The Importance Of Dreams In Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men a novella by John Steinbeck, tells the story of two migrant workers, George and his mentally handicapped partner Lennie. The story is set on a ranch in Salinas Valley where they meet various characters among whom are Candy, an elderly swamper and Crooks, a black stable buck with a crooked back. Candy, Crooks, and George have the hope of owning their own property and having a place to belong that they could call their own. In Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck shows how they have hopes and dreams and how reality affect their decisions when striving for these dreams. Candy’s dream is to be secure and have a place to go when he is of no more use. Curley, the boss’s son stirs up a ruckus looking for his wife and goes out to the barn to confront Slim. Most all the men in the bunkhouse follow him out except for George, Lennie and Candy. Lennie convinces George to tell him about their dream, forgetting Candy is in the room. Candy then asks to join them revealing his dream, “They’ll can me purty soon… 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. An’ I’ll wash dishes an’ little chicken stuff like that,” (Steinbeck 60). In having a dream to have somewhere to stay he makes the decision to give up all of his savings to George and Lennie adopting their dream momentarily to …show more content…
Through Candy, Steinbeck shows the dream of security and having somewhere to stay when you are of no more use. Through Crooks, Steinbeck shows the dream of having rights. And through George, Steinbeck shows the dream, “Sure they all want it. Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ somethin’ that was his. Somethin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it,” (76). Steinbeck shows the dream to have somewhere to belong, to have and to