Of Mice And Men

Of mice and men

“Of mice and men”, is a novel by the award winning author John Steinbeck.

“Of mice and men” was first published in 1937 during the height of the Great Depression in the United States. Of mice and men tells of a tragic and optimistic story of George Milton and Lennie small, two displaced migrant ranch workers in California during the Great Depression.

John Steinbeck originally titled “Of mice and men,” “Something That Happened”, however, he changed the title after reading Robert Burns’s poem “To A Mouse.” Burn’s poem tells of the regret the narrator feels for having destroyed the home of a while ploughing his field, it suggests that no plan its fool proof and no one can be completely prepared for the future.

In the following paragraphs, I will explain the about the importance of language and structure in regard to hopes and dreams in of mice and men.

The story is set in the United States during the 1920’s. At this time, the United States was suffering from an economic meltdown as the stock market had crashed. Striking at the heart of the Great Depression, the dust bowl destroying the homes and businesses of people who lived in the Great Plains. The dust bowl destroyed crops meaning local people were left with no source of food.

People who were suffering from the blight of the dust bowl and economic troubles had dreams of a better life. Hope and dream were needed to help the American people prevail though such times.

After many months of drought and dust storms, many people abandoned their homes in search of a life that was not blighted with the dust bowl. In all one quarter of people left, taking every thing they owned in the car and other vehicles. They all headed west, destination California.

The author uses specific vocabulary and sentence structure to convey feelings of optimisium and hope in the charters. For example, George Milton says in chapter one to Lennie Small. “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.

However, the language changes as the story progresses because the main charter in not happy with how things have turned out.

Because the most well planed ideas and dreams can and do sometimes go wrong and all you are left with is server disappointment.

The author, John Steinbeck, tell of how people with the help of companionships and dreams, can prevail.

George Milton is the protagonist. He is a quick-witted man who is friends with Lennie. He looks after Lennie and dreams of a better life. He struggles to take care of Lennie, and his stories of a different life illustrate a longing to escape the atomised and segregated communities of working people, which were common during this period.

Lennie Small is a mentally disabled man who travels with George. There is an element of irony and description in his last name. Because he is a very big man physically, but with the small dreams and attributes of a child. He dreams of "living off the fatta' the lan'" and being able to tend to rabbits, his obsession being soft bunnies, materials and cuddly animals. His has the mental ability of a child but the strength of a "bull", resulting in an inability to control or judge even his own strength. This results in a series of accidental killings when they try to escape him, mice his puppy, and eventually Curley's wife.

Curley is a bully and an insecure man, who shows bitterness towards all other people. Curley verbally assaults weaker characters like Lennie. Curley is further hated by all the other characters in the novel because his outbursts of anger are unjustified.

With no real friends Curley naturally becomes protective of his wife who he sees as an object of possession. He regards her as a possession, and is thus jealous and paranoid of other people seeing her.

Curley's