Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."



Written in 1937, Steinbeck gives us a snapshot of life during one of the worst agricultural cataclysms in the world. He is concerned with showing how the 'dustbowl' affected ordinary people, without actually referring to it at all. The reader brings their own awareness of history to the story, but ostensibly it is simply the tale of two itinerant farm labourers and what happens to them one summer.  The timeline of the novella is about a fortnight.



He wrote about ordinary people, and conflict in their lives and relationships. Many of his novels are very dark and violent, and many of his characters are conflicted and complicated. He supported left wing politics, and his novel The Grapes of Wrath tells of the horrible conditions victims of the dustbowl had to endure, so as not to starve to death.

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. He went to Stanford University, and studied English Literature. He worked as a journalist and settled down with his wife, and wrote 27 novels. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

"The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true."




The Plot



George and Lennie arrive late to a new job on a range near Soledad, California. They spend the night in the open, and George tells a story of a dream they both have of one day owning their own small farm.



They arrive at the ranch the next day, and are introduced in turn to several other farmhands,  the wife of the Boss' son, the Boss, and his son, who takes an instant dislike to Lennie. Curly's wife is particularly pretty and dressed inappropriately for a farm. Lennie likes the look of her, and this worries George.They start work 'bucking grain' and it is seen how amazingly strong Lennie is.



Later that evening, George tells Slim, the manager, a little about his relationship with Lennie and a serious incident that happened on their last job, when Lennie scared a girl who then accused him of rape. They had to hide until her family gave up looking for them.  



While the farmhands are in the bunkhouse playing cards, the dog belonging to Candy, the one handed 'swamper' gives offence as he is old, incontinent and very smelly. Carlsson offers to shot it for him, and put it out of his misery. Candy doesn't want to but is finally persuaded.



When all the men except Candy go out, George tells Lennie the dream story again, and Candy listens in, then offers to give them his savings, which is nearly all they need to get a deposit on a small holding, as long as he can come in on it.



Curly, the boss' son comes into the bunkhouse and picks a fight with Lennie. At first, Lennie refuses to fight back, until George gives him the ok, and he grabs Curley's fist and crushes it. Slim convinces Curley not to sack George and Lennie, and to lie about how his hand got crushed. All of them now are a little bit scared of Lennie's strength.



On Saturday, all the farmhands and George go down into town for a night out, leaving Lennie alone with Candy. He wanders over to the stable where the African American stable hand lives, segregated from the white men. At first, Crooks is hostile to Lennie and winds him up about George not coming back. Lennie gets scared and a little threatening, then Crooks becomes more friendly. Candy comes over and they discuss the dream and Crooks asks if he can come in on it too. Then Curley's wife comes in and behaves very badly towards Crooks.

The next day, Lennie is in the barn while the others are outside playing horseshoes. He is sad because he has accidently killed the puppy Slim gave him, by over petting it. Then Curley's wife comes in, and the two have an innocent chat about the things they like. Lennie starts stroking her hair, but gets too heavy handed, and when she panics and cries out, Lennie tries to stop her and accidently breaks her neck. He realises he will be in trouble, leaves her dead body and runs and hides where George told him to.

Candy finds her body and alerts the rest of the ranch, including Curley who goes incandescent with rage and vows to kill Lennie. They set off, Carlsson remarks that his gun has gone missing. George has stolen it, and goes down to the river where they first slept, calms Lennie down and shoots him in the head before Curley can get him.


CHARACTERS

George: 

He is very intelligent, tough, hardworking and suspicious, but also enigmatic. Why does he knock around with someone like Lennie? He is very parental towards Lennie, especially in the way he looks out for him, but also how he tells him off, and complains about him. Sometimes they sound like an old married couple! But he clearly has an imaginative and thoughtful side to him, in the way that he tells Lennie the story of the dream of owning their own little farm. It would seem that in the end, he should be free, Lennie is dead, but we get the impression that it's not just Lennie who needs George, but George simply cannot exist without Lennie.  Gary Sinise, the actor who directed the 1992 version of the book and who plays George in the film, implies at the end that George goes off on his own, not able to carry on with the dream of the farm with Candy and Crooks, but without Lennie. We see George on a train leaving the ranch. Although this is not explicit in the book, it's an interesting interpretation of this character and their relationship.

