OF MICE AND MEN
JOHN STEINBECK
JOHN STEINBECK
• John Steinbeck was
born in 1902 in
Salinas, California, a
region that became
the setting for much
of his fiction, including
Of Mice and Men.
JOHN STEINBECK
• In 1919, he enrolled
at Stanford University,
where he studied
intermittently for the
next six years before
finally leaving without
having earned a
degree.
JOHN STEINBECK
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JOBS INCLUDED:
LABORER
JOURNALIST IN NEW YORK CITY
CARETAKER FOR A LAKE TAHOE
ESTATE
• FILMMAKER
JOHN STEINBECK
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NOVELS INCLUDED:
CUP OF GOLD 1929
THE PASTURES OF HEAVEN 1932
TO A GOD UNKNOWN 1933
THE LONG VALLEY 1938
TORTILLA FLAT 1935
IN DUBIOUS BATTLES 1936
The Grapes of Wrath 1939
THE FORGOTTEN VILLAGE 1941
NOVELS CONTINUED
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SEA OF CORTEZ1941
BOMBS AWAY 1942
THE MOON IS DOWN 1942
CANNERY ROW 1945
THE WAYWARD BUS 1947
THE PEARL 1947
A RUSSIAN JOURNAL 1948
BURNING BRIGHT 1950
NOVELS CONTINUED
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THE LOG FROM THE SEA 1951
EAST OF EDEN 1952
SWEET THURSDAY 1954
THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT
1961
• TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY IN SEARCH
OF AMERICA 1962
OF MICE AND MEN
• Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in 1962
• In his acceptance speech for the 1962 Nobel Prize in
literature, Steinbeck said:
• . . . the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate
man’s proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—
for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love.
In the endless war against weakness and despair, these
are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold
that a writer who does not passionately believe in the
perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any
membership in literature.
• A poem by Robert Burns, "To a Mouse" is about
a farm worker who plows up a mouse and the
hard work the mouse had done to create a home
for itself. The line"The best-laid plans of mice
and men often go awry" is the reference of the
title. Both the novel and the poem deal with
weaker creatures who are trapped in a world
where they have little power and they can be
wiped out with little or no regard. In the poem ,
the farm worker looks with sadness and
compassion at the mouse and apologizes for
destroying all its efforts. He then contemplates
the reality of mortality. Steinbeck does the same
with the ill-equipped George and Lennie.
To A Mouse by Robert Burns
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Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous
beastie, O, what panic's in thy
breastie! Thou need na start awa
sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle! I
wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
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I'm truly sorry Man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born
companion,
An' fellow-mortal!
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The poet is doing his utmost to
assure this terrified little creature
that he has no intention of causing
it any harm. bickerin’ brattle
=scurry, run; laith = loath; pattle =
a small spade for cleaning a
plough
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He then goes on to apologise to
the mouse for the behaviour of
mankind using beautiful prose
which requires neither translation
nor interpretation. Listen to what
he is saying, and you will be well
on your way to understand what
made Burns such a greatly loved
man. Note how he equates
himself with the mouse in life’s
great plan
• I doubt na, whyles, but thou
may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou
maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave 'S a
sma' request:
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't!
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• Thy wee-bit housie, too, in
ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are
strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new
ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds
ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!
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• Here he tells the mouse that
he realizes its need to steal the
odd ear of corn, and he does
not really mind. He’ll get by
with remainder and never miss
it. daimen = occasional; icker =
an ear of corn; thrave = twenty
four sheaves; lave = remainder
• Dismay at the enormity of the
problems he has brought on
the mouse causes him to
reflect on what he has done destroyed her home at a time
when it is impossible to
rebuild. There is no grass to
build a new home and the
December winds are cold and
sharp. Her preparations for
winter are gone! Big = build;
foggage = moss; baith = both
• Thou saw the fields laid bare
an' wast,
An' weary Winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the
blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.
