Themes in of Mice and Men

Alex Anderson
Mrs. McCabe
Advanced English 11
March 18, 2013

Themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men The wide variety of themes in Of Mice and Men set the tone of what life was like during this time along with problems characters faced. The themes in John Steinbeck’s work give the reader an inside look at why the book was written, the author’s motives, and points he is trying to bring across to the reader. In some cases, a lesson can be learned. In all, Steinbeck presents the reader with about eight different themes in Of Mice and Men. The themes range from the American dream to friendship, and how it affects the characters and situations throughout the story. Individuality in Of Mice and Men plays a big role in how the plot comes about in the novel. In the novel, no one character is alike any other. Because of this, this sets up the novel to be more interesting considering every character comes from a different background and they all have different views on topics. “Lennie Small, an itinerant ranch hand like his friend, George Milton, is a tall powerful man, who is mentally handicapped (Telgen “Characters”).” Being that Lennie is one of the main characters in the novel, he is usually somehow tied into any wrongdoings that Steinbeck creates due to his physicality traits and handicap. “Lennie does not have the intellectual capacity to erect emotional barriers, or to acquire the niceties of polite intercourse (Schultz).” With Lennie not being able to control himself in most situations, this sets himself up for destruction from the beginning. His habits eventually lead him to his death when George has no other option but to kill Lennie. Another very individual character is Curley. “Curley, the owner’s son, marries a woman of questionable moral character to bolster his own image of himself and to mitigate the male-dominated atmosphere on the ranch (Schultz).” Curley is a very narcissistic character in the novel that believes he is the only authority on the ranch with all the power. He believes he sits high on the throne due to the fact he can tell people what to do or else he will fire them with the snap of a finger. His wife, who is very controlled by Curley, often flirts with the other men on the ranch due to the isolation that Curley presents her with. The other very individual character in the novel would be Crooks. “Crooks the “nigger” stable buck, doubly isolated by his race and consequent segregation from the white ranch hands in his own little shack with books his only comfort, confesses to Lennie, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody (Schultz).” During the time period in which the novel is set, segregation was huge throughout the United States. Crooks, being a stable hand and then being African- American on top of it, is a very individual character in the novel. No one wants to be his friend or let alone speak to him. Because of this, Crooks learns to rely on books to comfort him which none of the other ranch hands do, considering they all have one decent companion on the ranch. Probably one of the most sought after themes in Of Mice and Men would be the chase for the American Dream. The American Dream in general is just finding the ideal life in the greatest country in the world. For Lennie, George and the other ranch hands on the farm, the American Dream can be summarized into simply owning land where you are your own boss. “We see many characters in search of what America promises but caught in the clutches of circumstances which often seem to frustrate their search (Swan).” The ranch hands on the farm are in a way imprisoned in a way of life which only has one escape, death. The ultimate goal for our two main characters, Lennie and George, is to save up a set amount of money which would be enough to be able to buy their own farm and live life how they wish. “More than a dream of land or property or riches or even a house of one’s own, George’s vision encompasses a broader range of values-freedom, abundance, fairness, nature and companionship, that are universally desired by the novel’s characters, even if they too often remain tragically unfilled (McClinton-Temple).” As the plot and novel progress, the reader begins to see that the American Dream becomes more of a state of mind to the ranch hands than something of a reality. For Lennie and George, it seems that when they would think about owning their own piece of land and a farm that it would take them away from reality for a period of time. Thinking of their dream would in a way put them into a happy state of mind, when they really know that there is no escaping the lifestyle that they are accustomed to. “Lennie’s chorus of ‘and live of the fatta the land’ importantly illustrates one aspect of the American Dream that points beyond defining it simply as “success (McClinton-Temple).” Achieving the thoughts that Lennie and George have in their sights would literally be achieving their dream, not only in the perspective sense, but in the literal sense. Very common, along with reoccurring themes in Of Mice and Men are the themes of isolation, alienation, and loneliness. “Of Mice and Men explores the social