Of Mice And Men

by John Steinbeck

The Great Depression

• Set during the Great Depression– an era in America (and the rest of the world) in

which there was great poverty– it followed the Stock Market crash in 1929 and

lasted until about 1939 (after the Second World War had begun)

– it was made worse by a terrible drought in parts of America, which destroyed a lot of crops

What was so bad about the Great Depression?

• Millions of people were out of work

• In those days there were no state benefits so without work you would starve

• People had to travel around the country to find work, sometimes living in tents or in old cars

John Steinbeck

• Born in 1902, died in 1968• Grew up in Salinas Valley, California• Very concerned with the lives of poor people• Won the Nobel Prize for his writing• Many of his books were banned in schools in the US

because of their subject matter

“Of Mice and men”

Why this title?

It comes from a poem by Robert Burns. In the poem, Burns sees a mouse making its nest in straw. The mouse is making a lot of effort, but it can’t see the harvester approaching. Burns says: The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Structure

The novel follows a simple chronological structure. There are no flashbacks, for example. The novel begins on a Thursday night and ends on the following Sunday. One of the key things about the novel is its simplicity.

Form

• The action is mainly related through dialogue.• Steinbeck intersperses scenes of quiet (the

clearing in Chapter One, the barn in Chapter Five) with scenes of dialogue. The book is very dialogue-heavy, which means it works well as a radio play.

Dialogue

The dialogue is colloquial, showing a realistically as possible the way the ranch hands talk. This makes the writing more realistic and vivid.

Note, as well, that people sometimes say things that they don’t mean – for example, when Candy praises Crooks’ room or Crooks’ describes his room as ‘swell’ or when Curley’s wife calls her husband a ‘swell guy.’ The effect of this is ironic.

Humour

There is a limited use of humour in the book, most of it coming from Lennie and the things he says. For example, the exchange between Lennie and George about coloured rabbits. These moments make sure the book is not completely grim and keep it realistic.

Language

Almost as a mirror to the simple language used by the ranch hands, Steinbeck keeps his own description in the book very simple. He does not use a lot of difficult metaphors or difficult words. This simplicity mirrors the lives in the book.

He also does not speak directly to the reader giving his own point of view. Steinbeck’s style here is to show life as it is and leave us to make our own judgements.

FormThe use of the third person, without a narrative

voice passing judgement or guiding the reader, gives the reader a feeling of being a fly on the wall. Inner thoughts are only indicated through speech and action. Only once in the novel are we given a look at anyone’s private thoughts – when Lennie hallucinates at the end.

StructureHow is this novel put together? It is in a cyclical form. The

action begins and ends in the same place. The issues between George and Lennie are introduced in the clearing and, finally, resolved in the clearing. The four scenes in between show how they reach this conclusion. Each of these scenes includes an important event:

• The shooting of Candy’s dog• The damage to Curley’s hand• The confrontation between Crooks and Curley’s wife• The death of Curley’s wife

The economic language and the lack of formal chapter breaks keeps the pace quick.

Light

Images of light are used again and again in the novel, from the light on the Gabilan mountains to moments

in the bunkhouse and the barn.e.g. “The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut

off” when Curley’s wife enters the bunkhouse. The light symbolises the way that she cuts into people’s

conversations, interrupting things, and how her own life is ‘cut off’ when she is killed.

Sounds

Background sound is used in the scene where Lennie kills Curley’s wife, as well as the scene where George kills Lennie. The shouts of the men outside add tension and remind us of how close by they are.

Themes

Dreams and plansMany of the characters in the novel have dreams

and plans for the future. George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife all aspire to something. For these characters, it is these dreams which keep them going. Remember that the title of the novel is taken from a Robert Burns poem which says; ‘The best laid schemes o’ mice and men often go wrong.’

Themes

Friendship and lonelinessGeorge and Lennie are unusual because they

‘string along together’, even though their friendship is threatened by Lennie’s behaviour. The other characters tend to be alone, isolated, because of their lifestyle.

Themes

Power The novel explores the issue of power through the

character of Curley and the influence he has over the ranch hands and his wife. George also wields power over Lennie.

Curley’s wife seems powerless, but she could have Crooks killed if she wanted.

Crooks seems powerless, but he is able to make Lennie believe he’s been abandoned.

Candy seems powerless, but he has the money to make George and Lennie’s dream a reality.

ThemesCyclesMuch of the plot in the novel is cyclical, as are the lives of

the characters. The story opens and closes in the same place, the men’s lives are a routine of work - earn money - spend money in the flop-house - work, and many of the chapters begin and end in similar ways.

The book begins and ends in the same clearing. The deaths of the animals also show a cycle – just as Candy’s dog is killed, so is Lennie killed. Lennie and George have to move on again after the death of Curley’s wife, just like they had to after the girl in Weed. This time, though, George has to end the cycle.

Rabbits When Lennie and George appear in Chapter 1, rabbits run for cover They are the only real rabbits in the novel.

Lennie is obsessed with future rabbits. His first fear when he does something wrong is that George won’t let him feed the rabbits in their future farm.

A gigantic rabbit comes out of Lennie’s head at the end of the novel. The rabbit tells him off and says: “You ain’t fit to lick the boots of no rabbit.”

Animals in the novel

Mice Mice are vulnerable physically.Lennie is vulnerable psychologically.

Lennie says he petted the girl in Weed’s dress: “jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse”

Lennie loves to pet mice, but he kills them by petting them. This is an example of foreshadowing.

Animals in the novel

In Chapter One, Lennie is described as:‘a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes,.’‘the way a bear drags his paws’

The fight between Lennie and Curley resembles bear-baiting.

