Free Will In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Curly was extremely hostile towards the newcomers,especially Lennie. George predicts Curly will present future problems and advises Lennie to keep out of Curley’s way. George is trying to keep Lennie from getting into trouble again, so when they meet Curley’s flirtatious wife, George advises Lennie never to talk to her. Later that day, they also meet some of the other ranch hands, Slim, Whit and Carlson.

“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.” - Marie Curie. This quote addresses the solution to the problem of making the world better by working on ourselves and how we interact with one another. The novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is the journey of two men, George and Lennie, who displays the responsibilities that we ourselves owe to others.

From the beginning, George tells Lennie to avoid Curley and Curley’s wife. There are multiple uses of foreshadowing that the reader can understand that John steinbeck is leading this to a tremendous event in the end. “"If he tangles with you, Lennie, we're gonna get　the can. Don't make no mistake about that. He's the boss's son.　Look, Lennie. You try to keep away from him, will you? Don't never　speak to him. If he comes in here you move clear to the other side of the room. Will you do that, Lennie?" "I don't want no trouble," Lennie mourned. "I never done nothing　to him." "Well, that won't do you no good if Curley wants to plug himself　up for a fighter. Just don't have nothing to do with him. Will you　remember?"　 "Sure, George. I ain't gonna say a

    George took Lennie in after Lennie’s aunt died. George knew his aunt pretty well. Lennie had nowhere to go afterwards, so George let Lennie come along with him. George wasn’t always nice to Lennie in the beginning. George would tease him and trick him. Lennie didn’t know any better than to listen to George, even if it was a taunt. After an incident happened to Lennie, George stopped tormenting him. He felt bad for Lennie and how he treated him. From this moment on, George actually took into consideration of Lennie’s mindset. In the book, Steinbeck writes,

‘A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without wall’ (Proverbs 25:28). Whether it be the control of patience, unmatched strength, or battling inner demons, people suffer as they refuse to let go of their passions even if it cost them everything, even their lives. In Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck, in a book allegorical for control, three major characters such as George, Lennie, and Curley’s wife struggle with self-restraint.

Lennie and George have an unusual friendship from the start. George is sort of a guardian of Lennie, and always is looking out for him. With Lennie’s mental illness, sometimes the friendship proves to be challenging. This frienship is definitely not mutual, because they both have each others backs. In the book, George says, “If them other guys gets in jail they can root for all anybody gives a damn… Lennie responds, “But not us! An’ why? Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why” (14). Ironically, Lennie isn’t the one looking out for George. George is always helping Lennie out of his “mistakes”, and endures the hardship of traveling during the 1930s.

People shouldn’t let their choices be made for them, but instead should make their own decisions and not listen to everything they hear or everything they see. With the guidance of a homeless man, Willie found the key to happiness was to believe in himself and make his own decisions. Willie is talking to a homeless man, and he is asked his names. “‘What’s your name’”... “‘Willie’”... “‘That’s a boy's name, what’s your grown up name’” “‘William’”(Avi 214). This quote means that Willie is getting treated like he is mature and can make his own decisions. He doesn’t need his mom to choose for him. This is important because it makes Willie feel more grown up, and he feels like he no longer needs him mom to choose for him, and he doesn’t need the people on the box to tell him how much to eat.

George and Lennie regularly discuss how they are “gonna have a little house and a couple acres”(Page 16) and with a contribution from Candy their dream farm seems to be very close to fruition. This demonstrates how their companionship is vital to acomplishing their goals as none of them alone would be able to get the farm but the three of them together have the money, brains and strength required to run the farm. George and Lennie can confide in each other, and even though Lennie doesn’t understand much of what George says Crooks points out that “it don’t make no difference if he don’t hear or understand” (Page 80) because “it’s just bein’ with another guy” (Page 80) that matters. This is important because unlike most of the other characters, George and Lennie always had the benefit of being able to talk with each other or at least keep each other company. The benefits of George and Lennie’s friendship are perhaps most obvious when they are suddenly taken away and as his “hand shook violently”

The Threat and Prestige of Choice Mankind has assumed the role of Godlike power that was once left in the hand of deities. As a soldier walks onto a battlefield the power that he holds is in the barrel of the gun. He makes the decisions whether to pull the trigger or not. He makes his way towards the enemy’s base and sees a target. He fires.

“God created things which had free will”, said C.S Lewis, “That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I can’t. If a thing is free to be good it’s also free to be bad.” Lewis brushes smoothly upon the idea of how humans, as free willed individuals, have always been believed to be able to decide their own destiny. Man has given himself the right to choose what he wants, as well as who he wants to be. Human souls are born with the capacity to hold light and darkness; good and evil. Although one may be born in a family tree that consists of only witches and demons, he does not have to follow this path if does not wish

They have one goal. That goal is to own a farm that they call their “Dream Farm”. In the book George and Lennie both get a job at this farm that pays out pretty good for the work they are doing. George tells lennie to not talk to anyone and if they ask he tells them to talk to george.

A reader finds many examples of loyalty and obedience impacting eternity in the choices of Wormwood’s patient and Lennie.

Throughout, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, their are hard decisions that the characters don’t want to make, but need to. Even though they don’t want to, it is a necessity that they do, or situations that are not wanted could happen. Especially George has to make many decisions throughout the book that are very difficult or to prevent from creating a bigger problem. Some of his decisions were larger than others, but some even if they didn’t seem very important were just as important in the long run.

In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, unforeseen obstacles will always prevent one’s dreams.

George obviously did not mean this because he continually repeats that even though Lennie is not the brightest and is unaware of his own strength he is a nice guy, takes orders, and produces great work. Another conflict the duo face is Curley, a vain and shallow young man who happens to be the ranch owner’s son. He constantly picks on the men but mostly Lennie because of his