Of Mice and Men The story starts when two traveling laborers, named George Milton and Lennie Small, are on their way to a job loading barley at a California ranch. . They spend one night along the Salinas River before going to the ranch that they were to work at. Because Lennie is slow, mentally, George acts as Lennie's guardian. They have been traveling together for a long time, since the death of Lennie's Aunt Clara. Also, Lennie's habit of petting soft things, such as a mouse or a rabbit, often gets them into trouble, which forces them to find a new job. Their dream is to own their own place and be their own bosses in the future. In their farm, Lennie wants to take care of rabbits and grow vegetables for them. When arriving at the ranch, an old man named Candy and his dog meets them. Candy then explains to them the ways of the ranch and the personalities of the other ranch hands. Soon, the boss enters the cabin to visit with his new workers, who is mad because Lennie and George are late for their first day. The boss asks a lot of questions, in which Lennie isn’t supposed to say anything, so George has to answer all of the questions. Eventually, Lennie answers one question in his own way. The boss ends up questioning them. Then we meet Curley's seductive wife. As usual, she is "looking for her husband" as an excuse to meet and attempt to seduce the other workers. Of course, George and Candy ignore her, but Lennie thinks otherwise. As George warns Lennie to stay away from her, Lennie shows that he wants to leave because he says it’s mean there. George says that they will leave as soon as they have enough money to get their farm. Soon, we get introduced to Slim, who announces that his dog just had puppies. He talks with Carlson about killing Candy’s old and frail dog and replacing it with one of the newborn puppies. Lennie is then trying to convince George to ask Slim if he can have a puppy. Afterwards, George talks with Slim about his relationship with Lennie. He says that Lennie isn’t smart, but is friendly. Carlson enters and continues to pressure Candy to allow him to kill his dog. Candy gives in when Slim joins in the argument.
George and Lennie were lifelong friends and had varying personalities even from the start. Lennie thought about how his Aunt Clara said he should have been more like George. At the time when the story took place, the two men were travelling together, and had been for some time, working and then moving on to search for the next job they could find. They were like many other men in search for work, except it was rare for men to travel together. George felt a need to take care of Lennie because he was somewhat slow. George was an average man of the time. He was a good size, nice, but firm, and he had aspirations to be more than just a nomadic laborer. Lennie, on the other hand, had always been a little different. He was big, goofy, clumsy, but sweet. They were also both good workers. George was concerned with working and getting his money before they got into trouble and had to leave camp. Lennie was the one who normally started the trouble. He was a hard worker and lived to appease George, but he got distracted easily which angered George. George told about how they would own a house and a farm together and work for themselves. Lennie loved to hear the story and think about the possibilities, even though nobody knew if any of it was a possibility. George and Lennie's differences in part led to George's inclination to kill Lennie. Despite their dissimilarity, the two men needed each other probably more than they realized.
Should George have shot his friend Lennie? George probably did the right thing by shooting Lennie. How can we condemn George for sparing his friend Lennie the pain and fear of being killed by someone else? He did something society sees as wrong, but he did it for a good reason. Lennie didn’t deserve to die, but there was no other alternative. Curley wanted to kill Lennie, and since George cared for Lennie, he figured the best thing would be for him to put Lennie out of his misery.
The moment that Curley's wife was introduced, an ill feeling overcomes the atmosphere indicating that Lennie will be getting into a mess with her. George states in the very beginning that he is always getting into mishaps, "You do bad things and I got to get you out," (p.11). The situation in Weed involved a girl and Curley's wife just happened to be the only girl on the ranch. Connecting ends with ends, there is a sense of insecurity between these two people. Later on, there was an intimation that she was going to be killed by Lennie because he killed the mouse and the puppy, leading to bigger deaths such as Curley's wife.
George and Lennie need each other to achieve their dream of their own farm with rabbits to tend. Lennie could not take care of his rabbits or even survive without George.
When Lennie and George encounter Slim, another ranch hand, they automatically respect him and react positively towards him. “This was Slim, the jerkline skinner. His hatchet face was ageless. He might have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.