Notable Quotes:

  • "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to." 
  • "God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want."
  • "I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin' to fight all the time." 
  • (About Lennie) "Sure, he's jes like a kid. There ain't no more harm in him than a kid neither, except he's so strong." 
  • "And it'd be our own, an' nobody could can us. If we don't like a guy we can say, 'Get the hell out,' and by God he's got to do it. An' if a fren' come along, why we'd have an extra bunk, an' we'd say, 'Why don't you spen' the night?' An' by God he would."
  • "Don't let him pull you in—but—if the son-of-a-bitch socks you—let 'im have it."

Lennie:

A loveable giant of a man, with the mind of a young child. Ironically, his surname is 'Small'. Nobody knows why he is like he is, although George makes up a story that he was kicked in the head by a horse. Everything he does and says can be characterised by his childlike mind. Therefore all his relationships are affected by it. Strangers treat him like a grown up and this causes obvious problems. Without George, Lennie is a danger to himself and others. even with George, Lennie comes close to destruction.

Lennie, like most children, has obsessions: in his case, animals, the furrier the better. He also likes pretty things, including women, though not in a sexual way. Lennie's dream is to tend the rabbits on the farm he and George will have one day. And this is the threat that George thinks and hopes will keep Lennie in check.
Lennie's main motivation is not to get in trouble with George. Again, like most naughty children, his fear of being told off doesn't make him behave, rather encourages him to do what he wants, then hide it. So in a way, George is indirectly responsible for the damage Lennie causes. Lennie disobeys George, all the time: picking up mice, over petting the puppy, refusing to let go of the red dress on the girl in Weed, refusing to let go of Curley's wife's hair. 


  • Notable Quotes:
  • "If you don' want me I can g off in the hills an' find a cave. I can go away any time."
  • Lennie cried out suddenly—"I don' like this place, George. This ain't no good place. I wanna get outa here." 
  • Lennie watched him with wide eyes, and old Candy watched him too. Lennie said softly, "We could live offa the fatta the lan'."
  • Lennie looked sadly up at him. "They was so little," he said apologetically. "I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead—because they was so little. I wish’t we’d get the rabbits pretty soon, George. They ain’t so little." 
  • Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers.

Candy
The first person George and Lennie meet at the ranch. He is an old man, disabled through a work related accident, but still kept on by the Boss (who is a generally fair minded man), to clean up and help out where he can.

Candy is friendly and kind, but also a bit of a gossip, probably because he is on his own all day, no longer able to go out with the other men into the fields. He knows everything about everyone.

Candy is also the key to the dream becoming a reality: he has money saved, enough to pay a deposit on a small holding. He is important in this respect as he offers George and Lennie the closest they have come to realising their dream.

Candy has a dog who is old, infirm, smelly and a liability. But he can't bear to part with him. Candy's dog is symbolic in foreshadowing what happens to Lennie at the end. In fact, the dog and Candy have many similarities to Lennie and George.

Notable Quotes:


  • The old man [Candy] squirmed uncomfortably. "Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him." He said proudly, "You wouldn't think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen."
  • And when they were gone, Candy squatted down in the hay and watched the face of Curley's wife. "Poor bastard," he said softly.
  • "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog." 
  • Candy leaned against the wall beside the broken collar while he scratched his wrist stump. "I been here a long time," he said. "An' Crooks been here a long time. This's the first time I ever been in his room."
  •  "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody’d shoot me. But they won’t do nothing like that. I won’t have no place to go, an’ I can’t get no more jobs." 
The Boss


Not a very significant character; we hear about his generosity from Candy at the beginning of section 2, and he shows integrity and fairness in the way he treats George and Lennie, letting them have a second chance because of the bus, and especially where he shows concern for Lennie's welfare - ascertaining that George isn't taking advantage of him. However, we also hear about him 'giving the stablebuck hell' from Candy, when he's in a bad mood, which perhaps gives us some insight into where Curley gets his temper from.






