Motives

Throughout the whole story the motive is to achieve the American Dream.. Lennie and George are trying to get a rabbit farm, and they are trying to to achieve this. This is their motive to keep working, and receive money. They know once they have enough money they will be able to get the rabbit farm they have wanted for such a long time. Candy decides to contribute to this dream by helping with the money. Now Lennie, George, and Candy are all in this together. They plan to work for a couple more months, and then leave the farm and get their own land. They will all have a job, tending their land and selling the crops. They are so determined to get this land so they know that they will have to work hard for the money.

Loneliness: Throughout the novel, a main characteristic most of the characters contained was being lonely. The American Dream: Everyone has a dream to strive for. The poor ranch hands wish to be their own bosses, and actually have stability. Friendship: Every man needs someone to make him feel special.
 * Candy has only his dog as his one companion. Upon the killing of the dog, he has no one and therefore, attaches himself to the dream George and Lennie share. Thus, he will not end up an outcast and therefore, completely alone. Even after Lennie kills Curley's wife and cannot return to his life the way it was before, Candy still wants to carry out the dream. * Crooks feels "...A guys goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he with you..." He would work for nothing, as long as he could communicate with others. * Curley's wife is so overwhelmed by her loneliness, she seeks friendship from other men. She seeks out the friendship of Lennie for all of the others fear Curley and will have nothing to do with her. "Think I don't like to talk to somebody ever' once in a while?"
 * George and Lennie have a dream, even before they arrive at their new job on the ranch, to make enough money to live "off the fat of the land" and be their own bosses. Lennie will be permitted, then, to tend the rabbits. * Candy, upon hearing about the dream, wanted to join them so that he would not be left alone, especially after they killed his old dog. * Crooks, the Negro outcast, wanted to join them so that he wouldn't be alone.
 * George and Lennie share a bond so strong that when one is destroyed, the other inevitably is as well. Steinbeck often stresses how ranchers are loners, and George and Lennie are the only ones who travel in pairs. They seem to be two halves of the same person, and they know how special together they truly are. "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world...They got no family. They don't belong no place...With us, it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us..." * Candy's need for the companionship of his dog also stresses the importance of true friendship. For, after the passing of his old dog, Candy attaches himself to the dream Lennie and George share.