Of Mice and Men

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Of Mice and Men
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General Overview

• The story is set in California in the 1930s
  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 simple-minded.
• They travel around together in search of work.

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• 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.

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• 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.
• Curleys 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.

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• 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.

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About the author

• Much of Of Mice and Men is based upon Steinbecks
  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.

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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/

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• 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.

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• For one night he even leaves the vulnerable
  Lennie behind, in spite of the problems at the
  ranch, and this leads to Lennies downfall.
• Intelligent
• Quick witted
• Naturally cautious
• Small
• Hardworking

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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/

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• 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.

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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.

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• Lennies 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.
• Lennies irresistible urge to pet collides with
  the desires and sexuality of Curleys 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.

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• 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.
• Childlike
• Strong
• Powerful
• Innocent
• Naïve
• Slow

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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.

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• 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 Curleys wife but he is humiliated by her
  vicious threats.
• His new optimism is finally defeated by Georges
  dismissive attitude to the suggestion that he
  might participate in the running of the dream
  farm.

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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.

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Curleys Wife

• Curleys wife is never named in the novel.
• The way she is referred to as Curleys wife
  makes her sound like Curleys 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.

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• 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 Lennies petting of her
  hair leads to her death, this could have been
  caused just as easily by Lennies unthinking
  roughness as by any decision on her part that
  things had gone too far.
• Ambiguous
• Insecure
• Lonely
• Vane

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Slim

• 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.

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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.

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Carlson

• 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.

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The boss

• Only appears once
• Unpleasant
• Aggressive
• Needs to show he is better than the ranch
  workers.
• Treatment of George and Lennie seems fair.

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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

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Authority

• Natural, god like authority of Slim.
• Ineffectual bullying of Curley.
• The bosss 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.

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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 Curleys 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.

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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.

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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 Curleys dog)

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Violence

• 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.

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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.