Of Mice and Men paper
assignment
OF MICE AND MEN
LITERARY ANALYSIS
There are several themes we can
explore as we consider what
topic to choose for our Of Mice
and Men one-page essay. Let’s
look at some of these.
OF MICE AND MEN
Potential themes
 Loneliness
 The importance of
dreams
 Discrimination
 Friendship
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Let’s choose one of
these themes to
consider: loneliness
Who or what illustrates
this theme in the
novel?
 Candy, after his dog
is shot.
 Curley’s wife, who is
just looking for
someone to talk to.
 Crooks, who lives
alone with little
interaction with other
people.
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Let’s expand these a little more:
Candy: He has only his dog as his one companion. Upon the dog’s death, he
has no one, and therefore, attaches himself to George and Lennie’s
dream. He does not want to end up an outcast and alone. Even after
Lennie kills Curley’s wife, Candy clings to the dream out of desperate fear
that he will end up alone.
Curley’s wife: She is so overwhelmed by her loneliness, she seeks
friendship from the other men, including (as a last resort) Lennie, for none
of the other men want anything to do with her. “Think I don’t like to talk to
somebody ever’ once in a while?”
Crooks: He feels “a guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no
difference who the guy is, long’s he with you.” Crooks would work for
nothing, as long as he can communicate with others.
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What we have done here is form a basis for a literary analysis of Of Mice
and Men, concentrating on the theme of loneliness. Candy, Curley’s wife,
and/or Crooks could each represent points that could be discussed in a
paper about loneliness in the novel.
How would we begin this analysis? First, we have to come up with a thesis
statement, or a “controlling purpose” regarding loneliness. We start by
deciding what we know from our reading about loneliness:



It is a constant threat that George and Lennie fight: “Guys like us are the
loneliest guys in the world … they don’t belong no place … They ain’t got
nothing to look ahead to.” Lennie fights this with, “But not us! … because I
got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you…” (14).
At the ranch, loneliness is part of the inhabitants’ lives and especially
Candy’s, Crooks’s, and Curley’s wife’s. They are so used to this
loneliness, others on the ranch suspect something funny about the
closeness of George and Lennie (for example, the boss thinks George is
taking Lennie’s pay).
George knows that without Lennie’s companionship, he will be doomed to
a terribly lonely and unfulfilling life.
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So can we create a thesis statement out of that, reflecting
the theme of loneliness? (Note: Theme is what a story
reveals, not what it teaches: That is the moral.)
Maybe it could look something like this:
“Loneliness is a harmful thing many characters in the
book experience. The story shows that all humans
need companionship or else they get emotionally sick.”
That thesis statement could be the main part of our
introduction. What else does an introduction need?
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In addition to a thesis statement, an
introduction ideally includes:
 An attention-getting first sentence.
 The name of the author and the title of
the book.
 A preview of points that will be used to
support the thesis.
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Let’s think of an attention-getter, based on
the theme of loneliness and how it can
make us emotionally sick. How about:
Loneliness is a virus that can devour the
human spirit.
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Now let’s add our other elements:
Loneliness is a virus that can devour the human
spirit. This sickness devastates many of the
emotionally malnourished characters in John
Steinbeck’s heartbreaking novel, Of Mice and Men.
Candy, the aged and disabled swamper, is consumed
by the loss of his only companion, his dog. Curley’s
wife, ignored by her husband and seen by the other
ranch hands as a trouble-making tart, is starved for
attention. Denied friendship, Crooks wastes away
alone in his room and shows more than any other
character how loneliness eats away at the human soul.
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We have accomplished our goals:



An attention getter
A clear thesis statement
Introduction of points
As an added bonus, this paragraph has a theme: emotional starvation. Think
of all the words or phrases that go with eating:






Devour
Malnourished
Consumed
Starved
eat away
wastes away (usually refers to losing weight due to illness)
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What if we wanted to choose another theme or maybe something
besides theme to write about?
Alternate theme: Dreams
Attention getter: Everyone has a dream that gives him or her purpose
in life.
Thesis statement: Dreams play an important role in John Steinbeck’s
novel Of Mice and Men, which includes characters who illustrate
how dreams are often crucial to survival in a hostile and lonely
world.
Three points: This is demonstrated through George and Lennie’s
dream to buy some land of their own; Candy’s dream to join
George and Lennie so Candy won’t end up outcast and alone; and
Curley’s wife’s dream to become a starlet.
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What about something besides theme? Let’s try looking
at the literary device of foreshadowing, as shown in this
essay by a freshman last year:
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a heartwrenching novel about two migrant workers living
during the Great Depression, sharing the dream of
owning a farm to call their own. Even before the
ending, however, there are clues to show that this
dream is not to be, including three important examples
of foreshadowing: the dead mice, Lennie’s
conversation with Crooks, and the death of Candy’s
dog.
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Here’s another one about foreshadowing from a
freshman:
The natural beauty of Western California serves as a
setting of contrast to the lives of Depression-era ranch
workers Lennie Small and George Milton, the protagonists
in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Part of that beauty
is George and Lennie’s dreams of the future, including
owning their own farm. However, the ugly reality is that the
dream is doomed. Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to give the
reader a hint that the dream won’t happen, especially
through animals. He uses dead mice, a dead puppy, and a
heron and snake to show that George and Lennie’s dream
is not meant to be.