Death In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Death Authors frequently use death in their work to foreshadow future events or to form a metaphor. John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men uses death this way while it follows the struggles of George and Lennie as they work towards the American Dream during the Great Depression. Steinbeck portrays George as short with distinct features and and describes Lennie as towering, brawny, and having the mind of a child. A ranch in Soledad employs the two men, who move around frequently, and they interact with the other lonely workers at the ranch. Using the ranch as a setting, John Steinbeck utilizes various deaths and conversations about death to prepare the reader for the grim death of Lennie and the dream he shares with George. Steinbeck

These characters die because of their obliviousness to the dangers that surround them. For example, when Lennie finds mice, they do not comprehend the predatory nature f the world. Whenever Lennie finds mice, he “always kill 'em” (Steinbeck 15). They are unaware of Lennie’s physical strength. As a result, they do not run away which leads to their death. Similarly, when Lennie gets a puppy, it eventually dies because of its obliviousness to the hazards around it. One day when Lennie goes to see his puppy, he pets it to hard and remarks, “Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard” (Steinbeck 85). Like his dog, Lennie remains unaware of how strong he is, and he does not recognize the atrocity he committed. Lennie’s puppy and the mice represent innocent and unknowing creatures who are punished due to their ignorance. Both die because they do not realize Lennie’s extreme strength and carelessness. Another example of the gruesome fate of innocence occurs when Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife. Full of loneliness, she visits Lennie although he had just killed his puppy. She lets him stroke her hair, but he starts stroking too hard and she tries to make him stop. She starts to scream and Lennie tries to retaliate, “‘Don't you go yellin’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for

While discussing the killing of Candy’s dog, Slim remarks that, “‘I wisht somebody'd shoot me if I get old an' a cripple’” (Steinbeck 44). After his dog’s death, Candy tells George and Lennie, “‘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. But they won't do nothing like that. I won't have no place to go, an' I can't get no more jobs’” (Steinbeck 58). The workers’ existential comments show that they believe that living can be worse than death. They believe that once one is crippled or too old, he or she should die because living is a much worse fate. This idea resurfaces when George kills Lennie, because the options Lennie faces are very dismal. Lennie can die a relatively painless death from George, endure a painful death from Curley, or live a life of terror and refuge on the run. George decides that Lennie will only suffer more if he lives, so George shoots him. Additionally, Steinbeck uses Lennie to represent the imperfection that makes dreams unattainable. Lennie’s flaws prevent their dream from being achieved, so the death of both Lennie and the dream are inevitable. One of Lennie’s faults is his disregard for death. When George tells Lennie that Lennie’s rabbits may be threatened in their dream, Lennie responds saying that, “‘You jus' let