Themes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“Wha’s the matter with me?’ she cried. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways?” (Steinbeck 87) In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley’s wife is discriminated against because she is a woman living in the 1930s when few females could live economically independent of men. By choosing not to name her, Steinbeck reinforces her insignificance on the ranch and her dependence on Curley. While a misfortunate victim of isolation, Curley’s wife exerts unexpected power attempting to mask her pain.

Every day, people are faced with responsibility. Some thrive under the pressure while others crumble. Responsibility is a sign of independence. Teenagers with greater amounts of responsibility feel freedom from their parents. In the same case, too much responsibility can put more stress on that freedom-seeking teen and can have devastating effects. John Steinbeck shows the theme that in life, responsibility is best taken in moderation in his novel Of Mice and Men.

“So you forgot that awready, did you? I gotta tell you again , do I ? Jesus christ, you're a crazy bastard!” George says (4-5). You can infer that the two characters have some issues with each other. In Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck shows the weaknesses that most of the characters have and the trials they face with those weaknesses. The characters such as Lennie, Crooks and Candy all have something that happens to them in the story that brings out their weaknesses. John Steinbeck portrays the effects that weak people reveal through the characters Lennie, Crooks and Candy.

“And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head.” In the book, “ Of Mice and Men ,” by John Steinbeck (13), the author uses so many symbols in his characters and in the background throughout the story. In the book, everything represents symbolism whether it is the characters or the setting of the time and place they are in. The time period in “ OF Mice and Men “ is around the 1930s during the Great Depression. The men and women in the story aren’t very educated by how they talk and pronounce words. The setting is in Salinas Valley, California which is located in Northern California just south of San Francisco.

John Steinbeck, an American novelist, is well-known for his familiar themes of depression and loneliness. He uses these themes throughout a majority of his novels. These themes come from his childhood and growing up during the stock market crash. A reader can see his depiction of his childhood era. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck shows the prominent themes of loneliness, the need for relationships, and the loss of dreams in the 1930s through the novels’ character.

Throughout the novella, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck’s use of motif reveals the theme that friendship is an important part to living a fulfilling life . Lennie has just run away due to the fear that he would no longer be able to tend the rabbits. He had this fear because he had just killed Curley’s wife and the young pup. So he ran away to the bushes that George had told him to go to in the case of an emergency. George was talking to Lennie even though he knew he had to kill him.

The poem “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns clearly reflects the naturalistic themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men because a naturalist would state that elements such as survival of the fittest, the struggle against forces beyond our control and individual lives being governed by impersonal natural laws.

In the book “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck describes a world where the American Dream was all about helping others and keeping others safe. Steinbeck paints a very visual picture of looking out for your family in America in 1930. In the book “Of Mice and Men” Steinbeck reveals a very crucial ending. In the book Steinbeck tells us about Crooks. Crooks is so named because of a crooked back caused by a kick from a horse. Crooks is the stable hand who takes care of the horses and lives by himself because he is the only black man on the ranch. But Crook has been so beaten down by loneliness and prejudicial treatment of that he is now suspicious of any kindness he receives.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is an interesting book that has many different interpretations of its theme. However, I think that the theme is that not everything goes as planned and that John Steinbeck used Lennie to help show this theme. I think that that is the theme because plans did not work multiple times, including George and Lennie’s plan to keep working in Weed, the plan to get the farm, the plan to stay away from Curley’s wife, the plan to keep Lennie out of trouble, and the plan to stay away from Curley, and Lennie is involved in all of these.

How can we justify and condemn George’s actions at the end of the story. In the story of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters George had both condemned and understandable actions at the end of the story. I think George had a hard time shooting Lennie, but at the same time he had a semi-reasonable reason to shoot him. It was hard for him to shoot Lennie because the two of them had traveled everywhere together ever since they were young.

The book Of Mice and Men, there are several themes. One of them are consisting of the strong vs weak. Of the many characters, protagonists and antagonists, Lennie and George are some of the most used in the book. Lennie and George are an example of strong vs weak. The strong are the people who strive and don’t give up just because of someone else. The weak are the people that live by the basics of life or just to get by. In some cases, George is the strong one while Lennie is the weaker one, but sometimes it’s vice versa.

Of Mice and Men demonstrates many themes that everyone must face in their lifetime – hard choices, friendship, and far-off dreams. In the 120 page novel, George and Lennie manage to experience all of these, and it is these familiar themes that draws the reader into the novel. Hard choices are shown throughout the novel: their decision to move to the ranch, Candy's choice to let his dog be killed, and, of course, the most difficult choice of all – George's mercy killing of Lennie. Choices are always something that enthrals an audience – a character choosing between two major options can make the difference between a hero and a monster. Moreover, seeing friendship blossom from contempt or, in fact, the exact opposite, is thrilling for a reader. At the beginning of the novel, George saw Lennie as a burden more than a companion, but as the book progresses you can see that they really do care for each other deep down, which makes the ending even more bittersweet. The final theme being discussed is that of dreams that can never be achieved – dreams that are more a way to pass the time daydreaming about than an actual goal. Lennie's dream, that George indulged, was for them to live on their farm, with their rabbits and their land all to themselves. This is something that is instantly relatable, not this particular dream, but the act of wishing for something that can only be accomplished by a genie

George is a unique human being, he portrays many characteristics of a goal setting, goal achieving person. George is man that can be seen by some as someone who thinks things through and considers how their hopes and dreams can be reached. Throughout the book George demonstrates desire, George knows how things function and has a good way of coping as each situation presents itself. George has a companion named lennie, which is actually more than just a companion they are more like life partners. The one has the other. which he helps out in every way possible, they both share a dream. They

Of Mice and Men a short novel by Nobel Prize winning John Steinbeck is a wonderful written story. What makes Of Mice and Men a great story is its key themes. One being friendship, a constant theme acted out by the protagonists. Another would be achieving the American dream, a dream many characters want to fulfill. The key themes of Of Mice and Men contribute to the greatness of its story.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, features a large group of characters who are out on a California farm chasing a goal or who have already given up on a goal. The goals the characters have reflect the hopes of many who were traveling to California during the time of the Great Depression. The characters reflect personal experiences from John Steinbeck?s life, who grew up in California. The characters project the American dream and eventually project the inevitable American failure during the Great Depression. Although characters in John Steinbeck?s Of Mice and Men have self-made high hopes or are inspired by the hopes of others, most of the characters succumb to reality and those hopes become failures.