Realities & Dreams

Realities & Dreams

Many novels use contrasting places to represent opposing ideas. Steinbeck plays out this technique in his novel, Of Mice and Men. The two places in the book are first, the ranch Lennie and George work at and their dream house they want to buy and live in after they gather enough money. The ranch represents the harsh reality and the sad futures of workers. The house represents dream and hope, it is also what motivates George and Lennie to work hard and save money. And through these two places, Steinbeck shows how important companionship is in a lonely world.
The book takes place near Salinas, California around the mid-1800s. George and Lennie like many other working men at the time move around ranches and work until they earn their money and wander about. However, unlike George and Lennie many of these men spend money on drinks and women becaues they know that they can never elevate themselves up. When George and Lennie arrive to the new ranch, the conditions are not good. The boss's son gives Lennie a hard time and George has a hard time looking after Lennie. Lennie asks George numerous times while at the ranch when they can leave. He complains how he cannot stand the horrible place. There are only men at the ranch, the only woman is Curley's wife, who is the wife of the boss's son. All of the men here are hopeless -they adjusted their lives and needs just enough to live and work. There is no real friendliness, everyone keeps their guards up and do what they are supposed to do. When Lennie gets upset, George starts talking about their future dream house -a place where there's a warm oven, alfalfa patches, rabbits running around, chickens and cows to raise, a place where they would have their independence and freedom and do whatever, whenever they want to. The more Lennie and George talk about it, the more real the dream becomes. The dream house not only appeals to George and Lennie but one of the old workers, Candy is infatuated by their goal and joins in. He too wants a place to stay to spend the rest of his life. The dream then becomes more realistic with Candy's help from all the money he saved up.
These two contrasting places contribute to Of Mice and Men by showing the importance of companionship in a lonely world. George knows that it is Lennie that makes him believe that they could buy the house more. It is Lennie's naivete and his support that further drives George. Candy, too, who used to be independent and distant as the other men, becomes close with George and Lennie when he joins in the plan. The more real the dream house becomes, the less real the ranch becomes. However, when Lennie dies at the end of the book, George and Candy give up on all their plans and faces 'reality.' George states that he knew that it wasn't a realistic goal but that Lennie made it seem real. Therefore, Steinbeck reinforces the fact how harmful loneliness can be, it is only companionship that made George and Lennie's dream more real than the harsh reality they live in.