Discuss the theme of the Dream in the book Of Mice and Men Essay

None of the people on the ranch have freedom, and freedom was what George and Lennie wanted. Crooks, Candy and Lennie are victims, Crooks because of his back, where a horse had kicked him, Candy because of his hand, which he lost on the ranch, although he got two hundred and fifty bucks in compensation and Lennie is a victim because of his lack of knowledge. The main dream in the book â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is George and Lennie’s dream. Their dream is to have their own land where they will grow whatever they like, and to have a variety of animals, and Lennie will get to look after the rabbits, if he behaves well. The rabbits are all he talks and thinks about – the perfect land and the rabbits that he will look after if he behaves himself. â€Å"Don’t you think of nothing but rabbits?† The land will be ten acres, have a windmill, a little shack and chicken run. It will have a kitchen and plenty of food and water. They will build a smoke house where they will smoke the bacon, the ham, and the sausages. They’ll kill a pig or rabbit each Sunday. They’ll can fruits. They’ll also sell eggs and milk. They want to be answerable to nobody, to have freedom and be independent. Also, like Lennie says with a lot of enthusiasm, â€Å"An` live off the fatta the lan`† This is a dream that George believes will not come true, (but he continues as though the dream will come true to lure Lennie to behave himself.) because they don’t have the money and Lennie is always getting in some sort of trouble and then, they have to run away. He doesn’t mean to do any harm. â€Å"All the time he done bad things but he never done one of ’em mean† Soon Candy gets to know about their dream, and this is the only part of the book where it seems that the dream is only around the corner. With Candy’s three hundred and fifty bucks and George’s and Lennie’s fifty bucks each coming at the end of the month, which makes a total of four hundred and fifty bucks, George says he could swing the owners for that as the lady needs an operation. George has a dream of his own which is a life without Lennie. If he didn’t have Lennie with him all the time, â€Å"When I think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts. I never get no peace.† If he also didn’t have Lennie ‘on his tail’ all the time, he could maybe even have a girl. This dream does come true at the end, but George had to kill Lennie or otherwise Curley would have come and killed Lennie himself. George learnt from Candy’s mistake of letting someone else kill his dog, so he killed Lennie himself making sure that the gunshot would not give Lennie any pain. Lennie’s life is ended, also with the dream as Lennie and George are talking about the dream – until Lennie is killed like an animal. Candy’s dream was to be happy. The only time he was really happy was when he was a child. Candy has no other relatives, so he thought he’d be happy living with George and Lennie. Candy is heartbroken when he finds out that Lennie has killed Curley’s wife. Candy knows that their dream cannot come true now, because Lennie was part of the dream and now he is dead. Also, when Candy’s dog was shot, Candy covered his eyes with his arm. â€Å"Old Candy lay down in the hay and covered his eyes with his arm.† And this was what he did when his dream was shattered. We do not know what happened to Candy or George after Lennie was killed, as the story ended there, so the death of Curley’s wife ended two dreams, but the death of Lennie made George’s second dream come true. Even though he didn’t like killing Lennie, he didn’t want to let someone else kill him. I suppose George thought it was the last straw – if he is killing unknowingly, he could kill again. They could not keep running from everything he did wrong. He would get caught one day, and be killed. Curley’s dream was to be big like Lennie and this is why Curley picked a fight with Lennie and he lost. He didn’t give Lennie a chance to show him that he was not against him, but straight away headed for Lennie and started asking him questions. George had told him not to speak, so he didn’t answer. Curley really got angry. George answered for him and he answered, ‘An’ you won’t let the big guy talk, is that it?’ He wants to be big and tall. He picks fights with anybody that is larger, in a way superior to him. He only has respect for Slim; we know this because he listened to Slim. â€Å"I think you got your han’ caught in a machine.† He knows what really happened. He didn’t want to get laughed at either, so he listened and obeyed Slim’s instruction. â€Å"But you jus’ tell an’ try to get this guy canned and we’ll tell ever’ body, an’ then will you get the laugh.† Curley agreed to this statement, otherwise he will be laughed at for starting the fight and then losing it. Even though Curley’s hand was totally ruined, and Lennie got a couple of bruises and cuts nobody got in any more trouble. When his wife was killed he was really mad. Not mad for losing a loved one. He was mad at Lennie for killing her, and instead of staying with his wife, he hurried off to find Lennie and to kill him. We notice that although Curley was very protective over his wife, he didn’t show any interest in her, and showed no signs of love. Nobody liked Curley, not even his wife. Curley’s wife was an outcast, because she is the only female on the ranch and wore a lot of red. We can sense she is heading for trouble, because of the way she flirted with all the men on the ranch. Red lipstick and red finger nails shows a sign of danger. Curley’s wife’s dream was to become a movie star, and have nice clothes. This dream only came about because; some guy had said that she was a natural. â€Å"this guy says I was a natural† Her dream was shattered because she didn’t receive a letter, this guy had promised to send to her. According to her, she thought her mother had thrown it away. We get the feeling that he didn’t actually send the letter. She really thought that her mother had thrown it away and only for revenge, she got married to Curley. She didn’t love Curley, nor even liked him. She’s not interested in Curley and Curley has no interest in her, but she is always looking for him, as an excuse, to talk to other guys. The other guys think she’s a tart, and is ‘jail bait’. Crooks has a dream, which is when he was a little child he remembered he had two brothers and they used to do everything together. His dream is to be back with his family. â€Å"I remember when I was a little kid on my old man’s chicken ranch.† He became negatively cynical. He doesn’t believe life will get any better and he thinks that people always behave selfishly or dishonestly. Crooks is lonely and the only one who has respect for him is Slim. When he was small he used to play with people that weren’t black and this would upset his father. He didn’t understand why until he was older. People called him a nigger and he is the only black person on the ranch. When he was a child, his family was the only black family for miles. Crooks had no other dreams; he just wanted friends that won’t criticize him, because of his colour. None of the dreams came true, and are all crushed and shattered, because George’s dream didn’t mean that he didn’t want Lennie at all, he wanted him, but not all the time. Lennie had to be killed and that ends another two dreams. Candy’s dream was to be a part of George and Lennie’s dream, but as Lennie was killed, his dream also vanished. Curley’s dream was to be big and as he’s a grown man he won’t grow any more. Crook’s dream is to be back with his family, but it is impossible to go back in time. Curley’s wife is dead which ends another dream. We see that John Steinbeck didn’t make anybody’s dream come true. Anjana Patel English coursework 2nd January 2001