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Of mice and men

"Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land."

Lennie

George

Lennie is the other character in the novella Of Mice and Men. A gentle giant and child-like can be simple terms to describe him. Throughout the story, he has little to no change. He stays the same and I think it's an important detail added by the author because he represents those with disabilities who are not capable of changing realistically.

George plays a major role in the novella. He represents the struggle of the working class and how life isn't easy. He is also a character whose point of view changes due to the circumstances he and Lennie face. Even though he might sound cruel or act short temper towards Lennie he cherishes and protects him. He has goals and dreams but isn't able to accomplish them at the end of the story.

Symbolic

Mice

Mice have a deeper meaning within the novella. The small mammal appears constantly and their appearances represent the reminder of both Lennie's and George's dreams they had. It also is a foreshadowing of how the dream to have a farm for themselves was killed hence Lennie kills mice.

"'Trouble with mice is you always kill ‘em.''' Chapter 1

Soledad, California

The setting is important because it opens a new time for both Lennie and George. This new place they are headed to was supposed to be a new start so they can reach their goal, but just like the name of the place it ended up being a place of solitude.

Theme

Loneliness

The author Of Mice and Men explores the theme within the novella. He does this by utilizing characters such as Curle's Wife, Crooks, and even George himself. He introduces this topic by sharing his own experience of they have with loneliness and how it drives them crazy. For example, “I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?” (chapter 5).

Theme

False dreams and hopes

Overall, Of Mice and Men focuses on dreams and hopes but they are all dreams and not reality. The main two whose dreams and hopes were never reached are George and Lennie. Both men were hoping to be able to reach the fatta the lan' but from the beginning and throw out the story we can figure they wouldn't reach it. Another character whose dreams were crushed was Curley's wife whose dream was to be a movie star, but she couldn't because she was killed by Lennie. Candy the old man who wanted to join and George and Lennie although in the end this dream never came true because he as well dreams died after the situation with Lennie in the story.

Genre

The novella follows a Naturalism genre. John Steinbeck writes on the topics about the 1930s he believes need a voice. Those topics were poverty, how women were treated, how people were disabilities, and how minorities were treated.

Tone

The tone of the novella is dark as throught out it we see death come up constaly, agression, and bad condtions of the 1930s.