lennie might have achieved this dream if Lennie had not been killed.
Lennie’s dream holds the whole novel together. It is mentioned at the beginning, when it sounds like fantasy. Also it was mentioned in the middle, when it seems like it might come true. Finally, it was mentioned in the end when everybody’s ambitions have been shattered. Steinbeck doesn’t give the migrant workers unrealistic goals but he shows how conditions during the Great Depression were frustrating. This is shown by Crooks who talks about not only George and Lennie’s dream