Notable Quotes
  • "I said what stake you got in this guy? You takin' his pay away from him?"
  • ..."brang a gallon of whiskey right in here, and says, "drink up boys, Christmas comes but once a year."

Curley
Nobody likes Curley. Not his wife, not the other characters, and definitely not the readers. But there is more to Curley than just the arrogance and aggressiveness. He clearly has no mother and possibly hasn't had one for quite a long time. He dresses like his father, and is very much in his shadow. He went out and found a pretty girl, then married her after a couple of weeks, he is jealous and suspicious of every man because of her and never seems to get any peace. He is a skilled boxer, but feels he has to prove himself all the time. He certainly seems to have 'small man syndrome' and conforms to that stereotype throughout his short appearances in the novel. Maybe he just wants to be loved. He's got a funny way of showing it.

Notable Quotes:

  • He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists. He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious. 
  • Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He's alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he's mad at 'em because he ain't a big guy. 
  • "Well, that glove's fulla Vaseline." "Vaseline? What the hell for?" "Well, I will tell ya what—Curley says he's keepin' that hand soft for his wife." 
  • "Come on ya big bastard, get up on your feet. No big son of a bitch is gonna laugh at me. I'll show you who's yella."
  • Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie's big hand.
Slim

I love Slim, he is very much the archetypal ranch hand, the Clint Eastwood of the ranch. Cool, calm and collected. Steinbeck very much wants us to admire and love him, and all the characters do, even Curley has respect for him. Steinbeck's description of him in section 2 is almost biblical in tone. He is like an old testament king, like Joseph, David or Solomon. The language used to describe him is regal and majestic. Then, he opens his mouth, and is incredibly ordinary. Slim is the only character that George is able to open up to, he likes Lennie, and understands how his mind works. He is respectful towards Crooks and doesn't exhibit the casual racism of the other characters. But he talks like Cletus the slack jawed yokel, which only makes us like him even more. I think what Steinbeck is trying to show with Slim is that intelligence is not limited to the academically educated. There are philosophers and thinkers in every walk of life. Slim is a very special man, even though he is 'just a ranch hand.' Don't assume greatness can only be found in the 'higher' classes.
Notable Quotes:

  • he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsman. He was a jerkline skinner, the prince of the ranch, capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders. He was capable of killing a fly on the wheeler's butt with a bull whip without touching the mule. There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke, His authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love. This was Slim, the jerkline skinner.
  • "He ain't mean," said Slim. "I can tell a mean guy from a mile off." 
  • Slim looked through George and beyond him. "Ain't many guys travel around together," he mused. "I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other." 
  • But Curley's gonna want to shoot 'im. Curley's still mad about his hand. An' s'pose they lock him up an' strap him down and put him in a cage. That ain't no good, George." 
  • "She slang her pups last night," said Slim. "Nine of ‘em. I drowned four of ‘em right off. She couldn’t feed that many." 
Curley's Wife

"She's a nice, kind girl, not a floozy" Steinbeck wrote to Claire Luce (pictured), the actress playing Curley's wife in the theatrical version of his novel. Well you could have fooled us, John! 

Every description of Curley's wife emphasises her sexuality. We hear about her before we meet her, from Candy, who disapproves of her, and puts George on his guard. The men don't admire her, they are scared to death of her, and they resent her because of the trouble they get into with Curley. But we really have no reason to dislike her. Yes, she is silly, why is she tottering around a muddy, dirty ranch, in a flimsy dress and high heeled mules? Shouldn't she be in the kitchen cooking for the men, or keeping house for Curley and his dad as a surrogate wife and mother? Sexual stereotypes aside, she really does not belong there, she knows it, Curley knows it, everybody knows it. She fell for Curley, he probably knows how to turn on the charm, she wanted to escape her mother who didn't really understand her. She thought she was going to a better life. 

