Background:
"Of Mice and Men" is a novella(a short story) that is also an allegory, which is a book that is written to reflect real life events such as wars and disasters. They are sometimes used to support or criticize political opinions and norms.This particular allegory is about the Great Depression of 1929-1939 where the stock market crash in Wall Street,New York, crashed which led to mass unemployment, poverty and bankruptcy. At that time, black racism and segregation of women was also at large.
However, the people of North America also thought up the idea of the "American Dream" alongside the Great Depression which was the idea that all Americans(including black people and women) should have the equal right to opportunity so that all of their dreams and desires should be fulfilled. This novella on the other hand shows the failure of the idea by revealing the typical lives of white and black men and women which were all filled with disappointment and inequality depending on a few factors:age, race, mental and physical health/stability and gender.
Analysis and summary of story:
Chapter 1:
The very first setting of the book starts in a forest untouched by mankind which Steinbeck presents as near perfect by using an extended metaphor* to compare the setting to the Garden of Eden which, as we all know, God made perfect. He mentions the variety of wildlife living there and the beauty of the landscape which outlines a general positive mood. However, Steinbeck also chooses to include some subtle hints such as an ash pile to foreshadow* something going wrong later in the book.
We then see the introduction of two male characters called George and Lennie. Through their first actions and dialogue, we immediately get an insight into their personalities alongside the physical characterizations* of them. George is portrayed as observant as Steinbeck includes his "restless eyes" darting around, examining everything.
On the other hand, we see Lennie as a "huge man" with "wide, sloping shoulders". His body movement and size is also likened to a bear(simile) with his feet being compared to a bear's paws dragging across the ground. Another quality of Lennie is the fact that he seems to have mental problems as Steinbeck includes early in the story, the conversation between the two men about Lennie not being able to remember where they were going.
We know that the two men are going to a ranch to find work. A ranch was a place where people farmed cattle and barley. During the time of the Great Depression, these ranches were sought after by the unemployed because the job included accommodation and was arguably one of the best ways to live at the time because of this. This leads us to the fact that George and Lennie are two of many 'common' Americans who were struggling due to the Great Depression.
Next, Steinbeck foreshadows once again on two occasions about something going wrong by highlighting how Lennie can not control his own strength and repeatedly kills the mice just by petting them,suggesting the death of someone or something. The second bad omen is the account that George retells about how Lennie touched a woman's dress(as he enjoys feeling soft things) without consent. This lead to Lennie ripping the dress and the women accusing him of rape, meaning that they had to hide from police officers. This gives us the overall impression that Lennie is not trustworthy when he tells George that he won't cause trouble.
The final main extract of chapter 1 is the description of the farm that George and Lennie wish to run. This highlights the idea of the American Dream and we are yet to see if the idea of it will work for George and Lennie's goal to run their own farm.
Key words:
extended metaphor-a comparison of two things that is spread across multiple sentences up to a whole paragraph
foreshadowing-using events or objects to hint to the reader about something that is going to happen later in the story.
characterization-when the author is describing a character is building up his/her personality and appearance.
Chapter 2:
This chapter begins with George and Lennie arriving at the ranch. They soon meet one of the workers at the bunkhouse, the living quarters for all the men apart from the stable buck who is black. worker then talks to George and Lennie about the man who had left the ranch before. Steinbeck includes this topic in their conversation to emphasize how the idea of the American Dream is failing because all of the workers of America are finding it extremely difficult to find a permanent job because of the stock market crash which left banks with people's money bankrupt.
The worker then talks to the two men about them being late which lead to the boss giving the "stable buck hell". This case of racism is extremely important because when the worker talks about the boss abusing the stable buck just because he was black, he showed no concern at all and was more interested in having a casual conversation with George and Lennie. This shows how racism during the time was not actually a bad thing which leads us to believe that the people during the time of the Great Depression had immoral social and political beliefs.
To add on, the black stable buck is also described using expletives* which shows how serious racism was at the time.
Later in the day, they meet the boss of the ranch who begins to question them about their lateness. In chapter 1, we can recall the agreement between George and Lennie where Lennie vowed not to speak to the boss to hide the fact that he had mental problems. However, they were immediately put under pressure by the boss and Lennie eventually spoke. Once again, Steinbeck foreshadows something going wrong possibly on the ranch.Linking this to the mice Lennie killed, we can come to a conclusion that someone may die on the ranch because of the two men although we cannot confirm that the foreshadowing is genuine. However we become more more confident with it because they also come across Curley, the boss' son who also forms bad relations with George and Lennie as we can see when he saw them and was at once "calculating and pugnacious" meaning that he was trying to pick a fight with them.
