Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a book about two friends, Lennie and George, and their first few days at the ranch they are working at. George and Lennie travel around working at many places all over California, but had to run from their last job due to a misunderstanding between Lennie and a stranger. They meet many people at the ranch their working at including fellow laborers, Candy, Crooks, Slim, and Curley. Curley’s wife is also a main character in this book. Most of these people feel as though they don’t belong on this ranch and experience depression or alienation while working. Every person has a place where they feel they’d belong whether it is on their own ranch, this ranch or in movies. John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, …show more content…
demonstrates throughout the book, a sense of belonging is necessary in order to live a comfortable, fulfilling life, and those who lack a sense of belonging often experience alienation and depression. Lennie experiences a sense of not belonging on the farm upon arrival because they are greeted by a few brusque, unfriendly works, such as Curley and the boss. George and Lennie lose their sense of belonging at each ranch they travel to because of the nature of their interim jobs on farms all over California. Also, Lennie’s mental disability creates an issue for him and George to be comfortable at any farm they work at due to Lennie’s extreme physical strength accompanied with a child like mind. After encountering Curley’s wife and hearing his new friend, Candy, deride her, Lennie exclaims to his friend, George, “I don’t like this place,” (30). Lennie believes the ranch “ain’t no good place” because George has told him to “keep away from Curley” and his wife due to the rumors that Curley loves to pick “scraps with big guys” and his wife being “a tart” (24, 26, 28, 30). George and Lennie always have the possibility of encountering someone like Curley or his wife, which makes them uneasy when arriving at a new ranch. Despite a sense of not belonging on this farm or any other, George and Lennie’s goal is to get a stake to buy their own piece of land. They’d have their “own place where [they belong]” and be the boss of themselves. They would be able to live a comfortable, fulfilling life where they wouldn’t “have to work too hard” (pg. 54). Lennie and George lack this sense of belonging and fulfillment causing them to experience alienation and depression. Candy experiences a similar feeling of alienation and not belonging while working on the ranch.
He is taken advantage of because of his age, in cases such as when Carlson, a fellow laborer, took his dog outside to be shot, because of its odor. Carlson’s original offer, to “shoot him right in the back of the head,” was declined by Candy, but through Carlson’s perseverance, he was able to manipulate Candy into allowing him to shoot his dog (42). Also, Candy lost his hand four years before, causing him to be less helpful on the ranch and alienating him from the camaraderie between the laborers. On the bright side, the boss paid Candy 250 dollars in compensation for his injury, which helped him convince George and Lennie to allow him to join in on the purchasing of a farm. Candy is seriously depressed when he first overhears George explaining the farm and house to Lennie. After the explanation, Candy asks, “You know where a place like that is?” (55). Candy seemed to have overcome the depression from his dog being shot and his sadness has subsidized. Candy begins to ramble on about how he could be useful on their ranch by saying he “could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden,” in an effort for George to overlook his meager ability to do manual labor (56). Candy is alienated in his current job due to his age and handicap, but shows a sense of belonging and fulfillment in buying a farm with George and
Lennie. A fellow laborer, Crooks, experiences a sense of unwantedness because of a different physical trait. Crooks gets alienated due to the fact he is an African American living in a time where racism widely accepted. Racism is shown throughout the book by the frequent use of derogatory slurs directed towards Crooks and his race. Also, Crooks spends his nights aloof from everyone else, having “his bunk in the harness room,” while everyone else sleeps together in the bunk house (63). That “guys don’t come into a colored man’s room very much,” therefore showing the exclusion Crooks faces on a regular basis (71). Crooks knows he is ostracized because of skin color, but instead of fighting it, he tolerates exclusion and requests to remain alone. When Candy and Lennie join him in his room, while everyone else went to town, he finds a sense of belonging and happiness. Candy having very few friends and Lennie not understanding racism, Crooks sees his chance to fit in with other people. Being with these people, Crooks forgot about the racism. Crooks was enjoying the company, but didn’t want to show it, try “to conceal his pleasure with anger” (71). Soon after, Curley’s wife came by asking questions to Lennie about Curley’s hand injury, but Crooks, still oblivious to racism, scorns Curley’s wife for entering his room and interrogating Lennie. Curley’s wife threatens “to get [him] strung up on a tree” reducing Crooks self-confidence (77). Before Candy and Lennie leave, Crooks says, he “didn’ mean it” and he was “jus’ foolin’” about joining them in purchasing a farm (79). Crooks doesn’t feel a sense of belonging because of his race, but, like every human, he feels a sense of belonging when talking with other people. Similar to Crooks, Curley’s Wife is alienated due to a clear external characteristic: her gender. Curley’s wife is living during a time