She is clearly an immature girl, thrown into this world of burly men, and she has nothing in common with any of them. She's lonely, bored, and disappointed. All she has are her looks. And they don't get her very far.

She's vicious to Crooks and makes a horrible threat which definitely does her no favours, but then Crooks is mean to her too. What is striking are her conversations with Lennie. She tells him her secrets, she opens up to him, and he listens, not really understanding much, just happy for the company. When they are in the barn, they are like two children, comparing favourite things. 

Notable Quotes:
  • "Sat'iday night. Ever'body out doin' som'pin'. Ever'body! An' what am I doin'? Standin' here talkin' to a bunch of bindle stiffs—a nigger an' a dum-dum and a lousy ol' sheep—an' likin' it because they ain't nobody else." 
  • "I tell you I ain't used to livin' like this. I coulda made somethin' of myself." She said darkly, "Maybe I will yet." 
  • "Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."
Notable Quotes
  • ''The thick-bodied Carlson came in out of the darkening yard.'' 
  • 'You God damn punk.... You tried to throw a scare into Slim, an' you couldn't make it stick. Slim throwed a scare into you. You're yella as a frog belly. I don't care if you're the best welter in the country. You come for me, an' I'll kick your God damn head off.'' 
  • ''If you want me to, I'll put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with. Ain't nothing left for him. Can't eat, can't see, can't even walk without hurtin'.''
Crooks
Finally, the stable buck. We hear a lot about him, but we aren't formally introduced until Chapter Four. Like Curley's wife and Curley, we hear about him from Candy, then from a brief appearance in Chapter Three. So we can't really make up our minds about him until then. We know he's An African American (though Candy uses a popular pejorative term to describe him, that word, we all know!)  We are also told that the Boss takes his temper out on Crooks, for apparently no reason. We sense he is a hard worker, and we know he has a good relationship with Slim. When he is finally presented to us, it is in the privacy of his own 'room'. He is in a vulnerable and intimate position: applying liniment to his crippled back. We note his accumulation of possessions - a rarity in this casual climate - most of the other men have their bedding rolls and little else. In particular, the amount of shoes he owns. He has books, including a copy of the 1915 Civil code, which could suggest he has had to fight for his rights at some time. He is in a room of his own because white and black workers could not live together and we later find out that he feels incredibly lonely, and desperate for company. He can't even go to the bunkhouse for a drink and a card game. He is defensive and cantankerous, always expecting the worst from people, and attacking before he can be attacked. Only we know how close to the fire he sails with Lennie, after what he did to Curley, when Crooks winds him up about George. Luckily, Crooks senses in time, and backs off; Lennie could have done him  some serious damage.

Crooks buys into the Dream, because of his loneliness and need for companionship. His race and his disability set him apart - he doesn't even have a proper name, he is 'Crooks' because of his crooked back. Like Lennie and Candy, Crooks is a misfit. Which makes George a bit of a collector!

Notable Quotes:

  • Crooks said sharply, "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me." 
  • Crooks scowled, but Lennie's disarming smile defeated him. "Come on in and set a while," Crooks said. "'Long as you won't get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down." His tone was a little more friendly. 
  • The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them, and some of them was pretty nice. My ‘ol man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now." 
  • Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. 
  • "I been here a long time," he said. "An' Crooks been here a long time. This's the first time I ever been in his room."
  • "Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody — to be near him … . A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you … . I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."
THEMES
  • Loneliness
  • Friendship
  • Prejudice
  • Comradeship
  • The American Dream

CONTEXT
  • The Dustbowl (incidently, the movie, Interstellar contains interviews with real survivors of the 1930s dustbowl. These real life survivors could then talk about a real event which became the fictional dustbowl story of the future that forms the plot of the film. But these accounts were real, taken from archive footage). 
  • The Wall Street Crash
  • Racial Segregation

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