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• That wee-bit heap o' leaves an'
stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary
nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy
trouble,
But house or hald.
To thole the Winter's sleety
dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!
Where the mouse had thought that she
was prepared for winter in her
comfortable little nest in the ground,
now she is faced with trying to survive
in a most unfriendly climate, with little
or no hope in sight. cosie =
comfortable; coulter; = iron cutter in
front of a ploughshare
It seems probable that here the poet is
really comparing his own hard times
with that of the mouse – a life of harsh
struggle, with little or no reward at the
end. monie = many; thole = to endure;
dribble = drizzle; cranreuch = hoarfrost; cauld = cold
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But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an'
Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an'
pain,
For promis'd joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi'
me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
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How many times have people
glibly trotted out, “The best laid
schemes” without realising that
they were quoting from
Burns? The sadness, the despair,
the insight contained within this
verse are truly remarkable and
deeply moving. no ‘thy lane = not
alone; gan aft agley = often go
awry
This final verse reveals the
absolute despondency that Burns
was feeling at this stage in his life.
Not at all what one might expect
from a young man of twenty-six,
supposedly so popular with the
lassies, and with his whole life
ahead of him, but nevertheless
expressing sentiments with which
many of us today can easily
relate.
• Steinbeck’s bestknown works deal
intimately with the
plight of desperately
poor California
wanderers, who,
despite the cruelty of
their circumstances,
often triumph
spiritually.
The Grapes of Wrath won
the 1940 Pulitzer Prize
and became Steinbeck’s
most famous novel.
Steinbeck sets Of Mice and Men against the backdrop of
Depression-era America.
The economic conditions of the time victimized workers like
George and Lennie,
whose quest for land was thwarted by cruel and powerful
forces beyond their control,
but whose tragedy was marked, ultimately, by steadfast
compassion and love.
The History of Migrant Farmers
in California
• After World War I, economic and ecological forces
brought many rural poor and migrant agricultural
workers from the Great Plains states, such as
Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, to California.
Following World War I, a recession led to a drop in
the market price of farm crops, which meant that
farmers were forced to produce more goods in order
to earn the same amount of money. To meet this
demand for increased productivity, many farmers
bought more land and invested in expensive
agricultural equipment, which plunged them into
debt. The stock market crash of 1929 only made
matters worse. Banks were forced to foreclose on
mortgages and collect debts. Unable to pay their
creditors, many farmers lost their property and were
forced to find other work. But doing so proved very
difficult, since the nation’s unemployment rate had
skyrocketed, peaking at nearly twenty-five percent in
1933.
Migrant Farmers in California
• The increase in farming activity across the Great
Plains states caused the precious soil to erode. This
erosion, coupled with a seven-year drought that
began in 1931, turned once fertile grasslands into a
desertlike region known as the Dust Bowl. Hundreds
of thousands of farmers packed up their families and
few belongings, and headed for California, which, for
numerous reasons, seemed like a promised land.
Migrant workers came to be known as Okies, for
although they came from many states across the
Great Plains, twenty percent of the farmers were
originally from Oklahoma. Okies were often met with
scorn by California farmers and natives, which only
made their dislocation and poverty even more
unpleasant.
Migrant Farmers in California
• John Steinbeck immortalized the plight of one such
family, the Joads, in his most famous novel, The
Grapes of Wrath. In several of his fiction works,
including Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck illustrates how
grueling, challenging, and often unrewarding the life
of migrant farmers could be. Just as George and
Lennie dream of a better life on their own farm, the
Great Plains farmers dreamed of finding a better life
in California. The state’s mild climate promised a
longer growing season and, with soil favorable to a
wider range of crops, it offered more opportunities to
harvest. Despite these promises, though, very few
found it to be the land of opportunity and plenty of
which they dreamed.
LENNIE
• A large, lumbering, childlike migrant worker.
