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Homework Help: English: Books, Novels & Plays: Of Mice And Men Essay
by Melissa Amador
In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck dreams are one of the most
important themes found through out the book. In this novel George and Lennie
travel together looking for jobs in the vegetable fields of California. George
is an undersized and smart man, and Lennie is a large and slow man who doesn‘t
know his strength, and yet these two have formed a family. George and Lennie
arrive at their new job in a dusty vegetable field in the Salinas Valley. Their
only goal is to fulfill their dream of making enough money to buy an acre of
land with a shack they can call their home. At the ranch they meet the other
workers who are lonely travelers, who lack ambition and are biter. Among all
these men George and Lennie meet Candy, an old man who has lost one of his hands
at the ranch. Candy wants to join George and Lennie in their dream of buying
land. George lets him in the plan since he has $350. George, Lennie, and Candy,
are now connected in a dream that brings them together, but also a dream that
could never be accomplished.
George is the brains of the plan, and he's the one who has all the details
figured out. This is what George repeats to Lennie all through out their plan,
"Someday we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house
and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and-'An' live off the fatta the
lan." (Steinbeck 14) George knows of a couple they can purchase land from
inexpensively since the wife needs an operation and they're in need of the
money. He is in charged of writing to the old couple and informing them he's
interested in buying their land.
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George says "In one month...I'm gon'ta write to them old people that owns the
place that we'll take it." (61) More than anything George wants financial
security, freedom, and a place where Lennie doesn't get in trouble.
Lennie is the slower one, and the one thing he wishes for the most is to buy
land were he and George can live peacefully, and were he can tend the rabbits
and have something soft to pet. Lennie always obeys George's orders so some day
he will be able to accomplish his dream of tending the rabbits. After Lennie
kills a puppy and Curley's wife, he is sure that George won't let him tend the
rabbits. After this event takes place, Lennie loses his dream of tending the
rabbits. This tragic event turns everything around and their dream has failed.
Candy is somewhat a follower and has willingly joined in this dream he also
wishes to realize because he is aware that he is old and won‘t be able to work
much longer. Candy says, "S'pose I went in with you guys. Tha's three hundred
an' fifty bucks I'd put in. It ain't much good, but I could cook and tend the
chickens and hoe the garden some. How'd that be?" (59) Candy is rather old and
has hope for accomplishing something that he has never before had the chance to
since he knows he won‘t be able to work much longer. Buying the land with
George and Lennie is his only hope now that he is lonely after loosing his old
dog and doesn't have any other hopes. In the end the dream is never accomplished
and Candy blames Curley's wife for it. Curley says "You god damn tramp...You done
it, di'n't you? I s'pose you're glad. Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You
wasn't no good. You ain't no good now, you lousy tart." (95) Even after this
Candy still want to buy the land with George, but George says that he should of
known from the beginning it would never happen.
The dream George, Lennie, and Candy had was never possible because of the
crimes
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Lennie committed. It was unrealistic for George to actually believe this dream
would come true, however he believed it because he repeat it, it often to
Lennie. Tragically their move to the ranch was their downfall of the dream they
had once had.
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