The main theme of the novel is loneliness. It tells about the loneliness of itinerant workers of the Great Depression found it nearly impossible to establish a fixed home or a family. These men were forced to wander from ranch to ranch seeking temporary employment, to live in bunkhouses with strangers, and to suffer the abuses of arbitrary bosses. Those who were left in their fixed home too were lonely.
The novel's title was taken from a line from a Scottish poem by Robert Burns titled To a Mouse.
Characters of Of Mice and Men:
Geroge Milton is the main character of the novel. He is an itinerant worker who travels from farm to farm with his mentally impaired friend Lennie during the Depression. George wishes to earn and save enough money to buy a piece of land for himself. George is an intelligent and responsible man who takes the dominant parent-like role in his relationship with Lennie. Lennie Small is another migrant worker, a friend of George. He is a mentally disabled man with a strong and gigantic body. Lennie is simple and docile but he is capable of great violence especially because he is unable to control his emotions and he is very protective of his friend George. Candy is an old crippled man who lost his hand. He works as a swamper on the farm and owns an aging dog who is very weak. He is lonely and old and thus, he offers to lend money to George and Lennie to buy a small farm so that he may become dependent on them during his older days. Curley is the son of the ranch owner where Lennie and George are working. Curley is a short man but a formidable boxer who is aggressive, boastful, and cocky, with a volatile temper and a tendency to provoke conflict with others. He doesn’t trust his wife whom he thinks is infidel. Curley’s wife is a beautiful woman who dislikes her husband and feels desperately lonely at the ranch, for she is the only woman and feels isolated from the other men. She used to dream of becoming a Hollywood actress but now has little to cheer about. Crooks is a black man working as a stable hand at the ranch who got his name because of his crooked back. He is proud, bitter, and cynical, he is isolated from the other men because of being black. Lennie shows kindness towards him and he becomes fond of Lennie. Carlson is a large, big-stomached man who works at the ranch, Carlson complains about Candy's dog and eventually offers to put the old dog out of its misery. Slim is the jerkline skinner at the ranch. He is a seemingly ageless man who carries himself with great gravity. He gives Lennie one of his new litter of puppies to care for. What is another ranch worker. The Boss is Curley’s father and the owner of the ranch. He acts suspiciously of George and Lennie when they arrive, thinking that there's something odd about the two mismatched companions.
Summary of Of Mice and Men:
The novel begins beside the Salinas River near Soledad, California. It is the period of the Great Depression in the United States and unemployment is a big issue. Two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small are going to a nearby ranch where they hope to get work. George remembers how luckily they escaped a lynching attack from a farm near Weed where Lennie was wrongly accused of rape when he touched a woman to feel her soft dress. Lennie is a friend of George and though they are of similar age, Lennie is mentally disabled and George, being a dominant figure takes care of him as a guardian. However, Lennie is a giant with a strong muscular body.
As they walk along, Lennie sees a dead mouse and finds it cute and soft and thus picks it up. Lennie loves touching soft things, including fabric and fur. George colds him for playing with the dead mouse and tells him to keep quiet when they arrive at their new place of employment. Lennie reminds him that they do not have any ketchup for the beans that they have to eat for dinner. George gets angry at this and tells him that he would be better off if he didn't have to take care of him. Lennie gets sad tries to please George and soon they make up again. Geroge tells Lennie how much he wishes to earn and save enough so that they may become able to buy a small piece of land and make a fixed home. Geroge tells Lennie that he had a dream that they managed to have a small farm with a vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch with so many rabbits having soft white fur. This intrigues Lennie who is too much interested in picking a rabbit in his lap. George tells Lennie that he must try not to get into trouble again but if he gets into trouble as he did in Weed, he should return to the brush near the river and wait for George to find him.
Geroge and Lennie soon reach the farmhouse where they are supposed to work. They knock at the bunkhouse of the farm and an old man named Candy greets them and shows them their bed where they could rest. He informs that the boss of the ranch was angry that they were late as they were supposed to be there the night before. After some time, the boss visits the farm and interviews Geroge and Lennie. He gets suspicious when he comes to know that Lennie is mentally retard and wonders why George accompanies him. George realizes this and tells a lie that Lennie is his cousin and thus he is responsible for him. The boss leaves the bunkhouse and after him, his son Curley visits there. Curley is a short but strong-built man who is jealous of tall strong men. Part of his jealousy is because of his newlywed wife who continues to chide him while everyone believes that she is infidel and a flirt. Curley visited the bunkhouse while looking for his wife. He suspects that his wife has an affair with Slim, a handsome ageless man working in the ranch. When he notices Lennie and George, he tries to start a fight with George but George avoids it.