Although some might disagree.You might think how does he deserve sympathy if he wasn’t willing to show sympathy towards others? Well Carlson didn’t know how to and refused to because he’s never had anyone to count on. Whenever Candy’s dog appeared Carlson would always disrespect it for being old and smelly. “Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy (44).” Carlson mentioned this because he hates how the dog smells, but he didn’t take the time to understand Candy’s reason of keeping this old stinky dog around. For him it was pointless to keep an old dog so might as well kill it and get it out of its misery. Little does he know that by saying this proves how lonely he is and doesn’t know the meaning of friendship. Candy had this dog since it was a pup and they’ve been together so long therefore he couldn’t just shoot it like it meant nothing to him Carlson not caring says “He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good himself (44).” It’s so hard for him to understand all he needs is someone to knock some sense into him. Especially at the very end of the book George shot Lennie, his best friend, the person who he was always there for. Slim knows that George made such a hard decision and they are both affected by it and all Carlson said while looking at them was “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys (106).” This is such a frustrating part because how would Carlson feel if he had to shoot his best friend?
George and Lennie have to continue to move around the country looking for work until Lennie screws up again. The instability of work only makes it that much harder for them to complete their dream of a farm of their own. Candy’s participation in the dream of the farm upgrades the dream into a possible reality. As the tending of rabbits comes closer to happening fate curses them with the accidental death of Curley’s wife. The end of their wishful thinking is summed up by Candy’s question on page 104, “Then-it’s all off?”
Disappointment is someone being sad or mad about something they have done or failed to do. Disappointment can be caused by other people’s actions. In the book “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck, the characters of Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all suffer from disappointment of life. Crooks suffer from disappointment from how nobody wants to play or talk to him just because he is black. Also Curly’s Wife suffers because women don’t have that much of rights so she gets treated badly. Candy gets also treated badly because he is old and only has one hand to use so he can’t do that much work. All of the people in the book get treated badly because the book “Of Mice and Men” is made during the time period that the great depression was so there wasn’t that much of rights towards women and black people.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck brings out the themes of Lonliness and companionship, and strengths and weaknesses through the actions, and quotations of the characters. Irony and foreshadowing play a large roll on how the story ends. Lennie and his habit of killing things not on purpose, but he is a victim of his own strength. George trying to pretend that his feelings for Lennie mean nothing. The entire novel is repetitive in themes and expressed views.
The daily struggle of the working class, fear of loneliness and the reality of putting all your energy into plans that fail are the different themes relating to John Steinbeck's novel, "Of Mice and Men". The characters depicted by the author are individuals who are constantly facing one obstacle after another. The book illustrates different conflicts such as man versus society, man versus man, man versus himself and idealism versus reality. The book's backdrop is set in the Salinas, California during the depression. The two main characters include two men, George and Lennie. Supportive characters include a few ranch hands, Candy, Crooks, Curly, Slim and Carlson.
I have been analysing the novella ‘Of Mice and men’ by John Steinbeck, which was published in 1937. Steinbeck wrote the novel based on his own experiences as a bindle stiff in the 1920’s, around the same time when the great Wall Street crash happened, causing an immense depression in America. Throughout the novel he uses a recurring theme of loneliness in his writing, which may have reflected his own experiences at this time. This is evident in his writing by the way he describes the characters, setting and language in the novel.
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 fatta the land” and be their own bosses. Lennie will then be permitted to tend the rabbits. Candy, upon hearing about the dream, wants to join them so that he will not be left alone, especially after they killed his dog. From the 17th Century, when the first settlers arrived, immigrants dreamed of a better life in America. People went there to escape from persecution or poverty, and to make a new life for themselves.
The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about two ranch hands, George and Lennie. George is a small, smart-witted man, while Lennie is a large, mentally- handicapped man. They are trying to raise enough money to buy their own ranch, by working as ranch hands. During the setting of the story, they are at a ranch whose owner’s name is Curley. It is in this setting that the novel reveals that the main theme is death and loss.
images he leaves the reader with is George and Slim walking off as Curly says “ Now
Not too far from the scene where George decides to reveal Lennie’s mental disability, we see Slim showing empathy for Candy, as he offers him “any one of them pups you[he] want[s]”(Steinbeck 48). Since Slim is aware of what Candy is going through and how he’s feeling, he offers Candy any puppy he wants. Slim is a caring person , and we see through a great deal of indirect characterization, mostly the way he acts towards people. Slim takes consideration of Candy’s feeling’s, offers him something that will get him into better spirt’s, and reassures Candy that it is the right decision. These same behaviors are seen again, at the end. In the aftermath of the chaos caused by Lennie, George kills Lennie. After George has killed Lennie automatically he seems to regret his decision, and questions himself. Within seconds, Slim shows up and offers to buy George a drink and reassures George, saying that it was the only way, and “You hadda, George”(Steinbeck 107). Slim knows that George doubts himself, so he attempts to put George’s mind at ease. Slim is using the same caring ways and attitude with George that he used with Candy. As a result, we see no change whatsoever in Slim. Since Slim is seen showing no change, he is without a doubt static.