Of Mice and Men
General Overview
• The story is set in California in the 1930’s
during the Great Depression and it main
characters are two wandering farm
workers called George and Lennie.
• George is small, quick and intelligent.
• By contrast Lennie is slow and simpleminded.
• They travel around together in search of
work.
• They have a dream of a place of their own
– a small ranch where they can live and
work on their own.
• They are on the run from the town of
Weed where Lennie caused trouble by
innocently fondling a girls dress.
• They arrive at a ranch in Soledad where
they meet Candy, an old, crippled worker.
• Curley is the son of the boss and is
aggressive and threatening man who is
always searching for his wife.
• George decides they will stay on the ranch
because they need the work and money.
• Lennie tells the black, harshly treat stable
buck, Crooks about their dream farm and
he too expresses a wish to be involved.
• Curley’s wife meets Lennie in the barn
when she finds out he has accidentally
killed the puppy.
• She invites him to stoke her hair but
becomes upset by his roughness.
• Unnerved by her screaming Lennie tries to
quieten her, accidentally breaking her
neck and killing her.
• He runs away and the other ranch-hands
set out in pursuit, but George knowing
where to find him, forces himself to kill
Lennie.
About the author
• Much of Of Mice and Men is based upon
Steinbeck’s life and experiences.
• In the years after he failed at University he had
many casual jobs, varying from newspaper work
to ranch work.
• In the novel Steinbeck highlights many of the
problems of which he experienced at first hand.
• The great financial collapse of 1929 increased
unemployment and poverty throughout the
United States.
George
• George is quick witted and intelligent.
• He has a good working knowledge of
farming and ranching.
• He is very keen to change to monotony of
his present situation.
• George has taken on responsibility for
Lennie partly out of pity, partly out of
affection and partly for companionship/
• In many ways, George and Lennie are the two
incomplete halves of one whole person.
• George represents the intelligence and Lennie
the physical strength.
• George understands that Lennie is both a
hindrance and an advantage to him.
• George is very practical thus we are prevented
from seeing a sentimental side to him.
• George is not entirely blameless for the
disasterous end which befalls Lennie. He knows
how Lennie tends to behave and could predict
danger from the moment they arrived on the
ranch however, he ignores these signals as his
need for a ‘stake’ outweighs his natural caution.
• For one night he even leaves the
vulnerable Lennie behind, in spite of the
problems at the ranch, and this leads to
Lennie’s downfall.
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Intelligent
Quick witted
Naturally cautious
Small
Hardworking
George
• George is quick witted and intelligent.
• He has a good working knowledge of
farming and ranching.
• He is very keen to change to monotony of
his present situation.
• George has taken on responsibility for
Lennie partly out of pity, partly out of
affection and partly for companionship/
• In many ways, George and Lennie are the two
incomplete halves of one whole person.
• George represents the intelligence and Lennie
the physical strength.
• George understands that Lennie is both a
hindrance and an advantage to him.
• George is very practical thus we are prevented
from seeing a sentimental side to him.
• George is not entirely blameless for the
disasterous end which befalls Lennie. He knows
how Lennie tends to behave and could predict
danger from the moment they arrived on the
ranch however, he ignores these signals as his
need for a ‘stake’ outweighs his natural caution.
Lennie
• Although Lennie is very child-like, he also shows
signs of adult maturity.
• Despite his terror of violence he is a man of
great physical strength.
• He is frequently described in terms of an animal,
suggesting not only his bear-like tendency to
hold onto his prey and inflict great damage but
also a kind of animal innocence.
• Lennie has no awareness of any kind of morality
– which means the ordinary values of ‘good’ and
‘bad’ are difficult for him to understand.
• Lennie’s obsession for ‘petting’ shows that he
has deep-rooted emotional needs which he
himself may not understand.
• There is a dreadful progression in his victims
from dead mouse to dead girl.
• Lennie’s irresistible urge to ‘pet’ collides with the
desires and sexuality of Curley’s wife.
• At the start of the novel Lennie is characterised
as innocent and naïve; by the end he has fallen
from grace (committed murder) and by this act
has deprived himself from the paradise of the
‘dream farm’.
• How far is Lennie really innocent?
• Is Lennie innocent, mentally retarded or is
there a darker side to him?
• Certainly he often seems ignorant to the
consequences of his actions and never
seems to learn from them.
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Childlike
Strong
Powerful
Innocent
Naïve
Slow
Crooks
• Crooks is a black cripple who tends horses on
the ranch.
