Of Mice and Men Discuss in detail the lives of the itinerant ranch-hands in the novel Essay

Discuss in detail the lives of the itinerant ranch-hands in the novel. Why is the â€Å"dream farm† so important to the novel? Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is an emotional novel, set in the 1930’s, where two friends try to achieve their dream in the cruel time of the great depression in California, America. The Wall Street crash was a massive set back in American industries, work was made very limited, so the men had to travel from job to job, to make a living. Lennie Small and George Milton like many men during this unprofitable time in the American economy roam from job to job. Men like these are called itinerant. As George stated, â€Å"Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world†. This statement is true because these men never have a place called home, because they are always on the move. This also means they have no time to develop a family or friends. Real friendships are hard to come by, because most of the men that work on these ranches are secretive and try to keep their pasts private in case they reveal something that could get them canned (sacked). Meaning if they can’t reveal their history because of fear, they will never be able to make true friends. On the ranch George and Lennie spend most of their spare time in the bunk house. Many of the men don’t socialize they just keep themselves private, this also combines with the lack of woman company to create a lonely atmosphere on the ranch. Also the men are caught up in a never ending cycle of doing a month’s physical labour and spending most of their earnings releasing all their frustration at â€Å"whore houses†. So many men come to these ranches with this idea that they will work for a couple of months, save up money and get their own little piece of land but end up blowing all their money on drink and prostitutes. As Crooks said, â€Å"I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, Hunderds of them†¦ an’ 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†. From this you can see how common it was for men just like George and Lennie t o depend on this dream, to give them this false hope that they might just escape this lifestyle one day. Crooks is so mocking of this â€Å"dream farm† because since he has never seen a man accomplish this feat, he doubts whether a man has enough determination to ever achieve it. In addition, ranch hands that are too old get canned. This makes Candy on edge because he feels that because he is seen as useless on the ranch since of the loss of his hand, his job is becoming more and more insecure the older he gets. On the ranch a lot of violence is shown to Crooks just because of the colour of his skin. The ranch hands also humiliate Crooks by making him sleep with the horses. George and Lennie are unlike most ranch hands as they travel together which is most unusual among ranch workers. As George says, â€Å"I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’t have fun.† From this you can tell that they have, unlike other ranch hands, someone they can confide in. This gives them a strength that the other men do not have. It is obvious that the â€Å"dream farm† means a lot to George and Lennie because it gives them some hope that they might escape this endless lifestyle. Also if they lived on their own ranch they would be free to do as they please and not listen to no one else but themselves. The farm symbolises freedom to George and Lennie, as they would be able to choose when they would like to work and who they wanted to employ, â€Å"An’ live on the fatta the lan.† Also it would be their own harvest they are harvesting, not someone else’s. So it would be all their own profit. This idea of freedom appeals to Crooks and Candy because both of them are alienated on the ranch, Crooks because of the colour of his skin and Candy because of his age and disability. They see the â€Å"dream farm† as a chance to be equal workers. The â€Å"dream farm† is similar to the â€Å"American Dream† because the â€Å"American Dream† is people living by their own rules to get what they want in life. The farm is a perfect example of this because George and Lennie would live by their own rules to earn a living. Curley’s wife had her vision of the American Dream. Hers was to be a Hollywood star, to be in the movies. This, whilst being an appealing and glamorous life, isn’t what the dream was about. The life she wanted would not be lived by her rules, she would have had to work to deadlines and always under threat from other actresses taking her job. Unfortunately George and Lennie cannot grasp their dream because of Lennie’s ability to get himself into bad situations. Unluckily for Lennie this time it proved to be fatal for him. â€Å"You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.† Lennie, as George states has always preventing him from advancing upwards in the world, because he has always been too much of a responsibility for George who can never have faith that Lennie won’t get in trouble again.