Dream is an important theme in the essay.

Many characters have a dream of some sort, but

Steinbeck mainly focuses on George and Lennie, Candy and Curley’s wife. They all dream
of having a better life as they were experiencing harsh life during the Great Depression,
where the story was based on. Their dreams ultimately represented the ‘American Dream’.

During the Great Depression, workers shifted from job to job. Following the setting of the
story, the characters also undergo this working system. The shifting nature of work as an
itinerant ranch hand means that most men have no stability, home, possessions or
relationships. Dreams support characters through their most difficult and lonely times. Their
dreams offer them hope of better things to come, for example George and Lennie’s dream of
owning their own farm with bunnies for Lennie to pet.

George and Lennie have a shared dream of a better life on owning their own farm : ‘live off
the fatta the lan’. They dream that they could have ten acres, a little windmill, a little shack
on it and a chicken run on the farm. The farm also has a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples,
peaches…’ A land where they could settle in and didn’t need to travel around or work for
someone else. Candy joined their dream later in the story. This dream helps them get
through hard times. Lennie tells George to retell their dream the day before they get into the
new ranch in the beginning of the story to relieve stress. George illustrates their dream once
again to Lennie at the end of the story to make Lennie relax and make himself feel better
before shooting Lennie.

Curley’s wife also has a dream of being an actress and shares it with Lennie. Her life didn’t
work out how she had hoped. She didn’t end up being a movie star nor had a happy
marriage. Curley viewed his wife as his possession as her name was never mentioned in the
story which implies that Curley’s wife wasn’t recognised like she wanted as a movie star.
Part of her dissatisfaction with her life is that it can never measure up to her dreams.

Despite the efforts to realise these dreams, they remained unfulfilled. The death of Curley’s
wife ends all the hope of any dreams in the story ever coming true. George and Lennie
would not even own their own land with Candy joining. This symbolises that the American
dream is never to be fulfilled.