Due to his mild mental disability, Lennie
completely depends upon George, his friend
and traveling companion, for guidance and
protection. The two men share a vision of a
farm that they will own together, a vision that
Lennie believes in wholeheartedly. Gentle
and kind, Lennie nevertheless does not
understand his own strength. His love of
petting soft things, such as small animals,
dresses, and people’s hair, leads to disaster.
George
• A small, wiry, quick-witted man who travels
with, and cares for, Lennie. Although he
frequently speaks of how much better his life
would be without his caretaking
responsibilities, George is obviously devoted
to Lennie. George’s behavior is motivated by
the desire to protect Lennie and, eventually,
deliver them both to the farm of their dreams.
Though George is the source for the oftentold story of life on their future farm, it is
Lennie’s childlike faith that enables George
to actually believe his account of their future.
Candy
• An aging ranch handyman, Candy lost
his hand in an accident and worries
about his future on the ranch. Fearing
that his age is making him useless, he
seizes on George’s description of the
farm he and Lennie will have, offering
his life’s savings if he can join George
and Lennie in owning the land. The fate
of Candy’s ancient dog, which Carlson
shoots in the back of the head in an
alleged act of mercy, foreshadows the
manner of Lennie’s death.
Curley
• The boss’s son, Curley wears high-heeled
boots to distinguish himself from the field
hands. Rumored to be a champion
prizefighter, he is a confrontational, meanspirited, and aggressive young man who
seeks to compensate for his small stature by
picking fights with larger men. Recently
married, Curley is plagued with jealous
suspicions and is extremely possessive of
his flirtatious young wife.
Curley’s Wife
• The only female character in the novel, Curley’s
wife is never given a name and is only referred
to in reference to her husband. The men on the
farm refer to her as a “tramp,” a “tart,” and a
“looloo.” Dressed in fancy, feathered red shoes,
she represents the temptation of female
sexuality in a male-dominated world. Steinbeck
depicts Curley’s wife not as a villain, but rather
as a victim. Like the ranch-hands, she is desperately lonely and has broken dreams of a better
life.
Themes
• Themes are the
fundamental and often
universal ideas explored
in a literary work.
The Predatory Nature of Human
Existence
• Of Mice and Men teaches a grim lesson
about the nature of human existence.
Nearly all of the characters, including
George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and
Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or
another, to having a profound sense of
loneliness and isolation. Each desires the
comfort of a friend, but will settle for the
attentive ear of a stranger.
The Predatory Nature of Human
Existence
• Steinbeck records a profound human truth:
oppression does not come only from the
hands of the strong or the powerful. The
novel suggests that the most visible kind
of strength, that used to oppress others, is
itself born of weakness.
Fraternity and the Idealized Male
Friendship
• One of the reasons that the tragic end of George
and Lennie’s friendship has such a profound
impact is that one senses that the friends have,
by the end of the novel, lost a dream larger than
themselves. Ultimately, however, the world is too
harsh and predatory a place to sustain such
relationships. Lennie and George, who come
closest to achieving this ideal of brotherhood,
are forced to separate tragically.
• Friendship: Every man needs someone to
make him feel special.
• George and Lennie share a bond so strong that
when one is destroyed, the other inevitably is as
well. Steinbeck often stresses how ranchers are
loners, and George and Lennie are the only
ones who travel in pairs. They seem to be two
halves of the same person, and they know how
special together they truly are. "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..."
• Candy's need for the companionship of his dog
also stresses the importance of true friendship.
For, after the passing of his old dog, Candy
attaches himself to the dream Lennie and
The Impossibility of the American
Dream
• Most of the characters in Of Mice and Men
admit, at one point or another, to dreaming
of a different life. What makes all of these
dreams typically American is that the
dreamers wish for untarnished happiness,
for the freedom to follow their own desires.
However, such paradises of freedom,
contentment, and safety are not to be
found in this world.
• The American Dream: Everyone has a dream
to strive for. The poor ranch hands wish to be
their own bosses, and actually have stability.
