What is george and lennies dream in chapter 1

     The story begins with George Milton and Lennie Small traveling together along the Salinas River in California to find work. They have work cards indicating that there are jobs available at a nearby ranch, but they decide to stop and sleep in the woods for the evening. As they walk and talk, it becomes clear that George is in charge because something is wrong with Lennie. He doesn't behave the way most grown men behave. First, he imitates George quite often. Later, George finds him petting a dead mouse in his pocket, and when George throws it into the bushes, Lennie cries. Lennie likes to pet soft things. George has to explain that it's not sanitary to carry dead animals around. Lennie surreptiously retrieves the dead mouse when George sends him to find fire wood, but George knows he grabbed it and disposes of it again.      George and Lennie are opposites in many ways. Not only is George the brains and Lennie the braun, but their looks are dissimilar since George is small and thin while Lennie is tall and heavy. George plans ahead and makes good choices, but Lennie can't remember anything and always makes mistakes. They are, however, dressed the same in jeans and jean jackets, carrying small bindles to sleep on which hold their possessions inside.      Clearly, George and Lennie have known each other for a long time. George mentions Lennie's Aunt Clara, who it seems used to take care of Lennie before she died. George also comments on the fact that Lennie is always getting him in trouble. Since Lennie doesn't have common sense, he does "bad things" that get them fired from their jobs. For example, George references the last town they worked in, Weed, where Lennie tried to touch a woman's dress because it was soft. The woman became upset, which caused Lennie to grab the dress in a panic, which forced George and Lennie to run and hide in an irrigation ditch the rest of the day because the men in that town assumed Lennie was trying to hurt or take advantage of the woman.      Through their travels, they have discussed a plan for the future. This plan, which Lennie loves to hear George describe, involves purchasing a farm of their own that they can take care of and live on self-sufficiently. George tells Lennie how he would let him take care of the rabbits that they kept on the farm, which excites Lennie to no end since rabbits are incredibly soft.      George has a feeling that Lennie might get them in trouble again, so he tells Lennie that if anything happens, Lennie should return to the spot where they are sleeping. He wants Lennie to hide in the brush until George comes to get him. He makes Lennie repeat it over to remember the instructions then they go to sleep.      As the book begins, it is apparent that Lennie and George are basically homeless since they travel from ranch to ranch, living wherever they work. This situation makes it clear that this book takes place during the Great Depression. Lennie and George seem to be chasing their small version of the American Dream, wanting to own their own land and not have to rely on finding work all the time. Even though George is often burdened with taking care of Lennie, they appreciate the companionship that the other offers. Lennie points out that it's nice to have someone who will look out for them if necessary. The need for friendship is an important theme in the novel.

“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.