Of mice and men is a story set during the Great Depression in the US. It is about two migrant field workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, who moved from place to place in California looking for jobs. The two characters couldn’t be more opposite, George a short intelligent man described as small and quick with sharp and strong features whereas Lennie Small, a huge man who drags his feet like a bear drags his paws and has trouble remembering things. Because of his strength, he is known to be a good fieldworker but is not bright and is unable to read people or situation. They had fled from Weed after Lennie grabbed a young woman's skirt and would not let go because he loved touching soft things, leading to an accusation of rape. It soon becomes clear that the two are close and George is Lennie's protector, despite his antics.
They hope to one day attain the dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie's part of the dream is merely to tend and pet rabbits on the farm, as he loves touching soft animals, although he always accidentally kills them. This dream is one of Lennie's favourite stories, which George constantly retells. Their plan is to work at a ranch and save enough money but one incident that takes place changes everything. Lennie, unfortunately, gets into trouble and that puts George in a difficult situation. What George does next is shocking and unexpected and you can't help but sympathise with him.
"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. . . . With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit in no bar room blowin' in our jack jus' because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us. "Lennie broke in. "But not us! An' why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why."
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 and live off the fatta the lan’. We’ll have a bug 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.
John Steinbeck was an American author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. many of his works are considered classics of Western literature. It’s not as easy to understand as the author uses dialect in his writing - a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group and figurative language – using language to mean something other than the actual definition of the words. Each word has a symbolic meaning. example the phrase “fatta the lan” - envisages an abundant, rich land which requires minimal work to produce a sufficiency of food, traditionally been used to conjure an image of plenty.
Many readers would pick sides, they may sympathise with George and even wonder why he’d stick around a guy like Lennie. Or they pity Lennie because he does not have the intelligence to understand the ways of the world. He is kind and placid, but at the same time he doesn't realize his own strength, and this gets him into trouble. The major theme of the book is trust, hope and loneliness. What I love about the book is the innocence and simplicity with which it brings out the written.
It's written in third person and that it makes you feel like you’re sitting right there on a rock nearby watching the story unfold. Makes you hope their dream comes true.
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