Hopes + Dreams

• For Lennie, who struggles to understand many things, the dream is more like a favourite childhood story, and hearing George talk about it makes him feel calm: "Come on, George. Tell me. Please, George. Like you done before." (Lennie, Section 1).
• When Lennie kills Curley’s wife at the end, George admits that the dream is dead too. He even suggests that it was never a realistic possibility in the first place: “I think I knowed we’d never do her.” (George, Section 5).
• Curley’s wife talks about how she was on her way to Hollywood stardom: “He says he was gonna put me in the movies.” (Curley’s wife, Section 5). But Curley's wife suspects her mother hid a letter which meant she couldn’t fulfill her dream: "I never got that letter … I always thought my ol' lady stole it.” (Curley’s wife, Section 5).
• Curley's wife laments the fact that things went so badly wrong with her dream of being a star, and now she has ended up married to Curley, who she doesn’t like: “I don't like Curley. He ain't a nice fella.” (Curley’s wife, Section 5).
• Steinbeck presents hopes and dreams as one of the key themes in Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie frequently discuss their dream to have their own farm.
• George and Lennie's dream is such a powerful source of hope that Candy and Crooks both get drawn into it. Whether they believe in the dream or not, it provides them with a fantasy which allows them to escape the harsh realities of life on the ranch: “I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some.” (Candy, Section 3).
• As Crooks is quick to point out, George and Lennie’s dream of self-sufficiency and freedom is the American Dream of many impoverished ranch workers: “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, Section 4).