• George and Lennie have a dream, even before
they arrive at their new job on the ranch, to
make enough money to live "off the fat of the
land" and be their own bosses. Lennie will be
permitted, then, to tend the rabbits.
• Candy, upon hearing about the dream, wanted
to join them so that he would not be left alone,
especially after they killed his old dog.
• Crooks, the Negro outcast, wanted to join them
so that he wouldn't be alone.
Motifs
• Motifs are recurring
structures, contrasts, or
literary devices that can help
to develop and inform the
text’s major themes.
The Corrupting Power of Women
• The portrayal of women in Of Mice and Men is
limited and unflattering. We learn early on that
Lennie and George are on the run from the
previous ranch where they worked, due to
encountering trouble there with a woman.
Misunderstanding Lennie’s love of soft things, a
woman accused him of rape for touching her
dress. George berates Lennie for his behavior,
but is convinced that women are always the
cause of such trouble. Their enticing sexuality,
he believes, tempts men to behave in ways they
would otherwise not.
• Although Steinbeck does, finally,
offer a sympathetic view of
Curley’s wife by allowing her to
voice her unhappiness and her
own dream for a better life, women
have no place in the author’s
idealized vision of a world
structured around the brotherly
bonds of men.
Loneliness and Companionship
• Many of the characters admit to suffering
from profound loneliness. George sets the
tone for these confessions early in the
novel when he reminds Lennie that the life
of a ranch-hand is among the loneliest of
lives. Each of the characters searches for
a friend, someone to help them measure
the world, as Crooks says. In the end,
however, companionship of his kind
seems unattainable.
• Loneliness: Throughout the novel, a main characteristic
most of the characters contained was being lonely.
• Candy has only his dog as his one companion. Upon the
killing of the dog, he has no one and therefore, attaches
himself to the dream George and Lennie share. Thus, he
will not end up an outcast and therefore, completely
alone. Even after Lennie kills Curley's wife and cannot
return to his life the way it was before, Candy still wants
to carry out the dream.
• Crooks feels "...A guys goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.
Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he with
you..." He would work for nothing, as long as he could
communicate with others.
• Curley's wife is so overwhelmed by her loneliness, she
seeks friendship from other men. She seeks out the
friendship of Lennie for all of the others fear Curley and
will have nothing to do with her. "Think I don't like to talk
to somebody ever' once in a while?"
Strength and Weakness
• Steinbeck explores different types of strength
and weakness throughout the novel. The first,
and most obvious, is physical strength. As the
novel opens, Steinbeck shows how Lennie
possesses physical strength beyond his control,
as when he cannot help killing the mice. Great
physical strength is, like money, quite valuable to
men in George and Lennie’s circumstances.
Curley, as a symbol of authority on the ranch
and a champion boxer, makes this clear
immediately by using his brutish strength and
violent temper to intimidate the men and his
wife.
Strength and Weakness
• Physical strength is not the only force that
oppresses the men in the novel. It is the
rigid, predatory human tendencies, not
Curley, that defeat Lennie and George in
the end. Lennie’s physical size and
strength prove powerless; in the face of
these universal laws, he is utterly
defenseless and therefore disposable.
Symbols
• Symbols are objects,
characters, figures, or
colors used to represent
abstract ideas or
concepts.
George and Lennie’s Farm
• The farm that George constantly describes
to Lennie, those few acres of land on
which they will grow their own food and
tend their own livestock, is one of the most
powerful symbols in the book. It seduces
not only the other characters but also the
reader, who, like the men, wants to believe
in the possibility of the free, idyllic life it
promises.
George and Lennie’s Farm
• A paradise for men who want to
be masters of their own lives,
the farm represents the
possibility of freedom, selfreliance, and protection from
the cruelties of the world.
