Themes in ‘Of Mice and Men’
-The American DreamIdealism vs. Realism
The American Dream: Everyone has a
dream to strive for. The poor ranch hands
wish to be their own bosses, and actually
have stability in their lives.
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."
Is the American dream possible in the
historical context of the novel?
"'Well,' said George, 'we'll have a big
vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and
chickens. And when it rains in the winter,
we'll just say the hell with goin' to work,
and we'll build up a fire in the stove and
set around it an' listen to the rain comin'
down on the roof...'"
Their perfect world is one of
independence. Workers like Lennie and
George have no family, no home, and
very little control over their lives. They
have to do what the boss tells them and
they have little to show for it. They only
own what they can carry. Therefore, this
idea of having such power over their lives
is a strong motivation.
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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.
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Candy, upon hearing about the dream, wanted
to join them so that he would not be left alone.
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Crooks, the Negro outcast, wanted to join them
so that he wouldn't be alone.
Dreams 2
When Whit brings in the pulp magazine with the
letter written by Bill Tenner, the men are all very
impressed. They are not certain that Bill wrote the
letter, but Whit is convinced he did, and tries to
convince the others.
In the transient life of these workers, it is rare to leave
any kind of permanent mark on the world. In this
letter Bill Tenner has achieved some of the
immortality the other men cannot imagine for
themselves.
Dreams 3

When George goes into a full description of the dream farm,
its Eden-like qualities become even more apparent. All the
food they want will be right there, with minimal effort. As
Lennie says:
"We could live offa the fatta the lan'." Chapter 3, pg. 57.

When George talks about their farm, he twice describes it in
terms of things he loved in childhood: "I could build a smoke
house like the one gran'pa had..." Chapter 3, pg. 57.

George yearns for his future to reflect the beauty of his
childhood. "An' we'd keep a few pigeons to go flyin' around the
win'mill like they done when I was a kid."
Dreams 4
The ideal world presented by Crooks also
reflects childhood. His father had a chicken
ranch full of white chickens, a berry patch, and
alfalfa. He and his brothers would sit and
watch the chickens.
Companionship and plentiful food are both
parts of Crooks' dream.
Dreams 5
Curley's wife has a dream that although different in
detail from the other's dreams, is still very similar in
its general desires.
She wants companionship so much that she will try to
talk to people who don't want to talk to her, like all
the men on the ranch.
Unsatisfied by her surly husband, she constantly lurks
around the barn, trying to engage the workers in
conversation.
The second part of her dream parallels the
men's desire for their own land. She wanted to
be an actress in Hollywood. She imagines how
great it would be to stay in nice hotels, own
lots of beautiful clothes, and have people want
to take her photograph.
Both attention and financial security would
have been hers. Like the men she desires
friendship, and also material comforts, though
the specifics of her dream differ from theirs.
Dreams 6
When George tells Lennie to look across the
river and imagine their farm, he lets Lennie die
with the hope that they will attain their dream,
and attain it soon.
George, however, is not allowed such comfort.
He must go on living knowing the failure of
their dream, as well as deal with the guilt of
tragically losing his best friend.
The Futility of the American Dream
(*In the context of the novel!!)
George and Lennie’s dream of owning a farm, which
would enable them to sustain themselves, and, most
important, offer them protection from an inhospitable
world, represents a prototypically American ideal.
Their journey, which awakens George to the
impossibility of this dream, sadly proves that the
bitter Crooks is right: such paradises of freedom,
contentment, and safety are not to be found in this*
world.
Is the American dream possible in the
historical context of the novel?
Dreams
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Dreams are one of the ways in which the characters combat the
loneliness and hopelessness of their existence.
The most obvious example is the dream farm, a dream shared at first
only by George and Lennie, but which later spreads to include
Candy and Crooks.
Crooks reveals that it is the favourite dream of the itinerant ranch
hands:
'Seems like ever' guy got land in his head.'
It is a powerful dream, however, and even the cynical Crooks falls
under its spell for a short time.
To Lennie, the dream is an antidote to disappointment and
loneliness, and he often asks George to recite the description of the
farm to him.
Curley's wife is another who has dreams, her fantasies of a part in
the movies and a life of luxury. Part of her dissatisfaction with her
life is that it can never measure up to her dreams.
Significantly, none of the characters ever achieve their dreams.
Other Themes:
Class Conflict

Although George and Lennie have their dream, they are not in a position to attain it.
In addition to their own personal limitations, they are also limited by their
position in society. Their idealistic dream is eventually destroyed by an
unfeeling, materialistic, modern society. The tensions between the
characters are inherent in the nature of American capitalism and its class
system. Lennie's mental retardation also symbolizes the helplessness of
people in a capitalistic, commercial, competitive society. In this way,
Steinbeck illustrates the confusion and hopelessness of the Depression era.
The poor were a class of people who suddenly had captured the
imagination of American writers in the 1930s. This was an example of the
shift in attitudes that occurred during the Depression. Previously, American
fiction had been concerned with the problems of middle-class people.
Steinbeck's novel was a sympathetic portrayal of the lives of the poorest
class of working people, while exposing society's injustices and economic
inequalities in the hope of improving their situation.
Other Themes:
Loneliness & Isolation
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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. Curley’s wife
admits to Candy, Crooks, and Lennie that she is unhappily married, and
Crooks tells Lennie that life is no good without a companion to turn to in
times of confusion and need. The characters are rendered helpless by their
isolation, and yet, even at their weakest, they seek to destroy those who are
even weaker than they. Perhaps the most powerful example of this cruel
tendency is when Crooks criticizes Lennie’s dream of the farm and his
dependence on George. Having just admitted his own vulnerabilities—he is
a black man with a crooked back who longs for companionship—Crooks
zeroes in on Lennie’s own weaknesses.
Other Themes:
Race & Racism

