Meaning even the most organized men and women often come across a fork in the road. John Steinbeck grasped some inspiration from Robert Burns's poem, “To a Mouse”. In this poem, the home of a mouse is accidently destroyed by a farmer. The farmer continued to try to calm the panicked mouse my saying, ”the best laid schemes of the mice and men/ Go often askew,” (Document A). Thus allowing the audience to come to the implication, that Steinbeck uses the words “of mice and men” in his title to foreshadow the future of his two main characters.
The article “A Teachable Good Book: Of Mice and Men” by Thomas Scarseth highlights John Steinbeck’s reality about the pain of living in a complex world, and that tragedy is often inevitable. Although Of Mice and Men is often viewed as a sad story, it is a tragedy that shows humanity’s achievement of greatness through and in spite of defeat. For example, Crooks is an isolated African American man who is a victim of racial discrimination. In addition to that, Curley’s wife knows she deserves a better life, but has been summoned to a life on the farm. Lastly, the noble dream shared by George and Lennie is ruined by the complexities of the world around them.
George and Lennie are migrant workers, which mean they go from town to town looking for any work they can get frequently. This book had its tragic at parts and it showed how dreams can be crushed very easily. John Steinbeck in his book, Of Mice and Men,
The initial paragraphs of John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men introduces Lennie and George, two men living on the road, in search of a job. Both men have dreams of their own and depend on each other in order to achieve them. George takes care of Lennie, who is mentally incapable, while Lennie provides company to George. These men wander around hoping to achieve the American Dream. They continue to go after it, without realizing that they will never be able to obtain it.
John Steinbeck uses the characters in Of Mice and Men to show that believing in the American Dream is only for fools. George, one of the main characters of the novel, is way too optimistic on the idea of achieving the American Dream. “Someday, we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs” (15). What George does not realize after saying this line is that he will never be able to acquire the ideal American life with the lifestyle that he lives now. If he wants a fair chance at the American Dream, George needs to understand that success does not come easy.
By giving Lennie these childish and animalistic qualities, Steinbeck is illustrating how his immaturity causes him to get into trouble and distances him from the other workers. Although, through all of Lennie’s mistakes, George stays with him because he needs his companionship as much as Lennie does as it brings them both hope and strength in their desperate situations as migrant workers during the
George and Lennie, prominent characters in the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, are migrant workers—men who move from place to place to do seasonal work— who end up in California and are faced with numerous problems. Set in the era of the great depression, the story of Lennie and George, two very different men who have formed a family-like union, takes place on a farm where Lennie struggles to stay out of trouble. Having committed an unintentional, harmful act, Lennie is faces severe consequences; and George must decide to make a necessary decision which changes the mood of the entire novel. By the comparison and contrast of George and Lennie, unique characters who are very different from each other, the reader can better acquaint himself
The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is a gripping tale of two men and their lives during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are two migrant workers who travel together finding work. They take on a new job “bucking barley” at a ranch in central California for the ranch owner and his son. While working at the ranch they encounter Curley the ranch owner’s son and his wife, a flirtatious woman. The story reaches a climax when Lennie unintentionally kills Curley’s wife and runs back to the Salinas River just as George instructed.
Throughout the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the theme of the unrealized dream is displayed through characters such as Lennie, George, Candy, and Curley’s wife. The unrealized dream, also known as the American Dream, is portrayed differently for a few different characters in the book. Best friends George and Lennie have a shared dream which is to have a serene farm ranch, even if it is small, with a mediocre house, a rabbit pen, and a garden where they can grow their own vegetables and herbs. They long to live independently away from rude bosses and harsh ranches. This is seen differently for a character such as Candy who only wants to keep his job even though he is disabled.
The theme of the novel, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is hope and loss. This is shown through the perspectives of Curley's wife, Candy, and George. In this story they all have a period where they hope for something more, but later on lose it. Although it is hard to remain hopeful in horrible situations, it is best not to lose hope and give into the situation you find yourself in.
Both Lennie and George have a similar idea of what they want for their American dream and that is to someday owning a farm. If they achieve this it would offer protection and financial care. Crooks tells them that they won’t be able to achieve their American dream and this ends up being true for them. Lennie explains their dream and says " 'Well, ' said George, 'we 'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we 'll just say the hell with going ' to work, and we 'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an ' listen to the rain coming ' down on the roof... '"
Since 1931 when James Truslow Adams first created the phrase “the American Dream”, people believed that America continuously offered everyone an equal opportunity to be successful. John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, was set during the Great Depression. Farms were struck hard during the Depression, and the two main characters George and Lennie were farm hands during this time. They had experienced the misunderstandings of other farm hands in terms of Lennie’s mental disability, but they were trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm. The idea of this farm drove Lennie and George to keep working, and like many others during this time they hoped to achieve this dream.
In the novella Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck incorporates many thematic ideas into his text. He includes the ideas of dreams and reality, the nature of home, and he difference of right and wrong. He develops these ideas throughout the story. The first theme incorporated is the idea if dreams versus reality. Lennie and George have a plan.
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (1937) is an intensely-focused novella that deals with friendship, trust, the relationship between good and evil and the role of justice. It is the second book in Steinbeck’s trilogy about agricultural labour, alongside with In Dubious Battle (1936) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). The title, inspired by a line in the poem The Mouse (1875) by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (The best-laid schemes o' mice an ‘men / gang aft agley), encapsulates the spirit of the narration.
Of Mice of Men is an allegory about the Great Depression which follows two men, Lennie and George, who have a dream of owning their own farm with rabbits. The book shows the difficulties Lennie and George faced to
