Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

CONFLICT
Protagonist: The protagonist of the story is George. He is the kind-hearted ranch hand who is
concerned about his friend Lennie and watches out for him.
Antagonist: The antagonist of the story is George’s trying to care for the handicapped Lennie.
Because he has a giant’s body and a child’s mind, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife; at the
same time he kills the dream of owning a farm that has kept George and Lennie positive about
the future
Climax: The climax occurs when Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife. George knows that he
can no longer save Lennie, for Curley will want revenge.
Outcome: Of Mice and Men ends in tragedy. George feels compelled to mercifully kill his
friend and companion, Lennie, in order to save him from a brutal death. The death of Lennie also
marks the death of the beautiful dream they have been nurturing.
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MOOD
The dominant mood of the story is that of expectation. This mood is developed through the
dreams of the major characters. The other mood that prevails is premonitory, of impending
doom. There are also other moods evoked through the actions of the characters reflecting sorrow,
pity, and brutality. The novel ends on a tragic note. The mood at the end is definitely one of
depression and frustration.
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PLOT (Synopsis)
One evening, two men, on their way to a ranch, stop at a stream near the Salinas River. George,
who is short and dark, leads the way. The person following him is Lennie, a giant of a man with
huge arms. During their conversation by the stream, George repeatedly asks Lennie to keep his
mouth shut on the ranch, suggesting that Lennie has some kind of problem. After supper and
before going to sleep, the two of them talk about their dream to own a piece of land.
The next day, George and Lennie travel to the ranch to start work. They are given two beds in
the bunkhouse. Then Old Candy introduces them to almost everybody on the ranch. They meet
the boss and the boss’s son Curley, who is quite rude. They also meet Curley’s wife when she
comes looking for her husband. She wears heavy make-up and possesses a flirtatious attitude.
George warns Lennie to behave his best around Curley and his wife. He also suggests that they
should meet by the pool if anything unfortunate happens to either of them on the ranch.
George and Lennie are assigned to work with Slim, who is sensible and ‘civilized’ and talks with
authority. George finds Slim an understanding confidante, and a bond forms between the two of
OF MICE AND MEN
KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS
SETTING
This book is set in two places. It starts beside a stream, close to the Salinas River, a few miles
South of Soledad. It then moves to a ranch, where the major part of the story is set. At the end of
the novel, the setting comes back to where it started.
George and Lennie are introduced by the stream. They are on their way to a near-by ranch. The
surrounding land is thick in vegetation and has its own wild life. Men frequent it, as there are ash
piles made by many fires and the limbs of the sycamore tree have been smoothed by the many
men who have sat on it.
The ranch, where the major part of the story takes place, appears isolated and lonely. It includes
a ranch house, a bunkhouse where the ranch workers live, a barn, and a harness-room off the
barn.
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CHARACTERS
Major Characters
George – the protagonist and main character of the book. He is a caring, compassionate, and
understanding human being who dreams of owning his own piece of land.
Lennie – the obedient friend of George. He has a child’s mind and a giant’s body. It is these
contrasting qualities that cause him problems.
Old Candy – one of the lonely ranch workers. He is a cripple, working as a ‘Swamper’.
Crooks – a black ranch hand. He is sensible and neat, with a mind of his own. He is a lonely
character, who is discriminated against, due to his race.
Slim – a ranch worker with leadership qualities. He commands respect from all on the ranch.
Curley – the boss’s son who is a light weight boxer. He picks fights with everybody on the ranch.
Curley’s wife – the only woman on the ranch. She is very flirtatious.
Minor Characters
Carlson – a brutal man. He objects to Candy keeping his old dog.
Whit – a ranch worker. He is sent to town to fetch the Sheriff after Curley’s wife is murdered.
The Boss – a ‘mice fella’ (in Candy’s words). He is more concerned about his work on the ranch
THEMES
Major Theme
The major theme of the book, Of Mice and Men, is that a dream, no matter how impossible to
obtain, can forge friendship and give meaning to life. George and Lennie dream of owning a
little farm of ten acres, with a windmill, a little shack, an orchard, and animals. The dream keeps
them going and lightens the load of their work. It also solidifies their friendship.
Minor Themes
One of the minor themes is the tragedy of mental retardation. Lennie never intends to harm
anything, neither the puppy nor Curley’s wife. He is simply too slow to realize his own strength.
His retardation is the cause of his downfall and death, in spite of George’s trying to help him stay
out of trouble.
The pain of loneliness is another theme of the book. All the main characters, including George,
Lennie, Candy, Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Slim, express the sadness caused by their feelings of
loneliness. The craving for company and the longing for sharing real emotions make these
characters very human.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
JOHN STEINBECK
Born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California, John Ernest Steinbeck was the third of four
children. Though poor, Steinbeck had a normal childhood and attended public school, graduating
from Salinas High School in 1919. As a student, he had an inclination towards reading and
writing, which was encouraged by his mother, a schoolteacher herself. He was a frequent
contributor to the school magazine.
