‘Of Mice and Men’:
Everything in the novel happens in
cycles
Lewis Moore and Emma Wakeley
The daily routine is cyclical
• Everything that happens in ‘Of Mice and Men’ happens
in a cycle.
• This is shown by their daily routine because they do the
same thing everyday. They wake up, work and then go
to bed. Occasionally however, they go out on a Saturday
night but on most occasions this routine goes round in
circles. “guys like us, that work on ranches , are the
loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They
don’t belong to no place. They come to a ranch an’ work
up a stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’
their tail on some other ranch.” This is a quote of George
confessing to how they live their lives and it shows us
how the life of a migrant worker is already made up for
them, they just have to follow it. Each time they try to
change what happens and think things have changed it’s
easy to see they haven't when you put it in perspective.
The daily routine is cyclical
• It seems to be quite a uninteresting life which they
wouldn’t lead if it wasn’t for their huge belief in the
American dream.
• The thought of owning your own ranch and working for
nobody but themselves is what keeps them going. This
is the dream George often repeats to Lennie which
shows the desire they both have for an easy life that isn’t
made up of going round in circles.
Lennie killing things happens in cycles
• Lennie is a bear like man but has a mind like a child.
• Lennie likes soft things like fur and hair. The first thing he
kills is a mouse because he pets it too hard and it dies. He
doesn’t mean to kill it but he doesn’t know his own
strength. “You know God damn well what. I want the
mouse.” This is George trying to get the dead mouse off
Lennie because he is petting it even though it is dead.
• This shows that Lennie is like a child and George is like his
father because George is looking after him and telling him
what to do. It also shows that George cares about Lennie
because he doesn’t want him to be petting a dead mouse.
• The second thing he kills when petting its fur is a puppy.
The third thing he kills is Curley’s Wife when he is stroking
her hair. Each time it happens again, the thing he kills gets
bigger and bigger.
Lennie and George are stuck in a cycle of
getting into trouble
• Lennie and George getting in trouble happens in a cycle. In
the beginning we hear about what happens in Weed when
Lennie got into trouble because he felt a girl’s red dress
and wouldn’t let go when she panicked.
• Later on in the book Lennie also loses control again when
he crushes Curley’s hand. He relies on George to tell him
what to do but when his mind shuts down he panics and
cannot control what he does. This implies that we can
expect him to get in trouble again towards the end of the
book.
• He then ends up killing Curley’s wife which prompts them to
run away from the ranch. “I should of knew, I guess way
back in my head I did.” This shows us that George realised
that everything kept repeating and that Lennie kept getting
into trouble over and over again. George therefore ends up
stopping the chain by killing Lennie thus ending his
suffering and the never-ending cycle.
The killing of ‘dumb’ creatures with
no quality of life
•
Lennie is a ‘dumb’ creature with no quality of life
because he doesn’t remember anything that happened “I
tried not to forget. Honest to God I did, George.” This
shows that he is ‘dumb’ because he can’t remember
anything that George has said. There are also many
examples in the book of when he can’t remember what
has been said or done.
• Candy’s dog is old, deaf, suffers from rheumatism and has
a very poor quality of life. He is therefore killed in the book
to put him out of his misery – just like George kills Lennie
at the end of the book.
The killing of ‘dumb’ creatures with
no quality of life
• Curley’s wife is also a ‘dumb’ creature with no quality of
life because she lets Lennie stroke her hair after she has
seen what he has done to Curley’s hand (doh!”). “Course I
brush it a lot. That makes it fine. Here - feel right here.”
She tells Lennie to stroke her hair. This also shows that
she is vain because she is telling him that her hair is fine
and before this she is saying how nice she is and that her
hair is really soft.
• She has no quality of life because she is ignored the
whole time and is in a loveless marriage that makes her
feel worthless. Because of her rubbish life she gets bored
and ends up trying to cause trouble. “well, you keep your
place, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy
it ain’t funny.” This shows she is trying to cause trouble
because she is threatening Crooks.
The structure of the novel
• Steinbeck used the structure of the novel to show how
boring and repetitive the life of a migrant worker was by
repeating a number of events.
• He repeats the killing of the animals: it shows how Lennie’s
killings were building over time to when he eventually killed
Curley’s wife. The killings happened over and over again
getting bigger each time to give a clue of what was to come.
• He repeats them meeting in the brush: the book started and
finished in the same place.
• He repeats the telling of the dream. “Tell us again ‘bout the
dream” seems to be the daily ask from Lennie which he
uses as reassurance.
• All these events have no real importance as they are all
“something that happened” which was going to be the
original title of the story. Everything that has happened and
been repeated was typical for migrant workers so it was not
significant.