Dreams

A central theme of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is dreams and, in particular, the idealised American Dream that through hard work a person can achieve success and improve their station in life. Fundamental to dreams is the quality of hope and this is what becomes the motivating force for the characters in the novella, especially George and Lennie. Their dream ranch where they will ‘live of the fat of the land’ gives George and Lennie meaning in their lives and affords them a distraction from their present situation, enabling them to endure the necessary hardships as they aspire towards their goals, and George’s narration of the story of their dream farm becomes a ritual that reinforces their hope. Working their own farm provides for Lennie a sense of security where he can care for his longed-for rabbits without fear of trouble and provides for George a sense of independence where he will be his own boss, a place where they will be able to dictate when they work and when they rest. Candy observes the effect of the dream’s potency on George and Lennie’s hope and is drawn in, hoping for a safe place where he can retire and be his own man. Crooks, having witnessed all the broken dreams of farmhands that have come and gone, is also eventually drawn to the dream, seeing it as a chance for the return of the dignity and independence that he once had growing up on his family’s farm. Curley’s wife’s dreams of being an actress and of having made something of her life are constant reminders of her unhappiness at being married to Curley.

The text demonstrates that dreams are often accompanied by hurdles that need to be overcome before dreams may be realised. Obstacles may be internal or external, controllable or uncontrollable. George is aware that his and Lennie’s success hangs precariously on them staying out of trouble while they work enough jobs to save the money that they need to purchase the farm. While George has some personal agency in his life and the capacity for self-control, knowing to keep their dream a secret, work hard, and limit his spending at the brothel, Lennie’s limited memory, which makes him prone to divulging their plans, and his inability to regulate his own behaviour and total reliance on George’s direction jeopardise his and George’s fate on the farm every day. External factors such as the social prejudices that Crooks and Candy face and the constant incursions by Curley and his wife into the lives of the farm hands also threaten the various men’s trajectory towards the realisation of their respective dreams.

Ultimately, George and Lennie’s dream is too fragile against the internal and external forces of fate they are unable to control, and this provides a commentary on the harshness of the Depression-era for migrant workers where many dreams did not deliver the hoped-for reality.

Dreams Quotes

‘An’ live off the fatta the lan’,’ Lennie shouted. (the idiom that comes to represent George and Lennie’s dream farm) Chapter 1

Sure,’ said George. ‘All kin’s a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong there. There wouldn’t be no more runnin’ round the country and gettin’ fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house.’ (George to Lennie about their dream farm) Chapter 3

‘You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs.’ (Candy to George) Chapter 3

‘I can still tend the rabbits, George?’ (Lennie to George) Chapter 3

‘I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it.’ (Crooks to Lennie) Chapter 4

‘Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Som’thin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it.’ (Candy to Crooks) Chapter 4

‘Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live. I tell you I ain’t used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself.’ (Curley to Lennie) Chapter 5

George said softly, ‘I think I knowed from the very first I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.’ (George to Candy about the dream of buying the farm) Chapter 5

‘You . . . . an’ me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gon-na hurt nobody nor steal from ’em.’ (George to Lennie, as he prepares to shoot him) Chapter 6

Loneliness

Contextually, Soledad, which in Spanish translates to ‘solitude’ is the name of the town that is close to the ranch. This is an early indicator of a theme that will reflect the personal struggles of most of the characters in the novella. Lennie and George’s relationship stands apart because they travel and work together, an anomaly compared to all the other solo ranch workers whose pursuits position them in competition with one another. It is an alliance that the other characters immediately regard as unusual, though some regard it as positively so, such as Slim, and others as suspicious, such as the Boss, who presumes George is taking advantage of Lennie in some way.

Steinbeck shows that loneliness is an uncomfortable internal state that prompts people to reach out to their external environments. The farmhands go to the brothel for the company of women and to drink, Curley’s wife seeks out conversations with the farmhands to alleviate the loneliness in her marriage, Candy joins in with Lennie and George’s dream ranch dream after he loses his dog, Lennie goes into Crook’s room for company when all the others have gone into town, and Crooks, unable to enter the bunkhouse because of his colour, seeks comfort in his books. Whit’s reminiscing about an ex-farmhand Bill also seems to suggest he misses the man’s company. Crooks recognises that it is the simple act of being in physical company with someone that is meaningful to loneliness regardless of whether or not there is comprehension in conversation, which he sees as being the case for Lennie and George.

