Dream House and The Ranch

 I noticed throughout all of chapter three, George repeatedly says to different people, "'Me an' Lennie's rolling' up a stake,"' (53) as in they are going to stay at the ranch forever, and they will always be happy.

 Steinbeck could have done this for many different reasons. He could have wanted to set you up for the fight Curley and Lennie had in the end. You know this will not come out well. Curley will most likely not keep his promise, and tell his father to "can" George and Lennie, and they will be on the run again looking for another job.

 But then also toward the end of the book, George starts talking about their dream house as if they are going to go buy it right this moment. As soon as George see's Candy though, he gets out of this dream land. I think this house is a place George can go when times are rough and Candy ruined it when he said "'S'pose I went in with you guys. Tha's three hunderd an' fifty bucks I'd put in." (59). George says "' I gotta think about that. We was always gonna do it by ourselves"' (59).

George could have kept saying "'Me an' Lennie's rolling' up a stake,"' (53) because he wants to get out of this reality land of them owning a house and bunnies and everything. But this all changes when Candy says he can give them money now, and they will buy it.

 Lennie's always thinks they will get their dream house, and he will get to tend the bunnies if he is good. Even after his fight with Curley, he thinks they will get the house because he says "' I can still tend the rabbits, George?"' (65).

When Candy hears of this dream house Lennie and George are talking about, he takes it very seriously. Candy knows he will "get the can" soon, because he is growing old, and he has only one hand. He won't be able to do much work anymore, and the boss will kick him out. Candy even offers to pay for most of the house with all of his money, "...tha's three hunderd an' fifty bucks I'd put in."' (59), because I think he knows this is a great and maybe even his last opportunity. When his dog got shot, this kind of symbolizes how old he is, and how he will get kicked out of here soon.

I think all three of these characters are looking forward to a house they can use to get away from this ranch. This house can be their escape. In the end, will they all get their dream house and escape from the ranch? Or will they just run into trouble, and be right back where they started in the beginning of the book?