After this confrontation, we see the introduction of Curley's wife who is immediately described by the worker as someone who has the "eye for men" meaning that she is cheating or trying to cheat on her husband. As this is the first characteristic that she is linked to, we can see that this is sexist towards her. This shows that the ranch is a sexist as well as a racist environment.
Once again here the use of expletives* is used to show how angry George is because he knows that Lennie might do something wrong to Curley because Curley has tried to provoke them already. We feel the same way about his wife too because Lennie is already "fascinated by her" because of her soft hair which Lennie might try to touch and end up hurting her because that was what he did to a woman and her dress back in Weed.
When George and Lennie finish talking with Candy(the old worker), two more workers are introduced by the names of Slim and Carlson. Through Steinbeck's description, we can see that Slim is the top worker who is also extremely skilled at his job. During Slim and George's conversation, Slim mentions that he is surprised to see George travelling with Lennie which shows how no one cared for each other during the time because everyone else was trying to earn a living themselves.
To end the chapter, Slim, using his authority, decides to kill Candy's old dog because it had "got no teeth" and was "damn near blind". Linking this to the context of the Great Depression, the old dog can represent useless workers because they will be disposed of just like the dog as soon as they lose its value which suggests that Candy is useless too because he is old just like his dog.
Key words:
expletives- the use of swear words, sometimes to emphasize a point. It is also used with colloquial language which is informal, possibly how you would talk to your friends.
Chapter 3:
In chapter 3, we learn of the background of George and Lennie's relationship and their past misfortunes. George talks of how he used to use Lennie for his own enjoyment by abusing the fact that he had mental problems, meaning that he would do anything George told him to do even "jump off a cliff".
Next, George reveals how Lennie had once again overused his strength in a town called Weed where he had touched a woman's dress(he likes feeling soft things as stated before). The woman had mistaken him for a rapist and had screamed, startling Lennie, causing him to grab onto it. This had lead to the woman accusing him of rape and they had had to hide in an irrigation ditch underwater for a whole day due to the police who had been looking for them. This foreshadowing once again indicates something going wrong on the ranch which is still yet to be discovered. The constant repetition of this idea is effective because it helps to grip the reader throughout the novella(see background) as it makes us curious to find out what will go wrong.
Throughout the first three chapters, we also see how Curley's wife has got 'the eye', meaning that she seems to be around the ranch men, constantly using the excuse that she is looking for Curley. This suggests that she may be trying to cheat on him as she is described as 'a jailbait all set on the trigger' i.e. she is trying to get men to cheat with her so that they go to jail. On the other hand, we can also see a certain extent of sexism in this because she may just be visiting the men because she is lonely as she is the only female character that has been revealed so far. However, we are still yet to know if she is cheating or is just lonely and in want of company.
Another reference is made to the farm that they wish to set up.However, this time, they discuss it with Candy who is invited to join in on their plan.This may be because he had $350 that he was willing to give to George and Lennie so that they could buy their farm as George only accepted after he told him about the money he had saved up.
However, the most dramatic moment of chapter 3 is its last event where Curley and Lennie get into a fight. Thinking about the farm, Lennie had been delighted and had begun to laugh at exactly the worst moment where Curley had been angry as he had been insulted by Slim, Candy and Carlson just earlier. Lennie laughing triggered Curley to unleash his anger on him and Lennie became very scared. However, George did not let anyone interfere and we believe that he did as he wanted everyone in the bunkhouse to know that they should not mess with Lennie and himself as they are close. Just as we expected, Lennie shows his strength by accidentally breaking Curley's hand by squeezing it which gives us an idea of just how big and strong of a man Lennie is!
Chapter 4:
In this chapter, another character is introduced called Crooks. Steinbeck decides to immediately reveal a lot about this character and we learn the following things about him:he is black(described as a negro), has a crooked back i.e. disabled, is a stable buck, is hated and abused racially by the white men, lives away from the other men, is lonely and has lots of possessions. All of this we learn from just the first few pages of the chapter.
What Steinbeck has also cleverly included are the books that Crooks has. The first of a few of his books is a dictionary which suggests that he is well-educated or at least to a certain extent. Although he has education that many did not have at the time, he is working on a ranch with a tiny income. This suggests the possible racism that he went through when he had applied for a job for educated people but had been turned down because he was a "busted back nigger".
The second book is the "mauled copy of the California civil code". This is very ironic because it is evident that he is not treated fairly when the book's aim is to outline the law that is meant to help reach and maintain equality. The copy of the civil code is also very tattered showing that it is useless as it does not help promote equality but helps to promote racism towards black people.