Animals in the novel

Dogs

The killing of Candy’s dog shows the harsh treatment that animals (and people!) receive when they are no longer seen as useful. It foreshadows Lennie’s death.

The puppy that Lennie is given shows how Lennie cannot help but kill the things he loves. The puppy’s mothers reaction to the murder scene shows how unnatural and wrong it is.

Animals in the novel

The American Dream

American History - immigration1492: Columbus reaches the Americas, followed by other European explorers.1502: Africans are brought as slaves to the island of Hispanola (present-day Dominican

Republic/Haiti) by the Spanish, with 10 million enslaved Africans to follow and arrive on American shores.

1607: First permanent English colony built in Jamestown, Virginia.1619: First Africans arrive at Jamestown, Virginia, as indentured servants.1700-1776: First big immigrant wave: Europeans, mostly English, arrive in large numbers.1750: Population reaches more than one million.1790: Population reaches almost four million.1808: Congress makes it illegal to bring slaves to the United States.1820-1870: Second big immigrant wave: About 7.5 million arrive, mainly from northern

and western Europe (especially Great Britain, Ireland, and western Germany).1840: Wave of Irish immigrants arrives, escaping famine because of potato crop failure.1848: Discovery of gold results in Chinese and Latin American immigrants coming to the

west coast.1881-1920: Third big immigrant wave: Nearly 23.5 million arrive, mainly from southern

and eastern Europe (especially Austro-Hungary, Italy, and Russia).1892: Ellis Island opens.1900: Population reaches 76 million.1907: One million immigrants pass through Ellis Island in one year.

The American Dream…

… is the idea that America is a meritocracy, that if you work hard enough you will succeed, whatever your background. People coming to the United States were coming from countries (like England) where success depended much more upon your background. In the “old countries” people were born with wealth and status, they didn’t earn it.

What is the American Dream?

The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931. He states:

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to achieve the fullest stature of which they are capable of, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the circumstances of birth or position."

?

Can you relate this idea to Of Mice and Men? What is George and Lennie’s dream? What other characters have dreams?

John Steinbeck and the

Holy Grail

John Steinbeck was interested in the Holy Grail myth…

One of Steinbeck's favourite books was Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Mallory's retelling of the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and the King Arthur legends play a part in several of Steinbeck's works.

The Holy Grail

One of those legends was Sir Galahad's search for the Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus was said to have drunk. The grail was supposed to have been sent to England by Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus’ uncle. Finding the Grail will cause all sins to be forgiven, according to the knights.

Throughout literature, the Grail serves as a symbol of that which is sought but can never be possessed. Galahad was the only knight pure enough to find and touch the Grail, but once he touched it, he died and his spirit went to heaven.

George and Lennie's search for a place to live off the fat of the land is a kind of search for the Grail. And, like true Knights of the Round Table, they possess such qualities as loyalty and the creation of a bond between them. But no one but Sir Galahad ever succeeded in this quest. Coincidentally, many of the others found their relationships and quests destroyed by a woman, just as George and Lennie do.

Interpretations

• Some readers believe that Of Mice and Men is like the legendary search for the Holy Grail.

• Like King Arthur and his knights, some of the characters in the novel are in search of something that does not exist - their own ranch , a career in the movies – this is the Holy Grail.

• Like the knights, a woman destroys the chance of finding the Holy Grail – Curley’s Wife

Question 6H (Of Mice and Men)How does Steinbeck present loneliness and isolation in the novel?Write about:• characters who are lonely or isolated• why they are lonely and isolated• how Steinbeck’s settings are used to reflect the characters. loneliness and isolation.

exploration/developmentWhy does Steinbeck show loneliness and isolation? Well, he’s trying to show that

the values and beliefs of the society he is writing about, in which everyone acts individually, without a sense of community or shared objectives, makes people isolated and lonely.

sensitive/criticalLoneliness leads to depression and tragedy for the characters. While they hope for

better things, the fact that they are all acting individually makes these dreams doomed to failure.

developed/analytical comment on/response to writerHow does Steinbeck present loneliness and isolation? By the way people talk

(“nigger”, “jail-bait”) and the way he shows patterns in the plot (people are constantly being excluded and rejected). He makes parallel characters (Crooks/Candy/Curley’s wife) and shows how people can be lonely even if they are married (Curley’s wife) or have friends (George and Lennie).

How does Steinbeck prepare you for the idea that the death of Curley’s wife is inevitable?

EXPLORE/DEVELOP IDEAS:Why was Curley’s wife’s death inevitable?

Steinbeck shows a harsh and cruel world, where the vulnerable suffer maiming or death. The socio-economic situation forces Curley’s wife to marry a rich man and live an isolated and lonely existence. There is a pattern of animal and human deaths in the novel.

How does Steinbeck prepare you for the idea that the death of Curley’s wife is inevitable?

SHOW A SENSITIVE/CRITICAL RESPONSEDeath is presented as inevitable in the novel

(Steinbeck’s tone could be called fatalistic). The relationship between George and Lennie shows that at some point Lennie will do something more serious than the incident with the girl in Weed, and George will not be able to stop him. George is slowly pulling away from Lennie in the novel, spending more time with other people, leaving Lennie more lonely and more likely to do something desperate.

How does Steinbeck prepare you for the idea that the death of Curley’s wife is inevitable?

SHOW AWARENESSOF STEINBECK’S METHODS:Steinbeck presents the inevitability of death by

using a tragic tone, while still being sympathetic. The use of repeated deaths make us feel as if death is inevitable, and the way he shows Lennie’s patterns of behaviour also makes the reader think that the death is inevitable.