Of Mice And Men: Burdens Of Responsibility

Of Mice and Men: Burdens of Responsibility

"OF MICE AND MEN IS A NOVEL WHICH EXPLORES THE BURDENS OF RESPONSIBILITY AS MUCH

AS ITS REWARDS."

By evaluating the novel of mice and men carefully I have found that every character in the novel has a facet of life that consists of burdens and responsibilities. The characters in the novel basically have three options in which they can live their lives. They can knuckle down, work hard, keep a positive frame of mind and try earnestly to improve their standard of living. An example of this is would be George Milton and Lennie Small. The other option is to walk around with a chip on their shoulder, not bother to improve oneself but eradicate those around him or her that serve as a frustration or nuisance. An ideal example of this would be

Curley when he decides to target Lennie as a'frustration' and subsequently attacks him with no real valid reason apart from jealousy and spite. The last option concerns Candy and Crooks to an extent. They live a fairly meaningless life void of love and affection. They have few friendships and cling to anyone who shows them sincere attention. An example of this is when Lennie has a conversation with Crooks and he expresses his feelings of loneliness. Another example is when Carlson shoots Candy's dog. Candy becomes very eager to attach himself to George and lennie and purchase a house with them as a result of the loss of his only real love in his life.

The responsibilities of aspiration and hope play a major role in the structure of George, Lennie and Curley's wife's character. To an extent their aspirations protect them from reality for short stints and acts like a recharge to their motivational batteries. This is a good thing more often than not. Examples of these instances are when Lennie and George are sitting on the bank of a pool of the Salinas river in the last chapter. George is in the process of telling

Lennie how together they are "gonna get a little place." He does this because he knows it makes Lennie happy and he wants Lennie's last thoughts to be of his ideal world not terror. George then shoots Lennie in the back of the head doing whats best for everyone, and Lennie dies in a state of utopia, his reward. An example of Curley's wife's hopes is when she finally finds a person around the ranch who sees her not as an object of lust but someone to talk to. This person