Of Mice and Men

### Symbols

George and Lennie's farm, the clearing at the river, mice, rabbits, Candy's dog, Lennie's puppy

> "*I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.*"
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**Of Mice and Men** is a 1937 novella by John Steinbeck. Published during the Great Depression, it tells the story of two migrant workers looking for a place to work and dreaming of owning their land.

The novel got its name from the poem “*To a Mouse*” by Scottish poet Robert Burns. Despite being a popular taught novel, it has also been one of America’s most controversial novels due to its racist and offensive content. But it has been one of Steinbeck’s most well-known works.

## Plot Summary

Two ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, travel across Soledad, California, during the Great Depression. George is a small and sharp man, while his friend, Lennie, is large and mentally disabled. The two men arrive at a pool in a clearing, and George notices his friend holding a dead mouse. Lennie loves to touch and pet soft animals but always accidentally kills them with his strength. George throws the mouse away as they prepare to spend the night in the clearing.

The men are making their way to a nearby ranch to find work and hope they will be able to have their own farm, where Lennie dreams he would look after the rabbits. But at their last ranch, Lennie touched a woman’s dress to feel its soft fabric and wouldn’t let go. Both men had to leave before getting in trouble, although they share a close bond. George often tells his friends the story of their dream ranch and how they are different from other migrant-working men, which makes Lennie happy.

George reminds Lennie that the next time he gets into trouble at their workplace, he will return to the same clearing where they are staying and find him there. George insists he will do all the talking.

The next day, they arrive at the ranch. The boss is suspicious when George explains everything, and Lennie doesn’t talk, but he hires them anyway. They meet several of the ranchers who live there: Candy, an old man missing a hand and has an elderly sheepdog; Slim, the chief mule skinner; Crooks, the black stableman; and another rancher named Carlson. They also meet Curley, the boss’ ill-tempered son and his new wife, who has a habit of flirting with the other workers. Curley hates large men and is jealous of Lennie, so George warns him to stay away from Curley and his wife. Lennie becomes attracted to Curley’s wife.

One night in their bunkhouse, Carlson complains about Candy’s old, smelly dog and wants to put it down, which Candy reluctantly allows him to do. At the same time, Slim’s dog has just given birth to a litter of puppies and offers one to Candy and another to Lennie, although only Lennie takes one and not Candy. While George talks about the dream farm to Lennie, Candy overhears their conversation and says he would offer some money from his life savings so he could live with them on their farm, too. They all agree not to tell anyone.

Curley comes into the bunkhouse with the other ranchers, feeling irritated after an argument with Slim while looking for his wife. He sees Lennie and picks a fight with him. He brutally beats him until George tells his friend to fight back. Lennie ends up crushing Curley’s hand. To prevent George and Lennie from getting fired for the incident, Slim forces Curley to tell everyone he got his hand caught in a machine. As Curley is taken to the hospital, George assures Lennie he has done nothing wrong.

The next evening, most men visit a nearby brothel, but Crooks is left alone in his room and is not allowed to join them since he is black. He doesn’t allow visitors into his room until Lennie appears and the stableman invites him in. The two chat until Candy arrives and brings up George and Lennie’s farm, to which Crooks predicts their dream will never happen. Curley’s wife comes and flirts with them, but as Crooks asks her to leave, she belittles him and threatens to have him lynched. She also notices the cuts on Lennie’s face and knows he is responsible for injuring her husband.

The next day in the barn, Lennie looks at the dead puppy he accidentally killed. Curley’s wife comes in and consoles him by revealing her loneliness and that her marriage to Curley ruined her dreams of becoming a movie star. Lennie says he loves touching soft things, and Curley’s wife offers him to touch her soft hair. He grabs too tight onto her hair, and she cries out. Lennie tries to make her quiet but shakes her until he accidentally breaks her neck. Realizing what he has done, he flees to the clearing George had asked him to go to when he gets into trouble.

George and Candy found Curley’s wife’s body in the stable and knew what had happened, and the dreams of their ranch were shattered. When Curley discovers his wife dead, he becomes outraged and arranges a mob to lynch Lennie. George has no choice but to join the group. He goes over to the meeting place to find Lennie.

Lennie arrives at the designated meeting spot arranged by George. He knew he had done a bad thing, and his friend would scold him for what he did. But when George arrives, he doesn’t get mad or lecture and knows they still have each other. George asks Lennie to look down the river and tells him the story of their dream ranch. He takes Carlson’s gun out and shoots Lennie in the back of the head, killing him instantly. As the mob arrives, George explains that Lennie had the gun, wrestled it away from him and then shot him. Only Slim understood what had happened, and he consoles George and leads him away while Carlson and Curley look on puzzled.

