Dreaming Together

People need other people to talk to and rely upon in order for them to dream. In a practical sense, George takes care of Lennie in John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men. George gives Lennie food, gets Lennie work, and tells him what to do in situations that are beyond Lennie’s capabilities. However, Lennie helps George spiritually just as much. As Crooks remarks to Lennie“‘I seen it over an’ over -- a guy talkin’ to another guy and it don’t make no difference if he don’t hear or understand. The thing is, they’re talkin’, or their settin’ still not talkin’...George can tell you screwy things, and it don’t matter. It’s just the talking. It’s just bein’ with another guy. That’s all’” (78). The dream of the farm becomes a little more real every time George tells it to Lennie. As he says at the end of the book, “‘ I think I knowed we’d never do her. He [Lennie] usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would’” (103).

Candy’s dog serves a similar role for him, but when Carlson kills him Candy becomes depressed.  However, when George and Lennie tell him about their farm he finds new people to be with and a new dream to hope for. Crooks, who because he is the only black person in the area is desperate for some company, also is able to dream of the farm as long as Candy and Lennie come to his room. However, when they leave, the dream leaves with them. Crooks can not carry it when he is alone. Similarly, Curley’s wife, who is also unhappy and lonely, living on the ranch with just Curley to talk to, shares her own dream with Lennie in the barn: “‘Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes-- all them nice clothes like they wear. An’ I coulda sat in them big hotels, an’ had pitchers took of me… Because this guy says I was a natural’” (97). She needs someone who will listen to her without being judgemental to dream again. After Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife and the farmhands set out to hunt him down “Old Candy [lies] down in the hay and cover[s] his eyes with his arm” (108). Candy is not this upset because of his strong affection for Lennie in particular; he has only known Lennie for two days. Candy knows that without Lennie the dream of the farm cannot survive. When George shoots Lennie, he tells him the story of the land for the last time, and afterwards he is so upset that he shakes and can only repeat back what others say to him (117-118). While George did care for Lennie as a person, like Candy he is not mourning the loss of a man so much as a loss of a future.

I would certainly recommend Of Mice and Men. Within the novel Steinbeck manages to capture life as a farm hand, a heart-breaking friendship between two men, and several lovely nature descriptions within just 118 pages. It does not get more pithy than that. Steinbeck also has a wonderful way with layering description within the story to emphasize the action that is taking place. In the first chapter he uses a campfire that follows George and Lennie’s interactions and similar patterns continue throughout the book. For example, in the last chapter Steinbeck intersperses Lennie and Curley’s wife’s conversation with the sounds of the horses and the play of sunlight in the barn. This technique subtly builds tension without slowing down the book too much.

In the process of reading this books I was strongly influenced by Flannery O’Connor because one of her main focuses was the building of character through detail and that was especially present in this particular novel. In some cases Steinbeck builds characters through comparing and contrasting: Lennie and George both dress identically, but Lennie is “a huge man, shapeless of face…” while George is “small and quick” (2). In other places he spends the time on description to explain to make a reader understand why even a minor character might be viewed in a certain way. To introduce the character Slim Steinbeck writes “When he had finished combing his hair he moved into the room, and he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen. He was a jerkline skinner, the prince of the ranch, capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders...His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love” (37). After reading Flannery O’Connor’s piece, I found myself paying more attention to these characterizations, especially to what details Steinbeck chose to put in and which he chose not to.