George and Lennie go to the farm the next day where they make friends with Slim, Carlson, Whit, and other workers. After they return to the bunkhouse, Slim, whose dog has a new litter of puppies, gives Lennie one of them. Lennie is pleased while having the puppy in his hands whose furs are so soft. During the dinner, Geroge admits to Slim that he and Lennie escaped lynching in Weed when Lennie was accused of rape.
Carlson, another worker at the ranch, complains about Candy's old and sick dog, who stinks so bad and continues to howl. He has a handgun and he offers to shoot the dog but Candy loves his dog and is not willing to let him killed. However, Carlson is too disturbed by the dog who doesn’t let him sleep. Candy relents and allows Carlson to kill the dog. Geroge notices that Curley often remains disturbed and suspicious of everyone and soon learns about Curley’s wife. He complains about Tarts like Curley’s wife and why they should be aware of such women. Carlson suggests that the men should visit a nearby whorehouse the next night, George says that he prefers the company of whores, since with them there is no chance of danger.
One day, after a day’s work when Lennie and George are alone in the bunkhouse, Geroge again tells Lennie about his dream to have a small farm and a farmhouse. Candy overhears them and offers to pool his money with theirs if they'd let him work on their farm. Geroge feels that his dream may come true soon. Meanwhile, Curley visits the bunkhouse again while searching for his wife. He suspects that Lennie is laughing at him and thus, he begins a fight with Lennie. Being a boxer, he strongly punches Lennie many times but Lennie doesn’t fight back. At last, George feels that Curley will seriously harm Lennie if Lennie doesn’t defend, so he allows Lennie to fight back. Lennie crushes Curley’s right hand in a moment.
The next day, all the men go to the farm for work but Lennie decides to take a rest. He then goes to see Crooks, the black stable buck. Crooks is rude and unfriendly towards Lennie but soon realizes that Lennie is harmless with no ill intent. He starts treating Lennie well. Candy too visits there and informs Crooks how Lennie, his friend George, and Candy are trying to raise money to buy a small piece of land for themselves. Crooks feels positive about their plans and shows his interest in pooling his money for the new farmhouse if he could join them. At the same time, Curley’s wife visits the Crooks’ room and notices the three men. She is very bored with her current life and seeks company. Crooks tells her that she is not supposed to visit his room to which Curley’s wife shouts at him and threatens him with lynching. Curley’s wife feels attracted towards strong built Lennie.
The next morning, Lennie accidentally kills the puppy gifted to him by Slim when he throws the puppy too hard while playing with it. He is very sad about it. Curley’s wife notices him with the dead puppy in the barn and realizes what might have happened. She pities Lennie and scolds him but then entices him to touch her hair and feel how soft are they. Lennie obviously begins stroking her hair but soon she realizes that he is too strong for her and starts screaming. Lennie gets frightened and tries to stop her scream by putting his hand on her mouth. While doing so, he accidentally breaks her neck and she gets killed. Lennie notices her dying and flees from the ranch.
George and Candy come there while looking for Lennie and discover the dead body of the puppy and Curley’s wife. They infer what might have happened. Candy alerts the other men in the ranch and soon Curley comes to know about the death of his wife. He makes a party of men to search for Lennie. Meanwhile, George steals the handgun of Carlson while he suggests that Lennie might have stolen the gun before he ran away. He directs Curley’s men in the wrong direction to look for Lennie while he goes towards the brush where he had told Lennie to wait for him if he gets trapped in a difficult situation again. Lennie was already waiting for him. The death of the puppy and Curley’s wife had a bad effect on him and he had been hallucinating since then. In his hallucination, he saw a giant rabbit and his Aunt Clara who used to take care of him when he was a child. Aunt Clara warns him that George will be angry at him for killing Curley’s wife and will break his friendship with him and thus, he can never have a rabbit hutch. When George reaches there, Lennie tells him about the dream he just had. Geroge calms and reassures him that they will certainly have the rabbit hutch. Meanwhile, he prepares to shoot Lennie with the handgun he stole from Carlson. As Lennie sees towards the river, Geroge shoots him down. Upon hearing the shot, the other men find George and Lennie. George tells them that Lennie had stolen the gun and that he shot Lennie after the gun got loose in a struggle.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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