Later, once the men have all gone out, Lennie goes to visit his pups and he goes inside Crooks' hut. After some conversations, Crooks realizes that Lennie has a mental disability. Influenced by his anger towards racism and his loneliness, he begins to manipulate Lennie mentally by telling that George will not return. This frightens him greatly and he begins to become very agitated. Crooks, sensing danger, stops as he recognises the strength of Lennie.
After calming down, Lennie then discusses his dream farm with Crooks and he becomes bemused. He explains that he has seen "hundreds of men come by" with the same dream and all have failed. This shows the severity of the impact of the Great Depression on North America.
Candy then becomes the 2nd person to join them. They further discuss their dream farm, revealing the fact that they already have almost enough money to buy their own farm. Crooks becomes very surprised and he becomes the 4th to be in on the plan i.e. he will help them on the farm. As he stutters, when he asks to do so, we see how overjoyed he is and how these scenarios did not happen very often at the time.
Curley's wife then enters once again looking for Curley. One thing she says is "they left all the weak ones here". This show the sympathy that she feels. We also feel sympathy for her to as we know that Curley has gone with the other men to the whore house(place for sex), showing that the abuse and neglect that she is undergoing. However, Steinbeck may have also included her in this weak group to emphasize how she was powerless at the time because she was a woman. However, the sympathy is soon replaced by anger and she begins to insult even calling Crooks an n word and threatening him. This shows how black people were at the bottom of the hierarchy followed by women and then white men.
Finally, George returns, looking for Lennie and finds the 4 people inside Crooks' room. Lennie then reveals accidentally that he told Crooks about their plan. George is not pleased with this because he did not want many people to know about their plan as he wanted to lead a peaceful life. Crooks, sensing his agitation, then tells Candy that he is going to withdraw from working at their farm. The chapter then ends on this note because Steinbeck wants to emphasize how lonely Crooks is.
Chapter 5:
Chapter 5 seems to be the climax of the whole book as we found out that there is a murder added to the number of deaths that have happened in the story so far, this time however, the murder of a person. This is foreshadowed one last time just before her death when Lennie accidentally kills his pet dog(given by Slim) by patting on it too hard on the head. Lennie feels sad at the death of his dog at first however he soon becomes overwhelmed by rage and throws the puppy. This is because Lennie realises that George will not let him tend the rabbits any more because he can't take care of animals well. This just goes to show how desperate he is to achieve his dream. As Steinbeck chooses to make Lennie talk about rabbits so much, it makes us feel sympathetic towards him as he cannot control his strength.
Soon later, Curley's wife arrives, wanting to have a conversation with Lennie. In this conversation, a lot is revealed about her and her past. We find out she is a very lonely person because of Curley being overprotective. It turns out that she made a rash decision of marrying Curley because she only married him to get away from her mother who did not allow her to be in the movie or acting industry. Then we also see the anger in her voice when Lennie says that he can't talk to her because George said so which makes us pity her as she just wants someone to talk to.
Finally, to end this chapter, Steinbeck includes the (arguably) most important event in this book:the death of Curley's wife! This came to be when she allowed Lennie to stroke her hair because he told her that he liked to stroke soft things such as velvet. After Lennie felt how soft the hair was, he held onto it for a long time which agitated Curley's wife making her shout and later on scream. The loud startling noise scared Lennie and he held on which led to him jerking back her hair so hard that she broke her neck and died. It seems that in the end, Lennie was not able to control his strength and we predict that the book will probably have a sad ending.
Soon after her death, the men return from the brothel to find her dead. Curley immediately realises that Lennie had done this and he becomes consumed with rage and gets the other men to help him find him and kill him.
Chapter 6:
This final chapter begins back at the Salinas river, where the first chapter of the book had started. This is an example of circular narrative. It seems that Lennie has hidden here, where George had told him to hide if something ever went wrong. Lennie soon seems to have imaginations in his mind of him talking to first his Aunt Clara and then a rabbit about how George would "give him hell" because he had disappointed him.
Soon enough, George finds him as he knew Lennie would be there. The conversation they have is very sad as George tries to make Lennie's last thoughts happy. They talk about how they have each other to keep them going in life and the conversation ends with George asking Lennie to turn around and to talk about their dream farm and the rabbits. They discuss it together and with Lennie's back turned, George picks up the gun that Lennie took from Carlson and holds it at Lennie's head. George hesitated and we realise how torn apart he must feel as he has to kill his best friend that he has taken care of for years. Finally, George plucks up the courage just after they talk about buying the farm and he pulls the trigger, which triggers both the gun and our pathos. Immediately after this, Slim comes in to the area where George is with Curley and Carlson and Slim and George leave together to go get a drink as Slim knows the strong relationship between George and Lennie and understands how sad he is to see him go.
Key words:
Circular narrative- a story that ends up at the setting in which it began.
Pathos-feelings of pity towards a character.
THE END