In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, what is significant about the way in which Crooks also buys into the idea of the dream farm?
Chapter Four of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Menis set in Crooks's room in the barn. Most of the men have gone into town on a Saturday night, leaving Lennie, Candy and Crooks behind. When Lennie, and later Candy, come into Crooks's room, talk turns to the farm which George, Lennie and Candy are on the verge of buying and moving to. They have discussed the dream of the farm in Chapter Three and Candy...
Chapter Four of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is set in Crooks's room in the barn. Most of the men have gone into town on a Saturday night, leaving Lennie, Candy and Crooks behind. When Lennie, and later Candy, come into Crooks's room, talk turns to the farm which George, Lennie and Candy are on the verge of buying and moving to. They have discussed the dream of the farm in Chapter Three and Candy has agreed to give them his money so he can come along and "hoe in the garden." The "garden" is a veiled reference to the idea that this imagined place is like paradise or the garden of Eden, where the men will have the freedom to do basically whatever they want. They will make their own rules and live off the profit of what they produce.
When Lennie tells Crooks about the rabbits that he will soon be tending, Crooks suggests that he is "nuts." Crooks notes that he has often encountered men who hoped to one day have their own "little piece of land" but they never get it. Like heaven or paradise, it is simply a mythical place which is quite unattainable. He tells Lennie,
“I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; 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. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.”
A little later Candy enters the room and tells Lennie he knows how they can make money with the rabbits. Crooks again scoffs at the idea that these men would actually be able to own their own farm. Candy is indignant and insists that they have the money and the farm is almost in their grasp. Crooks counters by asking about George and claiming that he is probably in Soledad spending their money on whiskey and whores. He says,
“An’ where’s George now? In town in a whorehouse. That’s where your money’s goin’. Jesus, I seen it happen too many times. I seen too many guys with land in their head. They never get none under their hand.”
Candy, however, claims that he is the caretaker of the money and that for once in his life the dream will come true and he will soon be his own boss and not have to worry about anything. He paints an idyllic picture of the dream farm:
“Sure they all want it. Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus’ som’thin’ that was his. Som’thin’ he could live on and there couldn’t nobody throw him off of it. I never had none. I planted crops for damn near ever’body in this state, but they wasn’t my crops, and when I harvested ‘em, it wasn’t none of my harvest. But we gonna do it now, and don’t you make no mistake about that. George ain’t got the money in town. That money’s in the bank. Me an’ Lennie an’ George. We gonna have a room to ourself. We’re gonna have a dog an’ rabbits an’ chickens. We’re gonna have green corn an’ maybe a cow or a goat.”
Candy's impassioned words seem to finally convince Crooks that the sought after dream of their own land is actually possible. Crooks, who obviously shares the dream, offers to join the men. He hesitatingly tells Candy,
“ . . . . If you . . . . guys would want a hand to work for nothing—just his keep, why I’d come an’ lend a hand. I ain’t so crippled I can’t work like a son-of-a-bitch if I want to.”
At this point the dream is real for all three men. They can picture the day that they will set off for the farm where they will live lives of glorious freedom with rabbits, gardens, and windmills. Unfortunately, the realities of the world quickly intrude and Curley's wife enters the scene. She interrupts the men's dreams as she flaunts her sexuality and complains bitterly of her loneliness. She also shatters Crooks's dream as she makes derogatory comments suggesting that because of the color of his skin, he is nothing, and she could have him hanged with a few simple words. In the end of the chapter, Crooks tells Candy that he was "jus' fooling'" and that he really doesn't want to join them on the farm. Of course, this is a lie, but Crooks's words throughout this chapter are prophetic. The men never realize the dream as Lennie's actions, which have been foreshadowed throughout the book, destroy the plans. In the end, paradise is lost.