George and Lennie friendship highlights certain ingredients which make their alliance mutually beneficial: they care for and are loyal to one another, they make allowances for each other’s nuances, and despite not always comprehending one another, they have each other to talk with and encourage. There is a healthy reciprocity suggested here that contrasts with the loneliness of other characters whose isolating circumstances Steinbeck shows have made them less compassionate and accommodating of other people and their differences and, as Crooks suggests, ‘sick’. Slim’s compassionate response towards George at the end of the novel is lost on the hardened Carlson who cannot comprehend it, Crooks has developed a learned response whereby he enjoys displaying anger toward others, and Curley’s wife, deprived of an attentive husband who himself seeks company at the brothel, is forced to seek out the company of the single farmhands, which brings about the critical recourse of all the men, especially her husband, and serves to only compound her loneliness. Ultimately, humans are social animals and Lennie and George’s relationship demonstrates certain elements within relationships that can serve to mitigate loneliness.

Loneliness Quotes

‘Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. … With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.’ (George to Lennie) Chapter 1

‘… because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you …’ (Lennie to George) Chapter 1

‘All right. But don’t try to put nothing over, ’cause you can’t get away with nothing. I seen wise guys before.’ (the boss to George and Lennie) Chapter 2

‘I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin’ to fight all the time.’
‘Yeah, they get mean,’ Slim agreed. ‘They get so they don’t want to talk to nobody.’ (George to Slim) Chapter 3

‘Bill and me worked in that patch of field peas. Run cultivators, both of us. Bill was a hell of a nice fella.’ (Whit) Chapter 3

He whined, ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya,’ he cried, ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.’ (Crooks to Lennie) Chapter 4

‘I get lonely,’ she said. ‘You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?’ (Curley’s wife to Lennie) Chapter 5

Curley and Carlson looked after them. And Carlson said, ‘Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?’ (about Slim and George) Chapter 6

Discrimination

Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men demonstrates the prevalence of social prejudices amongst migrant workers in the Depression era, many of which exist as continuing barriers for people in modern times and across all societies in the world. Unfortunately, as the characters demonstrate, defining another individual based on some personal characteristic, such as gender, age, disability or race, and subsequently perceiving and treating that person unfavourably because of that personal characteristic has a significant, negative impact on people. Lennie is largely defined and treated by the other characters with reference to his intellectual disability, Crooks in terms of his race and disability, Candy in terms of his age and disability, and Curley’s wife with regard to her gender. Being defined by a social category and the accompanying mistreatment this brings can also compound feelings of loneliness, as is the case with Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife.

Steinbeck shows that it is not until characters take the time to engage with people on a personal level and/or be willing to accept new information about them, instead of resorting to a stereotype, that they are able to change their perceptions and relate differently. Slim sees beyond Lennie’s disability to how good a worker he is and that he is a genuinely ‘nice fella’ and Crooks views Lennie as a valuable companion for George despite his inability to understand all that George says. Candy’s age isolates him from the younger farmhands, he is not invited out on their drinking nights and his wisdom is devalued, and further, in a society that does not provide for financial security in retirement, Candy is keenly aware that, like his dog, he will be thrown aside and made homeless when he can no longer contribute usefully on the farm. Crooks’ situation is especially bleak in that, as a black man, he is unable to even enter the bunkhouse but is relegated a place in the barn. In an all-male story, Curley’s wife is the only woman and her conversational advances towards the men, who view her behaviour as jeopardising their positions on the farm, are portrayed as promiscuous.

Steinbeck highlights that labels can have a persisting effect by having characters who are themselves mistreated for being different, mistreat others who are different to them: Curley’s wife tells Candy, Lennie and Crooks, when the other farmhands are out drinking that they ‘have left all the weak ones here’, not even realising that she herself is regarded by the ‘others’ as in the ‘weak’ category; Candy tells George, in front of Crooks, that he didn’t tell anyone about their secret farm except Crooks, with the implication being that Candy sees Crooks as invisible due to his race; and Curley’s wife cruelly tells Crooks that she could have him lynched. The latter example of racial discrimination shows the social order of the day in that Curley’s wife’s status as a female was superior to Crooks status as a black man, and this is what enables her to be so especially vindictive. It is perhaps because of Curley’s wife’s sheer unempathetic treatment of Crooks based on his race, being herself so cruelly treated for being female, that Steinbeck portrays her in a binary manner: cruel in life, innocent in death.

