Expert’s rating: ★★★★★
Now, I admit that ‘Of Mice and Men’ has become one of my favourite books, and it is surely one of the ten books I would take to an island, if I could find one (or afford to buy one). But why? Why is it so good?
To start, ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a brilliant title. It captures the reader’s imagination - how could a book about The Great Depression’s effect on people have anything to do with mice and men? It made me dive into the book to unravel this mystery with a spate of excitement and zeal. Having read another Steinbeck’s masterpiece, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, I expected this book to have an effective and terse use of language, which Steinbeck consistently demonstrated in his work, to provide the reader with a immaculate image of the story that enacts itself to turn into a wondrous motion film in your imagination.
Now, this tragic novella is not only carefully written, but it also conveys the mood of The Great Depression very effectively using a sentimental, tragic, moralistic and comic tone. The variation in tone clearly emphasizes the difficulties and the uncertainties ranch workers faced in The Great Depression. You will become confident that everything is as it should, that George and Lennie are going to achieve their dream and then BAAM! The world starts to collapse in the book and you will be suddenly reading ‘He pulled the trigger...’ Oh, I nearly ruined the book for you. Let’s avoid doing that and give you a plot overview instead.
Of Mice and Men follows two migrant workers, who drift from ranch to ranch in 1930’s California after they have to quit because of Lennie’s persistent affinity with trouble. Lennie is a mentally handicapped gentle giant who George, a clever and ‘small’ man, looks after. Both depend on each other for companionship, which sets them apart from other itinerant ranch hands, and they share a dream of owning a farm one day (and tending rabbits, of course). This, however, is not meant to be. They arrive at a new farm in Soledad, make friends and get close to achieving their dream with a old crippled swamper called Candy till the ranch owner’s son’s wife ruins it all for them. Sigh! A very cheerful book indeed.
What is the message? The message is about a failed society. A failed society in which unsuccessful dreams are ubiquitous, while successful ones are non-existent; broken dreams, broken lives and premature death are eventualities; a society in which class and discrimination determines a person’s position in society. It is also a society where people are dehumanised - not by other people, but by their situation. The situation leads to tragedies, and multiple more tragedies, because the story is a tragedy, as Nate Brown rightly wrote. To me, it seemed that Steinbeck wrote the book to relate to use the stories of typical ranch workers in 1930’s America, to tell us that why poor stay poor; to Steinbeck, they stay poor not because they are clueless and lazy, but because they are in an inescapable situation, in which they would collect their ‘fifty bucks at the end of the month’ and spent time in a ‘lousy cat-house’ and then quit and move onto the next ranch, and that this happens all the time. Maybe that is why he initially called the book “Something That Happened”. This inescapable situation is created by the Great Depression, which dehumanises them, also isolates them from other people and so George and Lennie’s friendship stands out so us. Steinbeck underscores friendship and loneliness because he wants to show how people were creating a predatory and harsh society in those days. Lastly, dreams are very constitutive to the book. George, Lennie and Candy dream of having their own land and living “of fatta the lan’” instead of having to rely on others; Crooks dreams of having his rights and dignity; Curley’s wife dreams of escaping this patriarchal society, in which she can’t talk to ‘nobody’ instead of her husband, and be self-sufficient with pretty dresses by being in the ‘pitchers’ and Curly dreams of being in control and respected. So a lot of the characters have dreams, but all those dreams seem inaccessible. And the tragedy of this book is that this fact is proven to be true. Thus Steinbeck shows us that not all people get to lead the content life that they want to live and he is forcing us to rethink our fortunate position but also remind us that the society we are shaping is becoming predatory, and we should stop this from continuing. The broken dreams are symbolic of ‘the best laid schemes of mice and men’ which often go “awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!”(Robert Burn’s “To a Mouse”, lines 39-42)
Thus, Of Mice and Men is a social commentary. But, it is not an allegory like The Lord Of Flies or The Great Gatsby. It is very sensible, because Steinbeck based the story on characters that he really saw while working in ranches as a young man. Whatever you would decide about the characters, you will see that they serve a common purpose, which is to act like personifications of people in the ranches during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are the protagonists of the books, and they are very likeable characters indeed. George is likeable because he is sharp and compassionate, and the readers learn to respect him for looking out for another person during a time as tumultuous as The Great Depression. Lennie, on the other hand, is likeable for his childish innocence; an innocence that is unique amongst the avarice and cupidity of the men in this book. The character that I personally liked the most was Slim. Slim represents the rational, affectionate, authoritative, charming… the pinnacle of all human qualities. Slim is a demigod in this terrible situation, and his presence makes the reader feel comfortable because he gives them a sense of stability. But then there are characters that represent the nadir of humanity, such as Curley’s wife. She is self-centred, grumbling, flirtatious and inadvertently dangerous, and Steinbeck makes you wish that she goes away. However, if you dig deep, you will see that the she is bad because of her situation. Steinbeck also uses her to show that the worst of us have our humanity when he writes in the penultimate chapter “Curley's wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly.”
Although the last two chapter were really thrilling and intense, chapter 3 was my favourite because a lot happened in it. It begun with a friendly conversation between Slim and George, which shed some light on Lennie and George's past, then there was a death, and finally a fight that leaves the reader wondering what will happen next. I loved this chapter for many reasons: the chapter is notable because Steinbeck uses language to slow time when Candy’s dog is about to die and then, he does not let the reader catch his/her breath before a fight breaks out. When I finished the chapter, I felt that I was actually in the book, because Steinbeck ingrained reality into the chapter, such as the slowing of time or the multiple events unfolding parallely.
You probably expect me to talk about the 1992 film adaptation of the book. Should you watch it? In an entertainment perspective, it is good. However, personally, the ending was disappointing - the screen-writers missed out a very important part of the book, which summarises what the book is all about. If you read the book, you will know.