Lennie’s Puppy
• Lennie’s puppy is one of several symbols that
represent the victory of the strong over the
weak. Lennie kills the puppy accidentally, as he
has killed many mice before, by virtue of his
failure to recognize his own strength. Although
no other character can match Lennie’s physical
strength, the huge Lennie will soon meet a fate
similar to that of his small puppy. Like an
innocent animal, Lennie is unaware of the
vicious, predatory powers that surround him.
Candy’s Dog
• In the world Of Mice and Men describes,
Candy’s dog represents the fate awaiting
anyone who has outlived his or her purpose.
Once a fine sheepdog, useful on the ranch,
Candy’s mutt is now debilitated by age.
Candy’s sentimental attachment to the
animal—his plea that Carlson let the dog live
for no other reason than that Candy raised it
from a puppy—means nothing at all on the
ranch. Although Carlson promises to kill the
dog painlessly, his insistence that the old
animal must die supports a cruel natural law
that the strong will dispose of the weak.
Candy internalizes this lesson, for he fears
that he himself is nearing an age when he
will no longer be useful at the ranch, and
therefore no longer welcome.
Morals/Lessons/Applications:
• People need others to talk to to survive. (Crooks'
statement about needing someone or going crazy,
the attachment of Crooks and Candy to the dream
Lennie and George share, Curley's wife seduction of
the ranch hands as a buffer against loneliness)
• A man's ability to dream is directly attached to
having someone to share the dream with. (George
lets go of the dream after Lennie is killed.)
• Sometimes, even though it's not what you want, you
have to do what's best for you and those you love.
(George shoots his best friend, Lennie so that
Lennie can escape a brutal lynching.)
Key Facts
• genre · Fiction; tragedy
• time and place written · Mid-1930s; Pacific
Grove and Los Gatos ranch, California
• date of first publication · 1937
• narrator · Third-person omniscient
• protagonists · George and Lennie
• antagonists · Curley; society; the cruel,
predatory nature of human life
• setting (time) · 1930s
• setting (place) · South of Soledad, California
Key Facts
• point of view · The novel is told from the
point of view of a third-person omniscient
narrator, who can access the point of view
of any character as required by the
narrative.
• tone · Sentimental, tragic, doomed,
fatalistic, rustic, moralistic, comic
Essays
• Essays on Of Mice and Men
• Violence and Sadism in John Steinbeck's
Of Mice and Men
• Camaraderie: Deciding an Individual's
Fate
• The Lost American Dream
• How are George in Of Mice and Men and
the farmer of the poem by Robert Burns
connected?
SYMBOLISM
• The book Of Mice and Men symbolises Steinbecks
Marxist views on the American Dream being used to
control the masses and prevent a revolution in the great
depression. It also reflects his feminist views with women
being portrayed only as whores and mother figures, his
opinions against racism with Crook's dream of racial
inequality being somewhat unachievable and his ironic
view that the happiest men (Curly and Carlson in the
book) are those who have no dreams to be smashed!
Quite funny really, considering this was the book that
made him his millions!
• In referring to the "general symbolism", I assume you are referring to
what the story represents. You could also be asking about the
symbolism of the title. I will present you with both answers.
• The title refers to a poem by Robert Burns which includes these
lines:
• "the best laid plans o' mice and men/often do go wrong"
• The book demonstrates this title through the characters of George
and Lenny primarily. They have big plans of having their own place,
being their own family and their own boss. Their plans seem
possible when they meet Candy, who wants very much to join
them. However, the disability of Lenny and the tragic events that
cause him to mistakenly kill Curley's wife, put these plans to an
end.
• Overall, this book represents the isolation caused by the
depression. The men and the one woman of this story have been
isolated by a lack of choices and by poverty. They are all struggling
to survive and have to abandon many dreams in order to do
so. This causes them to become closed off, angry, and
despondent. They turn on one another in their attempt to get
ahead. The exceptions are George and Lenny, who have each
other - until the end, when they two are isolated by their situation.
Of Mice and Men