Discrimination Quotes

‘…You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing. If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we’re set. Ya got that?’ (George to Lennie about the new boss) Chapter 1

‘The boss gives him hell when he’s mad. But the stable buck don’t give a damn about that. He reads a lot. Got books in his room.’ (Candy about Crooks) Chapter 2

‘Well, you keep away from her, ’cause she’s a rattrap if I ever seen one.’ (George to Lennie about Curley’s wife) Chapter 2

‘Maybe he ain’t bright, but I never seen such a worker.’ (Slim about Lennie, to George) Chapter 3

‘He’s a nice fella,’ said Slim. ‘Guy don’t need no sense to be a nice fella. Seems to me sometimes it jus’ works the other way around. Take a real smart guy and he ain’t hardly ever a nice fella.’ (Slim to George about Lennie) Chapter 3

‘Ranch with a bunch of guys on it ain’t no place for a girl, specially like her.’ (George to Whit about Curley’s wife) Chapter 3

‘You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs.’ (Candy to George) Chapter 3

‘They left all the weak ones here’ … (Curley’s wife to Lennie, Candy and Crooks) Chapter 4

‘Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny.’ (Curley’s wife to Crooks) Chapter 4

… Crooks sat perfectly still, his eyes averted, everything that might be hurt drawn in. (Crooks’ response to being racially vilified by Curley’s wife) Chapter 4

Candy was crestfallen. ‘Didn’t tell nobody but Crooks.’ (Candy to George) Chapter 4

‘I get lonely,’ she said. ‘You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?’ (Curley’s wife to Lennie) Chapter 5

And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. (Curley’s wife, dead) Chapter 5

Power

Power takes many forms in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. In the dog-eat-dog world of post-war America where every man was out to improve his lot, where lost livelihoods on farms in central America drove farmers to California in search of work, Steinbeck shows how wealthy landlords were able to use their class privilege to exert economic power over their workers and keep them in competition with one another. The Boss, who wore boots and spurs ‘to prove he was not a labouring man’, establishes his authority with George and Lennie whom he assures will not be able to get away with anything while working for him. All the farmhands are stuck in the powerless position of being reliant on the Boss to earn a livelihood, some to start their own farms, but for many of them, the reality being that a large part of their earnings went to alleviating their loneliness at the brothel, which only served to keep them in a cycle of powerlessness from getting ahead financially.

The Boss’ son, Curley, who seems unable to command respect from being the Boss’ son instead tries to exert power physically, by challenging men that are bigger than him to fight, however, his tactic doesn’t work on Slim and Carlson who are not afraid to use physical force to put him in his place. Lennie possesses perhaps the greatest physical power of all the characters, however, ironically, is powerless to control it. This is left to George who has the intellectual power over Lennie in that Lennie obeys George’s every direction, however, George is keenly aware that he is unable to be with Lennie at all times thus ultimately is powerless to completely protect Lennie from himself.

Curley’s wife commands a certain degree of respect from the farmhands by virtue of her position as the Boss’ daughter-in-law, which places the farmhands in a precarious position given how reliant they are on the security of their jobs. She most notably uses her power to speak cruelly to Lennie, Candy and Crooks when she labels them as ‘weak’ and to Crooks when she reminds him of her real ability to have him lynched.

While Steinbeck demonstrates power as being a force that is able to be exerted by the powerful over the powerless through personal or social privilege, he also demonstrates that power is not necessarily negative. Slim commands a natural power and respect that comes from true leadership qualities like rationality, good judgment and interpersonal such as empathy. His authority is seen in the way all the men defer to his word on any topic, and when he provides the affirmation Candy looks to him for before his dog is euthanised and how he takes charge of the situation after Lennie hurts Curley’s hand and he makes Curley say that he hurt it in a machine. This suggests that power of itself is neutral and whether it is experienced as negative or positive is determined by other characteristics of the person who is exerting the influence.

Power Quotes

‘…You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing. If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we’re set. Ya got that?’ (George to Lennie about the new boss) Chapter 1

George said, ‘I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself. No, you stay with me …’ (George) Chapter 1

On his head was a soiled brown Stetson hat, and he wore high-heeled boots and spurs to prove he was not a laboring man. (the Boss) Chapter 2

‘All right. But don’t try to put nothing over, ’cause you can’t get away with nothing. I seen wise guys before.’ (the Boss to George and Lennie) Chapter 2

‘Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ’em because he ain’t a big guy.’ (Candy to George) Chapter 2

‘Well, he better watch out for Lennie. Lennie ain’t no fighter, but Lennie’s strong and quick, and Lennie don’t know no rules.’ (George to Candy about Curley) Chapter 2

There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke. His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love. (Slim) Chapter 2

Carlson laughed. ‘You God damn punk,’ he said. ‘You tried to throw a scare into Slim, an’ you couldn’t make it stick. Slim throwed a scare inta you. You’re yella as a frog belly. I don’t care if you’re the best welter in the country. You come for me, an’ I’ll kick your God damn head off.’ (Carlson to Curley) Chapter 3

‘They left all the weak ones here’ … (Curley’s wife to Lennie, Candy and Crooks) Chapter 4