## Characters

George Milton- A small, sharp ranch hand. He travels in the Salinas Valley with his companion Lennie and seeks the American Dream of owning a farm on which he and Lennie can live and work. He is also Lennie’s caregiver, and despite wishing he could have a better life without him, he still cares about him deeply and is concerned for his safety. His friendship with Lennie is unique since they stick together while other migrant workers are often alone, but he knows he cannot prevent future predicaments that could ruin his dreams.

Lennie Small- A large, dependent man who is a migrant worker and George’s companion. He has a mental disability, meaning he is unable to survive on his own and relies on George to guide and protect him. Like George, Lennie also has a vision of having their farm, where he imagines looking after the rabbits. Although he is kind and gentle, Lennie’s large strength and love for anything soft have disastrous consequences.

Candy- An old man living on the ranch. After losing his hand in an accident, Candy fears the ranchers will no longer use him, and he convinces George to let him live with him and Lennie on their farm; he even uses his life savings to make the dream a reality. His old sheepdog symbolizes Lennie’s fate at the end of the novella.

Slim- A mule driver at the ranch. He is among the most respected men on the ranch and soon becomes friends with George. He also understands the nature between George and Lennie and is the only one who knows precisely why George had to shoot Lennie in the book’s tragic ending.

Curly- The son of the ranch owner. He’s an aggressive, ill-tempered young man willing to fight with any man larger than he is. He recently got married but is jealous when his wife attempts to make herself the centre of attention.

Curly’s Wife- The young wife of Curly. She is the only female character in the novel whose name is never mentioned and is only referred to as her husband’s wife. She is known to flirt with several men on the ranch with her attractive looks. But deep down, she is a lonely woman who quickly marries a man who neglected her.

Crooks- The ranch’s black stable hand. He gets his name from his crooked back and is isolated from the ranchers because of the colour of his skin. He thinks about joining George and Lennie at their farm at some point but knows their dream would be impossible.

Carlson- One of the ranchers. He hates Candy’s old, smelly dog and puts it down with his Luger pistol. George would later use his pistol to put down Lennie like the dog mercifully.

Aunt Clara- Lennie’s guardian. While she never physically appears in the novel since she is deceased, she is an important figure in George and Lennie’s early years. She raised Lennie herself and assigned George to look after him for her before her death.

The Boss- The owner of the ranch. In the novel, he makes only one appearance when George and Lennie arrive at the ranch. He is curious when George talks, but Lennie doesn’t speak. He is known to take his anger out on Crooks but once gifted the ranchers a gallon of whiskey for Christmas.

Whit- One of the ranchers.

## Writing History/Reception

Steinbeck had worked on different ranches as a teen in the summer and worked at a southern ranch in Salinas while he attended Stanford University. He had also one time worked as a labourer for the beet and barley fields of Salinas. His experiences in working on ranches at the turn of the 20th century and gaining knowledge about the life of a migrant worker are what may have inspired him to write a parable story of migrant workers during the Great Depression and what it means to be human.

In 1936, he began work on *Of Mice and Men*, granting him international fame before World War II. Since the novel was set during the Great Depression following the Stock Market Crash in 1929, the agricultural workers of the American West, such as in California, were the worst hit. Steinbeck himself witnessed the terrible suffering and starvation of millions of families out of work. Before he wrote *Of Mice and Men*, he wrote a series of articles for the San Francisco News, describing the harsh living conditions the homeless migrants lived in. He partly blamed California's farmers, landowners and bankers for mistreating the migrant workers. His novel describes the cruelty and differences between the landowners (the boss and his son Curley) and the migrants (George and Lennie).

*Of Mice and Men* was published on February 6th, 1937. Steinbeck used a famous line from Scottish poet Robert Burns' 1785 poem to describe the story's premise as the book's title. The line used for the main title of Burns' poem says, "*The best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry*," which means the goals and plans of the story's protagonists will eventually fail, no matter how hard they try to make it successful. The book was an immediate success and became a bestseller; shortly after its publication, he worked with playwright George Kaufman, who adapted it into a Broadway show in November 1937. 117,000 copies were sold, and in April 1937, it became one of the best-selling novels in the country.