Somewhat related to the theme of loneliness is racism, which
also results in personal isolation. Crooks, the old black man on
the ranch, lives alone, ostracized by the ranch hands because
of his race. The barrier of racial prejudice is briefly broken,
however, when Crooks becomes an ally in the dream to buy a
farm. Crooks has a bitter dignity and honesty that illustrate
Steinbeck's own criticism of American society's failures in the
Depression era of the 1930s.
Other Themes:
Mental Limitations
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Lennie's mental limitations also serve to illustrate another way in
which people separate themselves from one another. Because of his
handicap, Lennie is rejected by everyone at the ranch except
George. The ranch hands are suspicious of Lennie and fear him
when they recognize his physical strength and his inability to control
himsef. Steinbeck makes it clear that it is the malice, fear, and anger
in other people that are to blame for Lennie's violent actions.
Steinbeck's portrayal of Lennie's handicap is therefore completely
sympathetic; the other characters have only themselves to blame for
provoking Lennie, who is merely a child in a world of selfish adults.
That Lennie has to die at the novel's conclusion is a poignant
commentary on the inability of the innocent to survive in modern
society.
Other Themes:
Broken Plans
Of Mice and Men takes its title from a famous lyric by the Scottish poet
Robert Burns (1759-1796). Burns’s poem “To a Mouse” contains the lines,
“The best laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry.” Nearly all of the main
characters Of Mice and Men harbor dreams and plans that never come true.
Most notably, George, Lennie, and Candy share a doomed dream of buying
their own farm and living off the land. George often laments the life he could
have had as a freewheeling bachelor, free of the burden of caring for Lennie.
“[I]f I was alone I could live so easy,” he says. Lennie has his own private
dream of living in a cave with his own rabbits, while Curley’s wife often
regrets her missed chance to become a Hollywood actress. In the end, the
novel’s main theme is that people must learn to reconcile their dreams with
reality, to accept that everyone’s best laid plans often perish. These plans “go
awry” not because the characters in the novella give up on them, but because
forces beyond their control destroy them. In the bleak economic outlook of the
Great Depression, during which the novel was written and set, coming to
terms with dreams broken by out-of-control economic forces became a reality
nearly everyone in America faced.
Other Themes:
Male Friendship
Of Mice and Men explores the dynamics of male friendship.
When Lennie asks George to tell him why they’re not like
other ranchers, George explains that they’re different because
they have each other. Usually ranchers have no family, no
friends, and, therefore, no future. George and Lennie’s
friendship strikes the other ranch workers as odd: their
dependence on each other makes the boss and Curley
suspicious; and Slim observes that ranch workers rarely travel
together because they’re scared of each other. Although most
of the men in the novel are entirely alone, they all crave true
companionship. As Crooks, perhaps the novel’s most solitary
character because of his black skin, puts it, “A guy needs
somebody—to be near him.”
Other Themes:
The Weak and the Strong
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Though many characters in Of Mice and Men long for friendship and
compassion, they live in fear of each other. As Carlson’s unsentimental
shooting of Candy’s dog makes clear, in the Great Depression the useless,
old, or weak were inevitably destroyed as the strong and useful fought for
survival. Everyone on the ranch constantly tries to look strong, especially if
they feel weak. The fear of the weak being overrun by the strong explains
why Curley likes to fight larger men, why Crooks tells Lennie that George
is going to abandon him, and why Curley’s wife threatens to have Crooks
lynched. Each character tries to appear strong by asserting power over
another. The fear of the strong also explains why most of the other
characters in Of Mice and Men can’t comprehend Lennie and George’s
friendship. A human relationship devoid of power dynamics simply makes
no sense to the other characters, all of whom assume they’re in a fight for
survival.
Other Themes:
Loyalty
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George is steadfastly loyal throughout the novel, honoring his
commitment to take care of the retarded Lennie. George, with all
his personal limitations, is a man who has committed himself in a
compassionate relationship. The grief he feels over the tragic ending
of Lennie’s life is also evidence of George's essential decency.
Although the dream perishes, the theme of commitment achieves its
strongest point in the novel's conclusion. Unlike Candy, who earlier
abandoned responsibility for his old dog and allows Carlson to shoot
the animal, George remains his brother's keeper. In his acceptance of
complete responsibility for Lennie, George demonstrates the
commitment necessary to join the ranks of Steinbeck's heroes.
Other Themes:
Women
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There are two different visions of women in Of Mice and Men: the
male characters’ view of women, and the novel’s view of women.
The men tend to view women with scorn and fear, dismissing
women as dangerous sexual temptresses. Women are often referred
to as “tarts,” a derogatory word for women that means “tramp.”
Lennie and George have a mutual friend in prison “on account of a
tart,” and their own troubles result twice from the enticing allure of
a woman—the woman in Weed, and Curley’s wife. Yet although
Curley’s wife plays into her role as sexy temptress, Of Mice and
Men presents her, at least partly, as a victim. She craves the
attention of the men because she’s desperately lonely, and flaunts
her power over the men because she herself feels weak. Similarly,
the novella’s portrayal of Aunt Clara as a vision of wholesome
femininity from a more innocent age contrasts with the male
characters’ consistently negative view of women.
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