• He has long been the victim of oppressive
violence and prejudice and is now aloof and
reserved.
• He keeps himself to himself and dislikes
company, possibly because he has been let
down so many times before.
• His natural personality has been suppressed by
years of antagonism.
• He has an intelligent awareness of life, as he
has thought hard during his long hours of
solitude.
• He feels more confident after speaking to
Lennie.
• His new found confidence allows him to stand up
to Curley’s wife but he is humiliated by her
vicious threats.
• His new optimism is finally defeated by George’s
dismissive attitude to the suggestion that he
might participate in the running of the ‘dream
farm’.
Curley
• Curley is a small man and seems to have developed an
inferiority complex as a result.
• He is continually aggressive.
• He is humiliated by his wife's apparent dissatisfaction
and unhappiness.
• He takes advantage of those who he thinks are weak.
• Curley takes pleasure in inflicting the maximum amount
of damage and pain possible, to dispel his anger and
frustration and maintain his authority.
• Even his approach to intimacy is crude, symbolised by
his glove which, according to Candy, is full of vaseline.
Curley’s Wife
• Curley’s wife is never named in the novel.
• The way she is referred to as ‘Curley’s
wife’ makes her sound like Curley’s
possession.
• She is bitter because she is not treated as
an individual.
• She flaunts herself around the ranch
• She pretends she is always looking for
Curley so she can flirt with the workers.
• She dreams of a better life but her dreams are
not realistic as they based on glossy film
magazines.
• She has a wish to be admired.
• This wish is partly rooted in vanity and partly in
insecurity and loneliness, much of which is
brought about by her husbands fault finding
behaviour.
• Although her panic at Lennie’s petting of her hair
leads to her death, this could have been caused
just as easily by Lennie’s unthinking roughness
as by any decision on her part that things had
gone too far.
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Ambiguous
Insecure
Lonely
Vane
Slim
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Dignified and charismatic
Natural authority
Gentle and friendly
Intuitive sense of justice
Acts almost as a ‘conscience’ to other
characters.
• Steinbeck attaches images of royalty to
him as he is describes as ‘majesty’,
‘prince’ and ‘authority’.
Candy
• Near to the end of his useful life on the
farm
• Has little to look forward to
• He has lost his hand in an accident
• He also loses his dog (his only
companion)
• He is given strength and self-respect at
the prospect of a part-ownership of the
dream farm.
Carlson
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Inconsiderate
Aggressive
Stands up to Curley
At the end he has not understanding of the
feelings of George and Slim have on the
death of Lennie.
The boss
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Only appears once
Unpleasant
Aggressive
Needs to show he is better than the ranch
workers.
• Treatment of George and Lennie seems
fair.
Themes in ‘Of Mice and Men’
Themes are important ideas that run through the
book. You will come across them lots of times.
The connect the story, the characters and the
different scenes in the book.
• Authority
• Dreams
• Loneliness
• Nature
• Violence
Authority
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Natural, god like authority of Slim.
Ineffectual bullying of Curley.
The boss’s authority is based on exploitation.
Lennie does have authority, particularly when he
threatens to run away.
• Some characters use violence or financial
power.
• Others seem to gain it because they avoid
exploitation.
Dreams
• Hopes or ambitions
• Often kept secret to begin with
• George is annoyed when he finds out Lennie
and Candy have told Crooks about the ‘dream
farm’.
• Whereas Curley’s wife is almost desperate to tell
Lennie about her dreams. (Ironic that she tells
Lennie as he has no interest or understanding)
• The ‘dream farm’ represents ambition and the
possibility of escape from the workers’ loneliness
and poverty.
Loneliness
• Many of the characters are Lonely
• Continually searching without knowing
what they are really looking for.
• Different characters seek comfort in
different things – for Candy it is his dog,
for George and Lennie it is each other, for
Crooks it is his pride.
Nature
• Lennie is described as a bear
• Lennie himself is very natural and has
animal like simplicity.
• The ranch workers are like men adrift in a
wilderness.
• Used to reinforce the theme of violence
(death of Lennie, just like Curley’s dog)
Violence
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Unnecessary violence
The boss permits fighting
Curley is irrational and aggressive
Carlson thrives on violence
It is Carlson that provides George with the
means of killing Lennie.
Summary
• It is very likely you will be asked about one of the
characters.
• You may be given an extract of the story (which
you should know already) and be asked to
comment on that particular part of the story.
• You will need to do so referring to the themes
we have discussed.
• Remember keep it analytical! Do not just retell
the story.