But despite its positive reception, *Of Mice and Men* was also criticized and controversial. Some of the issues in the book include profanity, racism, sexism, violence and morbid themes that were common during the 1930s. It has been among the most challenged books for a couple of decades, appearing in the American Library Association's list of *Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century* and banned or censored in different US states and countries. Some of the controversial elements involve profanity and racist slurs that are seen as inappropriate for some students; one of the book's characters, an African American stableman named Crooks, is given a racist name and the way the opposite races of his ethnicity are shunning him. But the most common element that is heavily debated is euthanasia, which is defined as "*the act of putting one to death painlessly or allowing one to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition*." The first act of euthanasia, or mercy killing, is when Carlson shoots Candy's old dog, as it is old and suffering and won't be able to live much longer. By putting it down, Carlson saved it from more suffering and ended its misery. The second act ends when George decides to put Lennie down as Carlson did to the dog. Much like how George ended Lennie's suffering because of his disability, he is considered a danger to society after what he accidentally did to Curley's Wife. Curley would likely torture him to death. George wound up mercifully, killing Lennie to end his life and suffering quickly and painlessly.

Despite the book's controversy and challenges, *Of Mice and Men* is a popular novel taught in middle and high schools, even though some scholars and critics suggest it should not be taught to students and have them exposed to its offensive, inappropriate content.

## Themes

### Hopes and Dreams

In the novel, everyone has hopes and dreams. As they live in the Great Depression, they are in a time where everyone is struggling to make ends meet, with most people from the East travelling to the West to find work in the agricultural industry in hopes they will get their lives back on track. Everyone has a dream of what they have desired, but it almost always never comes to fruition. George and Lennie's hopes and dreams are to live on their land, where they will no longer have to work on ranches and live the glory days of the American Dream. Lennie is always fascinated by their dream and is delighted whenever George tells him about their farm and how they are different from the other working men in California.

Other characters also have hopes and dreams, but they are similar or different from George and Lennie's. Candy dreams of wanting to live in a more prosperous environment, as he fears he will be homeless and alone once the ranch workers get rid of him since he is old and missing a hand. When he overhears George and Lennie talking about their farm, he thinks for a moment that his dream could become a reality as the farm is described as an ideal, heavenly place where the old and weak like him can survive. So much so that he offers his life savings so they would have enough money to buy the farm. But the other character with hopes and dreams but isn't dreaming of working on a farm is Curley's wife. She dreams of becoming a movie star and joining a travelling theatre troupe, as she never was interested in living on a ranch and longs to seek adventure on stage and camera. However, the moment she married Curley, she was forced to give up her dream and found herself being lonely and neglected, with no way she would try to leave him and follow her dreams. Crooks, the black stableman, also has plans, and he hopes to escape his boring, abusive life by reading books in his room to distract himself from companionship. Most of the time, these hopes and dreams involve the characters wanting to live a blissful, peaceful life where they won't have to live a boring, difficult life, including working on ranches and spending earnings on unnecessary things like alcohol or visiting brothels. But since the Great Depression, all hopes and dreams will never come true as everyone finds themselves in tragic obstacles or mistakes that cannot be turned into reality, and they are just illusions in their minds.

### Loneliness and Friendship

*Of Mice and Men* takes place in a dog-eat-dog world, where every man is always out for himself and is often lonely with no family and nothing to look forward to. The Great Depression was a time in history when everyone was alone without friends, and the men in the book would go to town on a Saturday evening to ease their loneliness with alcohol and women. Every character suffers from loneliness. Whether they had friends or not, they would become cruel from not having friends to cherish or comfort them.

George and Lennie are more than just friends who keep each other company; they have their own thoughts on coping with their loneliness. George dreams about the farm, and Lennie pets soft animals that make him feel safe from being alone. At times, George wishes he didn't have to look after Lennie because he doesn't appreciate Lennie's mishaps that get them into trouble. But George knows that as long as he keeps Lennie by his side, he won't become mean and irritated from loneliness.

Other characters suffer from loneliness without any friends. Candy's loyal dog had been his friend, but after the dog's death, he suffers from loneliness and thinks living with George and Lennie on their farm will be the only chance he can have a friendship. Curley's Wife is alone because her husband forbids any of the men from talking to her, and she copes with her loneliness by flirting with the other ranch workers. Crooks is the only black man on the ranch, and since racial segregation was highly common in the 1930s, he is an isolated outcast by the ranchers. He spends all his time alone in his room inside the barn while the other men enjoy themselves on the ranch or in town. Ironically, the town where the ranch is located, Soledad, means "solitude" or "alone." In a lonely world where nobody has friends, they are awestruck and confused when they see George and Lennie together. The two ranchers have three factors that keep their friendship intact: they take care of each other, support each other in making their dream ranch a reality, and make sacrifices and are responsible for each other.

