Of Mice and Men
Scene #3 · Chapter 3
After the dog's death, Candy overhears George and Lennie discussing their farm dream in the bunkhouse. He sits up excitedly and offers his life savings of three hundred dollars if they will let him join them and live out his last years there. George calculates that with Candy's money, they could buy the farm in just one month. The three men grow animated with genuine hope, making concrete plans before agreeing to keep the arrangement secret.
Candy's investment transforms the dream from a comforting fantasy into an achievable goal, raising the stakes and making the eventual tragedy more devastating. His eagerness to join reveals his terror of being discarded like his dog once he becomes too old to work. The dream briefly becomes real enough to touch, which makes its destruction more cruel.
"Well, it's ten acres," said George. "Got a little win'mill. Got a little shack on it, an' a chicken run. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, 'cots, nuts, got a few berries. They’s a place for alfalfa and plenty water to flood it. They’s a pig pen——"
Chapter 3 · George Milton
They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.
Chapter 3 · Narrator
S'pose I went in with you guys. Tha's three hunderd an' fifty bucks I'd put in. I ain't much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some.
Chapter 3 · Candy
You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me.
Chapter 3 · Candy