period where women are beginning to gain more rights, but haven’t yet become equal to men in the eyes of most people. The alienation Curley’s wife experiences is a direct result of the widely accepted idea of sexism. She is excluded from the activities the men do and aren’t welcomed by them when she nears their bunk house. One Saturday night, she expresses her anger by explaining how all the men “are doin’ som’pin’” and she is stuck alone with the three other ostracized laborers (74). Her feeling of not belonging comes from the alienation she experiences and the hatred for her pugnacious husband, Curley, who she only married to get out of her house. She believes she doesn’t deserve this alienation and believes she could go on to become successful. She feels she belongs in movies because she has multiple stories where actors offered for her to “go with that show” (84). Since she was fifteen years old, she has dreamed about starring in movies because of all the positive encouragement the actors have given her. They told her she “was a natural” and she “could go with [the] show” making her feel the show is where she belonged (84). Her mother, telling her she couldn’t join them, crushed her sense of belonging and forced her into her marriage with Curley where she is alienated by his friends. Different from, George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife, Slim appears to enjoy working on this ranch and has found somewhere he belongs. Slim is complacent about the way things are run on the ranch because of his ability to be receptive and understanding. When George first meet Slim they had a long conversation about Lennie and how people don’t understand him. Slim immediately understood Lennie, calling him “a nice fella” despite knowing his history in Weed. Also with Curley’s wife, he shows understanding through his conversations with her. Curley’s wife feels alienated because most of the men on the ranch ignore her, but Slim, when said “hi” to, respond by saying “hey good-lookin” with a playful demeanor. These are only two of the many examples of Slim’s deep understanding of the people closest to him, and his responses to that knowledge. By Slim understanding everyone on the ranch, he gives himself a sense of belonging, and is able to live a comfortable, fulfilling life working there.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novel about loneliness and the American Dream. This book takes place during the Great Depression. It was very difficult for people to survive during this time period. A lot of people hardly survived let alone had the necessities they needed to keep relationships healthy. Of Mice of Men has a common theme of disappointment. All the characters struggle with their unaccomplished dreams. The migrant workers, stable buck, swamper, and the other men on the ranch had an unsettled disappointment of where they were at in their lives. George and Lennie, two newcomers to the ranch, aren’t like the other guys. They have each other and they are the not loneliest people in the world. Lennie has a dream though he wants to own a farm with plenty of crops and animals one day. The only problem is his blind curiosity of people and things around him. George wasn’t justified for killing Lennie because Lennie was innocent and never got the chance to find out what he did wrong.
Novels that exhibit what the life is like for the people at ranch can help readers reflect on how they might react in comparable situation. George and Lennie who struggle to transcend the plight of inerrant farmworkers are followed by the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck. Readers are positioned to respond to themes through Steinbeck’s use of conventions that are dispirit. Themes such as Freedom and confinement, loneliness, and racism are pivotal in the novel and draw out a range of responses from the readers.
In his novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck depicts the essential loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930s. He illustrates how people are driven to find companionship. There were so many moments of loneliness and sadness throughout the novel, including many deaths. Following the deaths, they were very unexpected making the novel more intense and latch onto it more.
Life for ranchers in the 1930’s was very lonely. They have no family, and they do not belong anywhere. They come to the ranch, earn their pay, go into town, waste their money, and start all over again at another ranch. They have nothing to look forward to. But George and Lennie are different; it is not like that for them because they have each other. It was George and Lennie’s dream to own a piece of land and a farm. That dream is long gone. In the story, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, Curley caused the death of his wife and Lennie’s death; Curley also shattered George and Lennie’s dream.
In the novel, Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck used George and Lennie's relationship and the theme of hope to point out the loneliness in the novel. The novel starts off and is set in Soledad which means lonely. At the beginning they get a job working on a farm together. Lennie is a little retarded and has great physical strength that isn't too controllable. As they work from ranch to ranch, Lennie relies on George for guidance and help. Rather than wasting their earnings, they try to save it in the hope of buying a place of their own. While working at one ranch they meet a worker named Candy who tries to help them financially. Before their dream can be fulfilled, Lennie kills the wife of the boss's son. As the novel concludes George must kill Lennie for his own benefit. Later Lennie goes into town and abandons his dream by spending his money.