## Symbols

### George and Lennie’s Farm

George and Lennie's main goal is to make enough money to buy a large acre of land to have their own farm with livestock and crops and, as Lennie calls it, "*live off the fatta the lan'*'. The farm symbolizes the American Dream, where there is peace, tranquillity and harmony. However, their farm symbolizes that their goals are doomed to fail as they daydream about distracting themselves from their harsh reality. In the end, George and Lennie never got to obtain their goal of having the farm, and George knew this would hardly happen due to the reckless spending of his earnings and Lennie's death.

### The Clearing at the River

A peaceful area where the story begins and ends. It is where George and Lennie spend the night after a long day of travel before arriving at the ranch, and it is where George tells Lennie to hide when he gets into trouble. The clearing at the river symbolizes a safe haven where George and Lennie are away from society and its cruelty and violence. The pool is also where the two men hope they can protect themselves, but tragically, it also serves as a barrier to the harsh world around them, as the pool is where George shoots Lennie to prevent him from a cruel death by the lynch mob. However, at the same time, George and Lennie find themselves at peace despite their broken dreams.

### Mice and Rabbits

Mice and Rabbits are two animals featured often in the novel and have two different symbolisms. Mice symbolize false hope since Lennie loves petting them but accidentally kills them with his brute strength but still keeps them as comfort. In addition, Lennie could be a mouse as his lack of control over his strength becomes his undoing. As the famous verse says in Robert Burns' poem, both men are the victims of their best-laid plans that quickly go awry.

Rabbits symbolize Lennie's freedom and escape from society on the dream farm. George had always promised Lennie he would care for the rabbits once they had their farm. The rabbits also symbolize the hope of freedom from the harsh reality of society and personal appearances. But since Lennie accidentally kills Curley's Wife, this also means that disabled people like him will never be able to obtain their dreams and live out their lives in independence and freedom.

### Candy’s Dog

Candy's old, blind sheepdog who has been his companion since the dog was a puppy. The sheepdog symbolizes the fate of the weak, as the dog can no longer herd the livestock, and Carlson puts it down to end its suffering. The dog also symbolizes the loneliness of the ranch workers, as Candy is now alone and depressed once his loyal pet and companion is dead.

### Lennie’s Puppy

Slim offers a young puppy to Lennie shortly after it is born. The puppy foreshadows the strong conquering the weak, as Lennie accidentally kills it because he played with it too roughly. But both Lennie and his puppy are innocent creatures who aren't aware of the dangers they are surrounded by and that he will soon meet the same fate as his puppy.

## Foreshadowing

* Lennie loves petting soft things but always accidentally harms them with his strength, and he insists he didn't mean to do it. Foreshadows him accidentally killing his puppy and then Curley's Wife from touching her soft hair.
* George demands Lennie to always stay close to him, or else he will be mistaken as an animal and shot. Slim mentions that the weak cannot survive by drowning some of his dog's puppies because he thinks the dog cannot nurse them all; Carlson kills Candy's beloved dog, and Candy admits he wishes he shot his dog instead. Foreshadows Lennie's death at the end of the novel by being shot because of his mental disability and not being able to survive in a dog-eat-dog world, and it is George who must decide to mercifully kill him to save him from a cruel death at the hands of Curley and the ranchers.
* Carlson shoots Candy's dog in the back of the head with his Luger. Foreshadows George taking the same Luger and shooting Lennie in the back of the head the same way Carlson shot the dog.
* George scolds Lennie for getting them into trouble and reminds Lennie to return to the pond when he gets into trouble at the ranch. Foreshadows that Lennie will accidentally cause trouble at the ranch that will become his undoing at the pond.

## Adaptations

* A film adaptation was released in 1939. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it features Burgess Meredith as George Milton, Lon Chaney Jr as Lennie Small, Betty Field as Mae (Curley’s Wife), Charles Bickford as Slim, Roman Bohnmen as Candy and Bob Steele as Curley. It received critical acclaim and nominated for Four Oscars, including Best Picture.
* A Broadway adaptation was released in 1937. Directed by George Kaufman, it opened at the Music Box Theatre on November 23rd, 1937 and closed in 1938 after 207 performances. It was revived twice in 1974 and 2014.
* A TV movie was released in 1981. Directed by Reza Badiyi, it features Robert Blake as George and Randy Quaid as Lennie.
* A film adaptation was released in 1992. Directed by Gary Sinise, who also portrayed George, it features John Malkovich as Lennie, Casey Siemaszko as Curley, John Terry as Slim, Ray Walston as Candy and Sherilyn Fenn as Curley’s Wife. Like the 1939 film adaptation, it has also received critical acclaim and widely considered to be more faithful to the book’s source material.

## References

1. ↑ The Great Depression (1929-1939) was an economic disaster that started with the Wall Street Crash and spanned throughout the 1930s until the beginning of WWII.