Steinbeck studied at Stanford University from 1920 to1925. Although he intended to become a
marine biologist, he never completed a degree. The courses that attracted his attention most were
zoology, English, and classical literature. While at Stanford, he wrote frequently and was often
published in the college newspaper. After leaving the University, he worked at a variety of jobs.
He went to New York, determined to become a writer. Between 1925 and 1927, he attempted to
earn a living as a reporter and a free-lance writer, but was unsuccessful. Disappointed, he left
New York and returned to the West Coast, where he met his first wife, Carol.
Steinbeck’s first novel, Cup of Gold (1929), is based on the life of Sir Henry Morgan, a famous
English pirate of the sixteen hundreds. His next work, The Pastures of Heaven (1932), is a
collection of stories about the people on a farm community near Salinas. In this work, Steinbeck
focuses on the struggle between human beings and nature. These first two books received scant
attention. Finally in 1933, Steinbeck achieved success with his short story The Red Pony.
Steinbeck’s next novel, Tortilla Flat (1935), dealt with the migrant workers and poor farmers. In
Dubious Battle (1936) realistically portrays the labor strife in California during the nineteen
thirties. This novel also sets forth Steinbeck’s concept of group humanity through the character
CHARACTERS
George
George is the protagonist and one of the two main characters in Of Mice and Men. A
compassionate, kind, responsible, patient, and understanding man, he faithfully watches out for
Lennie, his retarded friend and constant companion. When Lennie gets into trouble, George
always helps him find a solution or get away. George is also shown to be a thinking person. He
knows he must discipline Lennie in order to help him, and he is often seen telling Lennie what he
has done wrong and what he must do to improve. He is also a planner, telling Lennie where he
should go if there is trouble on the ranch. He also works hard to make the dream of owing a ten-
acre farm become a reality. Unlike the other ranch hands that squander their money on women
and drink, George refuses to spend a dime frivolously, saving everything to make the dream
come true. He wants to buy the farm so that he and Lennie can live there, free from problems and
constraints caused by society.
Sometimes George is portrayed as an angry man, for he gets frustrated with Lennie’s slowness.
Although he scolds and even screams at him, he is never intentionally mean or cruel. Several
times George thinks about what he could do if Lennie were not around, but they are just idle
thoughts. George is legally free to desert the retarded man at any point in time; emotionally,
however, he is entirely bound to Lennie, as his protector and companion. Lennie also keeps
George from feeling the isolation and loneliness that possess the other ranch hands.
Because George cares for Lennie so deeply, he cannot allow him to die brutally at the hands of
Curley and the angry ranch hands. After painting the picture of the farm in Lennie’s mind one
last time, he takes Carlson’s pistol and mercifully shoots his friend, in a totally selfless act of
kindness. It was a terribly difficult thing for George to do, and at the end of the book, Steinbeck
paints him feeling lost and alone without his faithful companion and without a dream to keep
him going.
Lennie
Lennie is George’s friend and constant companion, who is mentally retarded and highly
dependent on George. He suffers from a child’s mentality within a giant’s body. He is innocent
and forgetful like a child. He is also attracted to small, soft things because of his child-like,
gentle nature. Unfortunately, he often harms the things he loves accidentally. As a huge man
with heavy arms and powerful hands, he does not know or understand his own strength.
Lennie idolizes George, his kind caretaker, almost like a god. In Lennie’s eyes, George is totally
kind, faithful, and good. He tries hard to remember everything George tells him to do and obeys
him implicitly without asking any questions. Even though Lennie did not know how to swim, he
jumped in a river one time when George jokingly told him to do so. Because Lennie is slow,
forgetful, and powerful, he causes trouble for George wherever they go. They had to leave the
last job because Lennie reached out and grabbed the dress of a little girl and would not let go.
When she screamed, the townspeople came and blamed Lennie for attempted rape.

PLOT (Structure)
Of Mice and Men is almost a long short story, divided into six chapters. Steinbeck takes great
care to develop the tragic plot in a classical fashion. The first two chapters are largely expository,
describing the isolated setting, introducing the characters, and developing the relationship
between Lennie and George. The rising action begins in the third chapter with the confrontation
between Curley and Lennie. When the huge man easily crushes Curley’s hand, his strength is
actually seen for the first time and foreshadows that there will be trouble on the ranch. The fourth
part of the book focuses on the theme of loneliness and develops Curley’s wife, who is shown to
be a lonely woman, constantly seeking company. In the fifth chapter, her loneliness leads her
into the barn, where she engages Lennie in conversation. It has been clearly foreshadowed that
nothing good can happen in this encounter. In fact, Curley’s wife is the instrument causing the
tragic ending of the book. In a flirtatious manner, she asks Lennie to stroke her soft hair. When
she feels his powerful hands that do not know how to be gentle, she panics, screams for help, and
brings about the climax of the novel. When Lennie covers her mouth and shakes her to be quiet,
he breaks her neck. The sixth and final chapter includes the falling action and inevitable outcome
of the tragedy. Lennie must be punished for killing Curley’s wife, even though it was truly an
accident. To save his friend from a cruel end in Curley’s hands, George shoots Lennie himself.
