The dream of owning their own farm animates George and Lennie. It motivates them to continue their wandering life of hard labor and uncertainty. When they are feeling down, George weaves the alternative vision of what it will be like on their own farm:
An’ when the salmon run up river we could catch a hundred of ‘em an’ salt ‘em down or smoke ‘em. We could have them for breakfast. They ain’t nothing so nice as smoked salmon. When the fruit come in we could can it—and tomatoes, they’re easy to can. Ever’ Sunday we’d kill a chicken or a rabbit. Maybe we’d have a cow or a goat, and the cream is so God damn thick you got to cut it with a knife and take it out with a spoon.
The dream is so compelling that other ranch hands are pulled in. Candy, aging and with only one hand, catches the vibe as he overhears George and Lennie talking about their dreamed-of farm in the bunkhouse. He eagerly offers to put in his $350 and help anyway he can around the farm. Even the hardened, cynical Crook let's himself catch the wave for just a moment of palpable longing before he backs off, saying it will never happen.
George and Lennie's dream of their own home is the American Dream, the dream of independence, simple abundance, and a fresh start that brought people to America. Steinbeck's point is that in Depression-era America, people are being denied this dream, which after all is fairly simple: a modest home, autonomy, privacy, not being overworked, enough to eat. We know the extent to which George has been destroyed at the end when he gives up the dream.
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