Human Nature by John Steinbeck

‘Of Mice and Men’ is a novel about two men and their struggle to reach their dreams of owning their own ranch. George Milton and Lennie Small are best friends, and in despite of their differences they still manage to work together, travel together and tackle anything that gets in their way. Steinbeck uses nearly all of the characters in this novel to stress the importance of having a friend.

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author wrote many novels including one of his most famous, Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men teaches many lessons about the nature of human existence. Each relationship grows throughout this short story and end with a dramatic experience. All of the characters, including Lennie, George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of isolation, seclusion and loneliness.

John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men follows the journey of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, who struggle through the navigation of working on a ranch in California and fulfilling their dreams together during a time of financial depression. The novel begins with George and Lennie traveling through the California wilderness to get to a new ranch just south of Soledad where they are going to begin new work. They had to leave their previous jobs in a town called Weed because Lennie had caused trouble with a girl by holding on to her red dress because he wanted to feel it, and this incident spiraled into rape allegations against Lennie. As George and Lennie make their way to the new ranch, Lennie; who is a large, but simple minded man; found a dead mouse and wanted to keep it to pet because he likes soft things. George, who is more serious and protects Lennie, takes the mouse away from him because even though it’s dead, he should not be messing with it. Lennie often does not realize his strength because of his mental incapabilities and as a result, he causes a lot of trouble and harm. George finds taking care of Lennie to be taxing, but he knows that their friendship is an important bond that he does not want to be without. In order to comfort Lennie in the wilderness, George tells the story of their shared dream to own their own ranch where they can follow their own rules and live as they please. When they finally arrive at the ranch the next day, George and Lennie

In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Lennie and George have both similarities and differences that are revealed throughout the storyline. These comparisons and contrasts are used to explain their unique friendship and dependency on one another. The story begins with the description of their physical and intellectual differences and establishes their roles of who is the dominant one. The story shares the obstacles that have stood in the way of them obtaining their “American Dream” to own land, even if they if they have different motivations. The story concludes with the difficult choice that George makes to end Lennie’s life himself, out of his love for his friend.

Throughout the book, “Of Mice and Men”,George and Lennie have faced many difficulties and problems. But they never quite gave up on each other. In the book, “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck stated many things to prove the main idea. Throughout the book, John Steinbeck shows the difficulties that George and Lennie have to deal with. He states on how they are different, their problems and what keeps their relationship stable. Friendships may be difficult and put you out from the rest, but it has it’s values.

Good friendships make life easier. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about two men, George and Lennie, who go on various journeys in order to get a job. Although George would consider Lennie to be his closest friend, he ultimately ends up shooting and killing Lennie. George did this, not out of hatred, but rather out of protection. A good friend will always want what is best for one another. Steinbeck uses his protagonists’ friendship in order to show that true friendship can help make any of life’s hardships less difficult.

Friendship is the strongest relationship two people can have. John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” for example, is about two men who go around California looking for jobs during the Great Depression. The camaraderie between the two main characters, George and Lennie, stands out particularly. Their friendship is similar to that of a parent and a child. George being the parent and taking care of Lennie by keeping him out of trouble; and Lennie being the child, ignorant of the world around him and simple-minded. In the case of John Steinbeck’s classic novella, the friendship of the two men produces risks for both; however, the emotional and physical benefits far outweigh the risks.

Individuals have had to do something they do not want to do at least once in their lives. It could be something small, or something to a bigger extent. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, many characters struggle with loneliness because the novel is set during the Great Depression when many people found it difficult to make a living. This is one of the reasons why many readers find it odd that Lennie Small and George Milton travel together in these desperate times. George and Lennie look out for each other at every place they go. At the Tyler Ranch, Lennie’s disability causes him to get into trouble, big trouble. George has to make the toughest decision of his life: kill his friend or let him die a painful death. George decided to kill Lennie because he would not be able to allow Lennie to experience misery. George Milton did not kill Lennie Small out of hate, but out of friendship.

Steinbeck focuses on the idea of being lonely, George is one of the first that Steinbeck introduces as a lonely character. While George and Lennie are sitting by the river, George explains to Lennie what kind of men they are. “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.” (page 13) George tells Lennie, that men like them are lonely, that all they do is work. George is a quiet character he doesn’t talk much, unless it's to Lennie. When he does talk to the ranchmen he doesn’t say much about his life or his family, or anything personal. While Steinbeck allows readers to

In Of Mice and Men, there are an abundance of themes throughout the novel. One of those themes is friendship which is shown clearly though George. In the novel, when Lennie says, “Because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you.” (Steinbeck 14) shows how close of friends George and Lennie are. They rely off of each other because George physically helps Lennie, and Lennie helps George mentally to not be as grim. However, another on of the themes is loneliness. Although George has Lennie, he can get lonely because he does not have anyone else to talk to. George is not the only who is lonely because Curley’s wife also shows that she is lonely when she says, “Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (Steinbeck 77) When Steinbeck was writing his novel, he wants readers to understand even though our best friends are loyal, they need other people to talk to and will at sometime lose

George’s isolation is also illustrated in Steinbeck’s Mice and Men. George expresses many hard feelings towards Lennie at the opening of this story. “‘...you’re a lot of trouble,’ said George. ‘I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.’” (pg.7). For as much as George says he doesn’t like to have Lennie by his side every second of the day, something keeps him from completely abandoning him. At one point, Lennie realizes how much George wants him to leave, and he almost goes off by himself to find a cave so he doesn’t have to cause George so much grief and sorrow. “‘No-look! I was jus’ foolin’, Lennie. ‘Cause I want you to stay with me...” (pg.12-13). George

Logan Cook Mrs. Wilbourn English III-4 3 October 2014 “Of Mice and Men” analytical essay What is the deeper meaning to the novella “Of Mice and Men”? What do the characters and scenes symbolize? In this essay the reader will get a better understanding on the deeper meaning to the story that Steinbeck conveys through complex symbolism.

We see the interview with the boss, George becomes protective toward Lennie, “I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.”(P43) and when Curley’s wife enters into the attention George is seriously apprehensive about Lennie, “Listen to me… you leave her be.”(P54). Later on, when George finds Lennie in Crook’s, the stable buck’s, room, he looks disapprovingly at Lennie, “George stood framed in the door, and he looked disapprovingly.”(P115), this is very parent like. Steinbeck reinforces the contrast between them and everybody else. Slims says “Ain’t many guys travel around together”(P57)

‘Of mice and men’ is a tale of loneliness and hardship felt by the people living in America during the 1930 's. Written by John Steinbeck and published in 1937, it tells the heartbreaking story of two ranch workers during the depression; George Milton and Lennie Small. At the time America was very poor, with a shortage of jobs so people had to travel in search of new jobs. As many people were constantly moving, lasting friendships or relationships were hard to come across. People became scared to have friendships, scared of each other making them lonely and isolated. Most of the characters lived by ‘every man for himself’; only having to care for themselves, not having to worry about others and therefore

The notion of human nature has always been historically debated. Explores, philosophers, and writers have always come to argue on what is considered to be barbarism, savagery, and civilized. These constructed categories have put a label on people who do not share the same ideas as one another. These different views of human nature have come to propel change and have come to revolutionized human history. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Michel de Montaigne, and Thomas Hobbes all differ on their ideas of human nature, but they also share common ground. For some of these men the practices of different cultures are categorized as savagery, and for others it has been viewed as noble savagery. Their ideas however have allowed society to view different perspectives of human nature. These perspectives have classified human nature as a way of life, or as an obstacle to what is consider to be the good life. Their ethnographic resources provide a glimpse to all the different cultures and their value to society and history.