Because it is a short novel, it is tightly held together. The opening scene of the book pictures
George and Lennie beside a stream; the last chapter of the book is the same setting. In the first
chapter, George tells Lennie to come back to the stream and hide in the bushes if there is trouble
on the ranch. In the next four chapters, George reminds Lennie of the hiding place, and Lennie
tries hard to remember it. In fact, in the sixth chapter, he is very proud of himself for
remembering to come to the stream and wait for George. The end of the novel works and is
believable because Steinbeck has taken great care to emphasize the hiding place throughout the
book.
Two themes also hold the book together. In the first chapter, George and Lennie talk about their
dream of owning a farm; Lennie is particularly enthralled with raising rabbits there. In every
chapter of the book, the dream of the farm is discussed, and Old Candy convinces George and
Lennie to let him join them in their dream. Curley’s wife scoffs at the dream; Crooks does too at
first, and then contemplates joining them on the farm, hoping to find a place where he is not
treated with such prejudice. The dream, however, comes to an abrupt end with Lennie’s death.
Before George shoots him, he asks Lennie to picture the farm in his mind, for he wants him to
die believing the dream will come true.
The theme of loneliness is also seen throughout the book. The actual setting of the farm is lonely
and isolated. The ranch hands share a bunkhouse with one another, but have no family and no
emotional ties. One by one they express their loneliness. Old Candy begs to go the farm, so his
last days can be filled with companionship and happiness; he fears being treated like his old dog.
Crooks, because he is black, is forced to live in a shed by himself and is not allowed to interact
with the white workers. Because Curley’s wife is miserable on the ranch and dislikes her
husband, she also feels isolated. Because George and Lennie have each other, they are the only
ones on the ranch who do not feel the misery of loneliness. Unfortunately, after George has to
kill Lennie, he becomes the loneliest of all the characters. He has lost his best friend and his life’s
dream
Major Theme
The major theme of the book is the beauty of a dream, for it gives a person a purpose in life.
George and Lennie dream of owning a farm that they can call their own and where Lennie can
raise rabbits and stay out of trouble, free from the constraints of society. Both men constantly
keep this dream in front of them. In fact, Lennie asks George to repeat the dream over and over.
George, himself, refuses to frivolously spend any money, for he is saving every dime to buy the
land. The dream keeps both of the working; it also keeps them close.
Curley’s wife and Crooks, two cynics, scoff at the dream of Lennie and George as being
unrealistic, but Candy sees its possibility and its beauty. He offers to give his life savings to help
make the dream a reality, for he wants to join George and Lennie on the farm, living out his last
days in happiness. When the two men accept Candy, he suddenly has a new lease on life; the
dream has given him hope for a better future.
At the end of the novel, the dream dies. As soon as Candy sees the body of Curley’s wife, he
understands his own loss of a dream and curses her for it. George also knows the dream has died
with Lennie’s death, and the novel ends with his going off to spend his money on liquor. He no
longer has a reason to save his pennies. Without a dream, his life is sad and meaningless.
Minor Theme
The pain of loneliness is another key theme of the novel. Early in the book, George sets the
lonely mood by stating, ‘Guys like us that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.’
Candy becomes the picture of total loneliness caused by age. He is rejected by all for being old
and handicapped. His only company, his faithful, old, blind dog, is taken from him and killed;
Candy fears that he will be treated the same way in the future and wants to join Lennie and
George on the ranch. Crooks is the picture of total loneliness caused by prejudice. Because he is
the only black man on the ranch, he is forced to live alone in a shed of the barn, and no one will
have any interaction with him. As the only female on the ranch, Curley’s wife also voices her
loneliness. She says, ‘I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’ Slim is also a lonely man
and says, ‘Maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other. Only Lennie and
George are spared from the feelings of loneliness that pervade the book, for they have one
another.
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IRONY
The major irony in the book is that George kills Lennie because he loves him. He wants to spare
Lennie from dying a brutal death at the hands of Curley and the other ranch hands who are
enraged over the death of Curley’s wife; therefore, he selflessly does the terrible deed himself, as
a merciful act to his friend. Ironically, George steals Carlson’s pistol to use; it is the same pistol
that killed Candy’s old dog in order to save it from suffering and misery. Ironically, the ranch
hands felt great sympathy and sorrow for Candy over the loss of his dog; but they feel no
sympathy for George over losing his best friend and companion. Slim