SPOILER ALERT - George kills Lennie. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself any longer.
To start, ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a brilliant title. It captures the reader’s imagination - how could a book about The Great Depression’s effect on people have anything to do with mice and men? It made me dive into the book to unravel this mystery with a spate of excitement and zeal. Having read another Steinbeck’s masterpiece, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, I expected this book to have an effective and terse use of language, which Steinbeck consistently demonstrated in his work, to provide the reader with a immaculate image of the story that enacts itself to turn into a wondrous motion film in your imagination.
Now, this tragic novella is not only carefully written, but it also conveys the mood of The Great Depression very effectively using a sentimental, tragic, moralistic and comic tone. The variation in tone clearly emphasizes the difficulties and the uncertainties ranch workers faced in The Great Depression. You will become confident that everything is as it should, that George and Lennie are going to achieve their dream and then BAAM! The world starts to collapse in the book and you will be suddenly reading ‘He pulled the trigger...’ Oh, I nearly ruined the book for you. Let’s avoid doing that and give you a plot overview instead.
Of Mice and Men follows two migrant workers, who drift from ranch to ranch in 1930’s California after they have to quit because of Lennie’s persistent affinity with trouble. Lennie is a mentally handicapped gentle giant who George, a clever and ‘small’ man, looks after. Both depend on each other for companionship, which sets them apart from other itinerant ranch hands, and they share a dream of owning a farm one day (and tending rabbits, of course). This, however, is not meant to be. They arrive at a new farm in Soledad, make friends and get close to achieving their dream with a old crippled swamper called Candy till the ranch owner’s son’s wife ruins it all for them. Sigh! A very cheerful book indeed.
What is the message? The message is about a failed society. A failed society in which unsuccessful dreams are ubiquitous, while successful ones are non-existent; broken dreams, broken lives and premature death are eventualities; a society in which class and discrimination determines a person’s position in society. It is also a society where people are dehumanised - not by other people, but by their situation. The situation leads to tragedies, and multiple more tragedies, because the story is a tragedy, as Nate Brown rightly wrote. To me, it seemed that Steinbeck wrote the book to relate to use the stories of typical ranch workers in 1930’s America, to tell us that why poor stay poor; to Steinbeck, they stay poor not because they are clueless and lazy, but because they are in an inescapable situation, in which they would collect their ‘fifty bucks at the end of the month’ and spent time in a ‘lousy cat-house’ and then quit and move onto the next ranch, and that this happens all the time. Maybe that is why he initially called the book “Something That Happened”. This inescapable situation is created by the Great Depression, which dehumanises them, also isolates them from other people and so George and Lennie’s friendship stands out so us. Steinbeck underscores friendship and loneliness because he wants to show how people were creating a predatory and harsh society in those days. Lastly, dreams are very constitutive to the book. George, Lennie and Candy dream of having their own land and living “of fatta the lan’” instead of having to rely on others; Crooks dreams of having his rights and dignity; Curley’s wife dreams of escaping this patriarchal society, in which she can’t talk to ‘nobody’ instead of her husband, and be self-sufficient with pretty dresses by being in the ‘pitchers’ and Curly dreams of being in control and respected. So a lot of the characters have dreams, but all those dreams seem inaccessible. And the tragedy of this book is that this fact is proven to be true. Thus Steinbeck shows us that not all people get to lead the content life that they want to live and he is forcing us to rethink our fortunate position but also remind us that the society we are shaping is becoming predatory, and we should stop this from continuing. The broken dreams are symbolic of ‘the best laid schemes of mice and men’ which often go “awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!”(Robert Burn’s “To a Mouse”, lines 39-42)
Thus, Of Mice and Men is a social commentary. But, it is not an allegory like The Lord Of Flies or The Great Gatsby. It is very sensible, because Steinbeck based the story on characters that he really saw while working in ranches as a young man. Whatever you would decide about the characters, you will see that they serve a common purpose, which is to act like personifications of people in the ranches during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are the protagonists of the books, and they are very likeable characters indeed. George is likeable because he is sharp and compassionate, and the readers learn to respect him for looking out for another person during a time as tumultuous as The Great Depression. Lennie, on the other hand, is likeable for his childish innocence; an innocence that is unique amongst the avarice and cupidity of the men in this book. The character that I personally liked the most was Slim. Slim represents the rational, affectionate, authoritative, charming… the pinnacle of all human qualities. Slim is a demigod in this terrible situation, and his presence makes the reader feel comfortable because he gives them a sense of stability. But then there are characters that represent the nadir of humanity, such as Curley’s wife. She is self-centred, grumbling, flirtatious and inadvertently dangerous, and Steinbeck makes you wish that she goes away. However, if you dig deep, you will see that the she is bad because of her situation. Steinbeck also uses her to show that the worst of us have our humanity when he writes in the penultimate chapter “Curley's wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly.”
Although the last two chapter were really thrilling and intense, chapter 3 was my favourite because a lot happened in it. It begun with a friendly conversation between Slim and George, which shed some light on Lennie and George's past, then there was a death, and finally a fight that leaves the reader wondering what will happen next. I loved this chapter for many reasons: the chapter is notable because Steinbeck uses language to slow time when Candy’s dog is about to die and then, he does not let the reader catch his/her breath before a fight breaks out. When I finished the chapter, I felt that I was actually in the book, because Steinbeck ingrained reality into the chapter, such as the slowing of time or the multiple events unfolding parallely.
You probably expect me to talk about the 1992 film adaptation of the book. Should you watch it? In an entertainment perspective, it is good. However, personally, the ending was disappointing - the screen-writers missed out a very important part of the book, which summarises what the book is all about. If you read the book, you will know.
SPOILER ALERT - George kills Lennie. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself any longer.
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