Of Mice and Men is a novella written by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The story is set under the background of the Great Depression, follows George and Lennie, two migrant workers, as they are always in search of a better life. The novella centers on George and Lennie, two men who travel together to find a job, always dreaming of owning a farm and living freely. George is short but intelligent, while Lennie is large but has mental disabilities, which makes it hard for communication and understanding the consequences of his actions. After Lennie kills Curley’s wife, George takes Lennie’s life to protect him from being tortured by Curley. After the death of Lennie, their dream was broken. The novella is a heart-rending story which reflects friendship, dreams, and loneliness, revealing the tragic destiny of marginalized people during the Great Depression.
The relationship between George and Lennie is the foundation of the whole story, which supports and provides hope and courage for them even under the harsh conditions. However, the friendship between George and Lennie is more profound because their role in this relationship is unequal, Lennie is depending on George which makes George sacrifice more to protect Lennie and their dream. When George makes the ultimate decision to kill Lennie himself, the tremendous mercy shows the strength of friendship, which becomes more valuable and precious, especially when people are usually more likely to be against each other just for their own benefits during that period. Just like what Lennie remembered in heart: “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you” (Steinbeck 15), George and Lennie are relying on each other. The simple yet profound words show the mutual dependence they share, reinforcing their sense of companionship, which also reflects their fate is strongly connected, because of their dream and the complementary advantages they have for pursuing their dreams together.
The whole story is set upon the dreams of the characters but are all fragile and finally broken. George and Lennie’s dream of owning a farm and living freely is central to this book, and symbolizes hope, freedom, and a better life. “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 goin’ to work, and we’ll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an’ listen to the rain comin’ down on the roof” (Steinbeck 16), detailed demonstrates George and Lennie imagining of having a farm and raising rabbits. With the support of Candy’s savings for the last chance of securing his future, this dream seems like an ideal plan, but their dream becomes an illusion after Lennie’s death. The same for the others, such as Curley’s wife desiring for more attention and someone to talk to, so she confides in Lennie for more attention but is accidentally killed, and Crooks being cynicism to dreams and giving up and resign himself to reality even when he has already considers joining, due to his position in the society. The failure of their dream serves a critique of American society itself, demonstrating sympathy to the people who are struggling at the bottom, even though they have already worked hard for a better life. This exposes the real living condition of people, particularly for those who are at the bottom of the society who have neither property nor authority, that for them, it’s impossible to realize their dreams will always be shattered and ruined.
Going through all the characters, they are all similar in one aspect, which most of them have a tragic fate, as the result of their minority and marginalized in society. Apart from Lennie, Crooks, or Candy, who all have some disabilities including mental disability, curved spine caused by a horse injury, and lost a hand in an accident, that somehow cause their marginalization, also Crooks linking to constant racial discrimination and Candy suffering from ageing problems, Curley’s wife’s neglection by the society is more obvious. “‘I get lonely,’ she said. ‘You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley.’” (Steinbeck 86) As the only female character in the story, her isolation is due to her gender and her unrealized dream of being an actress, furthermore, being ignored and avoided by others on the ranch even though she dresses provocatively and seeks for attention and is treated as property which she’s being something owned by Curley. She is isolated, her identity reduced to being just the “wife” of Curley, but not herself, not an independent identity as a normal person. She expresses her loneliness and the limited role she has as a woman in a male-dominated world. For her death, people would only blame her for being as a troublemaker and being overlooked reflects the societal tendency to scapegoat those who don’t fit the norm, both for her gender and for her position as the only woman on the ranch, which is the epitome of the situations of the women during that period, also indicating that is unable to turn over for those minorities who are of no account.
In conclusion, the novella Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about a story happened on a ranch where the workers their all have different but heartrending background that made their condition in society quite harsh, not simply because of the Great Depression that seriously influences the whole society, but some factors of themselves such as physical and mental disabilities, gender, races, etc. that lead to the woeful ending of the characters. Their delusion of being successful, being free and not needing to survive under others’ attitude is gradually disillusioned but is rarely seen by the public since they are minorities, are marginalized, and being scapegoated just because they didn’t get much attention. Their destiny is inevitably unfortunate and lamentable, but they have really let us consider the situation of those unimpressive groups in society both in the past and nowadays, and how fragile dreams are.
Works Cited
Steinbeck, John. “Of Mice and Men”, HIIS Laboratory
Comments