Migrant Workers in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, follows the story of two migrant workers named George and Lennie. George takes care of Lennie because he is a little slow and can't take care of himself. Although George gets irritated by all the stupid things Lennie does sometimes, he can't stay mad at him. Lennie is a lovable character because he'll blindly do anything George tells him to do, but he'll get into trouble sometimes by being forgetful. Despite Lennie's mental disabilities, he is an extremely muscular six foot giant. What he lacks in brains he makes up for in muscle. Not much is found out about Lennie's feelings or beliefs other than he loves to pet soft furry animals.

The impatient, grouchy George seems like he would be the wrong person to be taking care of Lennie with a harsh personality, but he is devoted to taking care of Lennie and protecting him. George is focused on reality, but he dreams of a place where he and Lennie can live freely and live off there own land not being accountable to another possessor. He talks about his dreams with Lennie frequently and talks about they will have a farm with pet rabbits and Lennie can pet the rabbits all day.

George and Lennie were on the run and in need of work. They had a job on a farm already, but Lennie got into trouble by grabbing a ladies dress. The lady accused Lennie of rape even though Lennie meant no harm. Fearing they would be lynched, George and Lennie ran westward looking for work. They found a job bucking barley at a farm far away from they previous one, and are hired because of Lennie's incredible strength and ability to buck barley quickly. They quickly met some other workers they would be living with. Candy, an old handyman who lost one of his hands. ...

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...andy is a old handyman who lost a hand). Candy owned an old sheepdog that was week and feeble. No one on the ranch liked the dog because it never clean and smelt terrible. Candy refused to put down the dog do to sentimental reasons, but the others pleaded just to let them take the dog out and put him down. One of the men convinces Candy that putting down the dog is humane, plus the dog isn't good for Candy's health anyway. Candy reluctantly complies and sits inside while the man takes the dog out to shoot it. Many similarities are observable with the death of Lennie and the death of Candy's dog.

Of Mice and Men was written because Steinbeck wanted to show the reality of the great depression. He wanted to show how people had to make tough decisions to survive in a cruel world. He does a great job of showing the future about life during the depression in his novel.