John Steinbeck keeps mentioning this as a motif he uses in the story over and over again just to make clear that the purpose of their live is not to work on different ranches but to have their own place. He wants to say that it is the only thing keeping them alive and so they always remind themselves of the future to make the present tolerable. Through Lennie he tells Crooks about the land and the rabbits, which especially fascinate Lennie, as well as the other things. Here he starts to show the fiction in Lennie's story as he says through Crooks that Lennie is crazy and is just dreaming. After that, when Crooks starts talking about the possibility that George might not come back he also makes clear that Lennie was completely dependent on George as George was on Lennie as they both could not survive without each other, already foreshadowing the situation George or Lennie could be nearing the end (1B, Steinbeck, Page 72-73). " "You"re nuts." Crooks was scornful. "I seen hundreds of men come by on the road and on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an" that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an" they quit an" go on; an" every damn one of "em's got a piece of land in their heads. And never a god damn one of "em ever gets it." " (1C, Steinbeck, Page 73). John Steinbeck says this and takes a clear stand that a person is dependant on the other and that they have no chance alone in achieving anything in their live because there is no one to support them. He also shows that George and Lennie's situation is different. They as a contrary got each other. But then everything changes. George kills Lennie and with that loses not only his friend but also his financial aide. .
During the Great Depression people committed suicide because they didn't have any money. Banks closed, and it got worse as there was a catastrophic drought in the U.S. The country was financially in a miserable Status and poverty was wherever ones eyes could look.