Of Mice and Men is novel that was written by John Steinbeck that describes the journey of George, and his mentally disabled friend, Lennie, as they travel and work together on a ranch in California. The story of Of Mice and Men accounts for the experience of George and Lennie as they encounter different people on the ranch who live in solitude, such as Crooks the negro stable buck, and the wife of the boss’s son, Curley. Crooks the stable buck is always alone because he is black, and during the time period of which the novel takes place, people with colored skin were discriminated and excluded from white social activities. Curley’s wife is alone most of the time because most of the men on ranch stay away
In both the film and the book, Candy is often isolated from all the others. Because of an injury to his hand, he can 't work out in the fields, so much of his time is spent alone shuffling around the ranch doing small jobs. His one and only constant companion is his dog. It is a very old dog that he has had since he was a pup. Again, both the book and the film do a good job of showing the affection that the dog and Candy have for each other. However, the book does a much better job of conveying the importance of the dog to Candy after the dog is shot. In the film scene, Carlson broaches the subject of killing Candy 's dog to put him out of his misery. Candy looks anguished but gives in fairly quickly. Once Carlson takes the dog, he lies back on his bed and just waits for the sound of the gunshot. The men resume their card game. (DVD) Although it is obvious Candy is sad about the dog, it does not have the same emotional impact that the book does. In the book, Steinbeck better conveys Candy 's anguish and desperation to save the dog. He tries to put Carlson off by offering different arguments as to why not to shoot the dog. His arguments include that it might hurt the dog, that Carlson doesn 't have a gun, that tomorrow would be a better day and that he doesn 't mind taking care of him (44). He even pleads silently for help. "Candy looked about unhappily"(42). "Candy looked helplessly at him,
When asked about John Steinbeck’s career, people often refer to Steinbeck as a playwright, journalist, and a well-known novelist. The book Of Mice and Men is a popular novel by John Steinbeck and a required read for most high school students. Most of Steinbeck 's novels have a central theme focusing on the relationship between man and his environment. The American dream for George and Lennie, two of the main characters in Of Mice and Men, is to have a place of their own, to be respected, and to work hard for everything they earn and deserve. In Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, the land and a hope of a better life becomes the talisman of an American dream for Lennie and George that is left unfulfilled.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck walks us through the journey of best friends named George and Lennie, who work on a ranch during the Great Depression in California’s Salinas Valley to achieve their goals. Throughout the book, Steinbeck suggest that social hierarchy and classification can lead toward a treatment to lower class workers, different genders and race, and the mentally disabled, when compared to white men workers.
Loneliness and Companionship are one of the many themes that are conveyed in the novel Of Mice and Men, By John Steinbeck. Many of the characters admit to suffering from loneliness within the texts. George sets the tone for these confessions early in the novel when he reminds Lennie that the life of living on a ranch is among the loneliest of lives. However Lennie, who is mentally disabled holds the idea that living on a farm very high. "Tending the rabbits" is what Lennie calls it. Often when Lennie is seaking encouragement he askes George to tell him how its going to be. Men like George who migrate from farm to farm rarely have anyone to look to for companionship and protection. George obviously cares a lot for lennie, but is too stubborn to admit to it. The feeling of being shipped from place to place leaves George feeling alone and abandoned.
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.
“Of Mice and Men”, by John Steinbeck is a novel about the hardships of life and the importance of having other people around. The story is of two men trying to survive with one another in a world full of loneliness; their relationship is quite rare and strange. Lennie, a large bear, has a mental disability which causes him to be in a childlike state. George, a much smaller and more competent man takes care of both of them. Although they work for others on ranches, their dream is to get by on their own and live off the land. However, Lennie’s state causes conflict as they travel from job to job. Steinbeck uses clever ways in his novel to develop his theme and characters as the story progresses; both of these elements also help create a large
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.
Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck. It is set in California during the great depression. The story follows two ranch hands who travel together and are very poor. Throughout the novel we witness many different philosophical references. Many different types of characters from this novel are reused in today’s society. Steinbeck also writes eloquently about the many different emotions, aspirations, and dreams of man.
"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." (13-14) The book Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck. He wrote the book about George and Lennie who traveled from ranch to ranch after they get fired from it but there dream is to own a ranch of their own together where lennie would tend to the rabbits they own and George would tend to the crops. But because of Lennie making a couple of mistakes that he didn't mean to do, there dreams of owning a ranch were over. “'A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.'" (72)