George Milton's Dream

Everyone has dreams of their own. Dreams inspire individuals to work hard to make them a reality. Often there are obstacles in the pathway to achieving a dream. One such obstacle was the Great Depression, an economic crisis that caused the dreams of millions of Americans to come crashing down. Many of these people were left jobless, homeless, and without hope. In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck portrays the hardships workers faced during the Great Depression. George Milton, who is one of these workers, struggles to achieve his dream. George dreams of owning his own ranch, however the Great Depression and his relationship with Lennie make it a difficult endeavor.

George dreams of living on his own ranch where he can be self-reliant

He wants to work his own land to benefit himself. When George is talking to Lennie, he goes into great detail as he describes his idyllic ranch: “’…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…a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof…”’ (14-15). The detail George goes into shows how important his dream is to him. He is willing to put in hard work to be successful. His dream will be complete when he has the liberty to take days off from work. George thinks about his dream a lot and knows exactly what he wants. He believes that if he owns his own ranch he can be extremely productive and be able to stop traveling from ranch to ranch looking for work in order to make a living.

George feels a strong connection toward Lennie because they grew up in the same town. George knew Lennie’s Aunt Clara, and has been taking care of him ever since she passed away. George sticks with Lennie even though time after time George has to start his plans over again or get them out of sticky situations that Lennie puts them in. Despite Lennie’s constant mistakes and the trouble that surrounds him, George cares about him and feels obligated to take care of him. One time, after George gets made at Lennie, Lennie says that he can just live by himself in a cave. George knows that Lennie can not live by himself and says, “’I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself. No, you stay with me. Your Aunt Clara wouldn’t like you running off by yourself, even if she is dead’” (13). George cares about Lennie’s well-being and knows that he is not capable of taking care of himself. He is expressing his concern that no one else will understand Lennie or know that he does not mean real harm. George feels that he has to constantly take care of Lennie which delays him from accomplishing his dream. After George gets mad at Lennie and tells him what is on his mind, he knows that Lennie will not understand: “His anger left him suddenly. He looked across the fire at Lennie’s anguished face, and