Plan:

1. George and Lennie’s dream

● Brief introduction of American dream
● Purpose of the dream
● Explaining their dream
2. Candy’s involvement to their dream
● Why is this dream important to him? (feeling useless)
● How could it benefit him? (friendship)
3. The fragility of the dream
● Crooks’s remark about the dream
● George is an ‘idealist’
● The tragic end of the dream
4. Curley’s wife’s dream

Essay:
In the novella Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. Dream is an important theme. It
is primarily presented through George and Lennie. However, many secondary characters’s
dreams are also indicated throughout the text.

Firstly, George and Lennie’s dream is undeniably one of the most significant elements in the
novella. Their dream is closely related to what is often known as the ‘American Dream’. In
the 1930s, thousands of men had to flee from their home to other parts of the United States in
search of jobs to earn a living as itinerant workers, due to the devastating impact the Great
Depression had on society at that time. These men commonly had a dream of owning their
own property once they had saved enough money. George’s dream is similar to that of the
‘American dream’. He hopes to one day ‘live off the fatta the land’. In contrast, Lennie’s
dream is to have some rabbits so that he could pet, which seems simple and rather futile. The
purpose of them having a dream is not to actually achieve it, but to give them a source of
motivation to survive under the harsh conditions.

The prospect of this dream has attracted Candy to become involved in their plan. Candy
believes this dream will be life-changing for him. We are able to infer that he feels totally
useless after Carlson shoots his only companion, which is an aged dog. Men on the ranch
typically believe that anything that could not benefit them, should be discarded or destroyed.
Candy once said miserably that ‘I won’t have no place to, an’ I can’t get no jobs’ if he no
longer is able to work because of his ageing . He thinks the dream is an opportunity, or as a
form of escape from the hardships on the ranch, for him to live the rest of his life in
happiness.

However, the fragility of the dream soon comes into appearance. Crooks remarks that he had
seen many people dream of owning a piece of land, but ‘never get none under their hand’. In
reality it is true, most men got paid extremely low at the time the story was set. Instead of
saving their wages, they spent all of the money on recreational activities every week as a
relief for the intense labour they had to endure. Furthermore, the way George is illustrating
the dream to Lennie as if it is merely a folktale, makes me question the feasibility of the
dream. Perhaps George is an idealist and he is only saying it as a sort of comfort rather than
an actual plan. By the end of the story, we see the entire dream falling into pieces when
George kills Lennie in order to prevent him from Curley’s torture.

Overall, George and Lennie’s dream is shown to be totally outside of their capability.
Steinbeck uses it to present dreams as something that leads cynical men into believing in
them and then mock them for their credulousness.