What effect does the destruction of this dream have on Candy

“O.K. Someday—we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and—”

Readers first hear of George and Lennie’s farm when George and Lennie arrive in Salinas and spend the night in the woods by the river before starting work at the new ranch. After arguing about the challenges that Lennie brings into George’s life, George begins to feel bad, and Lennie senses his advantage and immediately asks George to tell him about their dream farm. Right from this first description, it’s clear that George and Lennie’s farm symbolizes their dream, a hope, and a light in their difficult, often hopeless life as migrant ranch workers. In these lines, George and Lennie almost rhythmically retell descriptions of the life they desire as a way of grasping at hope and comfort during times of instability and challenge. When George declares that they’re “gonna have a little house and a couple of acres,” he immediately defines how land ownership is truly the dream of most farm workers at this time.

His voice was growing warmer. “An’ we could have a few pigs. I could build a smoke house like the one gran’pa had, an’ when we kill a pig we can smoke the bacon and the hams, and make sausage an’ all like that.” . . .

After George warns Lennie about Curley and Curley’s wife as they wait in the bunkhouse, Lennie—most likely upset with their living situation—asks George, “How long’s it gonna be till we get that little place?” This dream farm again symbolizes George and Lennie’s escape from their reality; it exists in their minds as a comfort they can turn to when they feel scared, insecure, or hopeless. Every time George describes the farm, he seems to become entranced as he adds new, unrealistic details to the fantasy. In fact, George and Lennie are so immersed in their dream that they don’t realize that Candy, who is also looking for some hope in his bleak life, is listening to their description of the farm.

“Maybe if I give you guys my money, you’ll let me hoe in the garden even after I ain’t no good at it. An’ I’ll wash dishes an’ little chicken stuff like that. But I’ll be on our own place, an’ I’ll be let to work on our own place.” . . . George stood up. “We’ll do her,” he said. “We’ll fix up that little old place an’ we’ll go live there.” He sat down again. They all sat still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing, each mind was popped into the future when this lovely thing should come about.

Here, Candy asks if he can join in George and Lennie’s plan to own a small farm, ultimately turning their dream into a possible reality since he has money to contribute. “They all sat still, all bemused by the beauty of the thing” because the three men realize that this plan now has real possibility. The dream farm now symbolizes the same hope and light to Candy as it has in the past to George and Lennie. In addition, Candy explains his fear of becoming useless as he ages and how this farm symbolizes a permanent place where he will belong and can contribute. However, as Candy becomes a part of this dream, it leaves George and Lennie’s dream farm vulnerable to destruction because it no longer exists in the bubble of George and Lennie’s minds but has become a more real thing that can actually be taken away.

“I seen too many guys with land in their head. They never get none under their hand.”

When Lennie and Candy reveal their plans regarding the dream farm to Crooks, Crooks brings a reality check to the men by reminding them that most people don’t achieve their dreams of land ownership. However, when Candy persists and continues to describe this possible dream farm to Crooks, a glimmer of hope and possibility even spreads to Crooks, and soon after, he asks to join in their plan. Now, George and Lennie’s farm symbolizes hope and possibility in an impossible situation. Unfortunately, Curley’s wife enters the scene soon after and destroys any confidence Crooks has of escaping his reality, foreshadowing the fragility and destruction of this dream farm.

Now Candy spoke his greatest fear. “You an’ me can get that little place, can’t we, George? You an’ me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, George? Can’t we?”

Here, Candy and George stand shocked over Curley’s wife’s dead body, contemplating what to do next. In these brief but quiet moments, Candy asks the question that everyone, including the reader, wants answered, even though they already know the response. In this dialogue between Candy and George, George and Lennie’s farm, once the symbol of their hope and dreams, now symbolizes the destruction of a dream, their destroyed hope, and the loss of a friendship that made George and Candy believe in the possibility of their dream. Here, George admits that, deep down, he always knew that the farm would never be a reality but that now, without Lennie, it can’t even be a dream.

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John Stienbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” is about the death of the American dream. George, Lennie and Candy’s dream is to own their own piece of land to work and live independently on. This dream is destroyed by Lennie’s ignorance and Lennie’s strength, which he cannot control. Curley’s wife’s dream is to be a famous Hollywood actress. Her dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who promised to contact her about her acting career but never has. Crook’s dream is for equality. Racism and the attitudes of others destroy this dream. Lennie and George’s dream is to own a piece of land to work and live where they can have cows, pigs, chicken a vegetable patch with alfalfa and rabbits. “O.K Someday – we’re going…show more content…
Because Lennie is confused he grabs her hair and tries to make her stop yelling. But because Lennie does not know how to control his own strength, he squeezes Curley’s wife’s neck too hard and crushes her spine. Lennie then flees the ranch because Curley wants to kill him for what he did to his wife. So Lennie is not brutally murdered by Curley, George finds Lennie and, because he cannot get him out of trouble, shoots Lennie. Lennie’s uncontrollable strength and ignorance destroyed his, George and Candy’s dream Curley’s wife’s dream is to become a famous Hollywood actress. She dreams of fame, fortune, fancy clothes and large, expensive hotels. Curley’s wife is waiting for a Hollywood director to mail her about becoming an actress. This dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley because once she is married she is not allowed to pursue an acting career because she has to look after the house, because Curley will not allow her to leave the ranch to become an actress. Her dream is also destroyed by a Hollywood director who believed she had the potential to become a film actress. Curley’s wife meets this director at a dance and he promises he would send her a letter about acting in one of his films, but she never gets the letter so she does not become an actress which is her dream. Her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who has not mailed her about her acting career destroys her dream. Crooks dream is to be equal.

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Candy is an old ranch worker ("swamper") who has lost one of his hands in a farm accident. He's spent the best years of his life working on someone else's ranch, only to lose his hand and have little money. Depressing, right?

Wait until you hear the bit about the dog.

Man's Best Friend

Candy's dog was once a great sheepherder, but it was put out to pasture once it stopped being productive. Sound familiar? Candy realizes that his fate is to be put on the roadside as soon as he's no longer useful; his ranch boss won't treat him any differently than his dog.

Candy is actually worse off: unlike his dog, he's emotionally destroyed by the whole business. He can't bring himself to shoot his pet himself, even "squirming" uncomfortably when he talks about it: "Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup" (3.56). We suspect this is the same fear that keeps him from making anything more of his life. He can't stand up for his pet, because he can't stand up for himself.

No surprise, then, that Candy wants to change "George and Lennie's dream" into "George, Lennie, and Candy's dream." But he still has a bad case of futility. As he tries to help the men attain their dream, he also reminds them of the possibility (and indeed, likelihood) that it's going to fail—symbolized by his failure to kill his own dog. "I ought to of shot that dog myself," he tells George: "I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog" (3.234).

Maybe Candy is the novel's truly tragic figure, then. (There are definitely a lot of options.) After Lennie kills Curley's wife and everyone realizes that dream is bust, Lennie worries about the future rabbits, George mourns the fact that he's about to kill his best friend, and Candy is left to embody the despair of reaching the end of a long, hard-working life and being no closer to the American dream.

Plus, his dog is dead.