To A Mouse, by Robert Burns and Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

2011

Two Different Mice and Two Different Men

To the average reader, “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck may initially look very similar, but after carefully critiquing and comparing their abundance of differences, their opinion will change. Steinbeck found his inspiration for writing the novel after reading that poem. His novel is set in Salinas, CA during the 1900s and is about migrant farm wrokers while the poem is about the guilt felt by one man after he inadvertently ruins the “home” of a field mouse with his plow. Even though they are two different genres of literature, they share a similar intent. The poem is written in first person, while the novel is written in third person omniscient. The vocabulary used to provide imagery is also another subtle different. Being two different genres of literature, they are destined to have both differences and similarities, but the amount of differences outweighs the aspects that are the same.

Point of view is an aspect of every work of literature that determines how one’s story will unfold. Burns’ and Steinbeck’s works completely differ in this aspect. “To a Mouse” is written in first person, giving the reader a restricted view of the setting, as only one side of the story is told. It is not told from the mouse’s perspective, but from the destructive man’s point of view, which becomes apparent when the man refers to himself in one line of the poem, stating, “But oh! I backward cast my eye.” When a work of literature is told in first person, the reader does not get to see the whole story. The view is very limited. Steinbeck, on the other hand, used third person omniscient when writing his novel. This gives the reader the full story! The reader is aware ...

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...pt by Steinbeck to prepare the reader for yet another conflict in the next section. A novel is the most diverse piece of literature that one can compose. It can go on for as long as one wants, as long as it has a definite format about it.

Both “To a Mouse” and Of Mice and Men are very interesting and intriguing well-developed works by two distinctly different authors. The authors have different writing styles, as well as different ways of formatting their works. However, they share the same message. This message is that no matter what one does to prepare, they should always have a Plan B. Things can and often do go awry. By comparing both subjects, the reader can gain a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the two. They also learn precisely why the inquisitive author Steinbeck found inspiration in Burns’ detailed and symbolic poem.