isolation and economic vulnerability of these men on the margins of society (McClinton-Temple).”At some point or another in the novel it seems that just about every character has their moment when they feel like they are fending for themselves or that they are their only friend. At the bottom of the social ladder are the ranch hands on the farm. “Candy, old and disabled, awaits his unavoidable dismissal when the diminished value of his labor will lose him both income and companionship (McClinton-Temple).” Being that he is the oldest hand on the ranch, Candy, often finds himself in peculiar situations that younger, swifter hands do not. Most of the time, Candy is on his own cleaning the bunkhouses while the other ranch hands are out working. He has the company of his old dog but due to the dog’s condition, it eventually cannot live any longer and is euthanized. In a way, Candy only has himself on the ranch and knows that someday he will literally only have himself once he is dismissed from the farm. As the reader would move up the social ladder, they would see that at any point in which they stopped, every character is in some way, shape, or form, is lonely. “Curley becomes a tyrant throughout the novel who aggressively confronts those under him, physically bullying Crooks, Lennie, and even his own wife with impunity (McClinton-Temple).” When it comes down to it, Curley has no good reason for any of his negligible actions. He really only does what he does because he can. He knows that if anyone stands up to him he can fire them in an instant. Curley is so lonely and deprived of human interaction that he chooses to take up his time by pestering people who are under him. “Curley’s wife- the only female on the ranch and kept under her jealous husband’s strict watch- confesses her loneliness to Crooks, Candy, and Lennie (McClinton-Temple).” Though the reader is never given a name for “Curley’s wife”, one can certainly see that she is very lonely and deprived of human interaction like most of the other hands. To soothe this pain, the reader finds her often being very flirtatious with the ranch hands, which quite ironically ends up costing her her life. Every character in the story has to deal with their own individual form of isolation or loneliness and must find their own individual ways of coping with it. For someone like Curley, the reader sees him pestering with the hands under him while his wife must flirt and be very open towards the ranch hands. A theme that many characters in the novel do not find and never will find is freedom. When everything is considered, the only character that may have found freedom is Lennie. “By traditional definition, George and Lennie, and the novels other migrant farm hands are free (McClinton-Temple).” Free, in general terminology means to not be held back by anything. Many times in the novel, the migrant ranch hands are referred to as “free”. Calling the ranch hands free is completely incorrect. The hands on the ranch along with any other hands in the Salinas Valley at the time have all been taken prisoner by the world of hard labor. The hands may think that they are free but they know that if they do not work and have some type of nut job boss above them, they would not be able to survive. On the other hand, someone in Curley’s position, the owner’s son, would be considered free at the time. “If Of Mice and Men suggests our concepts of freedom to be more inclusive of social status, it remains rooted nevertheless in personal responsibility (McClinton-Temple).” Along with many other things in the novel, the characters rank in society plays a huge role in that character’s freedoms. Someone like Crooks is caged in by a society of wealthy, rich white men, who will take advantage of every possible situation to make money while putting lives at risk. A theme that is much emphasized towards the end of the novel is idealism versus reality. This theme ties into the whole idea of George and Lennie wanting to own their own farm. “George and Lennie dream of owning a farm, but by the end of the novel the dream has failed (Telgen).” George realizes that the dream will never be able to work because he sees how Lennie is as a person. George knows that due to Lennie’s childish actions, mental disability, and baby like attention that needs to be given to him that the dream is way out of sight. When put in Lennie’s perspective, the dream is the driving force behind him working and not giving up every day. Whenever the thought of the dream is brought up or Lennie thinks about it on his own, it puts him into his happy place. Lennie would ask George so many times to tell him the story of the dream until George finally cracked and gave in. The thought of the dream, when looked at from a mature perspective and a child-like perspective, are worlds apart. One of the most judgmental and wide themes in Of Mice and Men would be class conflict. Throughout the novel, the reader can easily see that life is easier or harder based on your rank in society. Whether the characters want to be in the social class that they are in or not, their job, personality, and physicality traits are holding them back. “The tensions between the characters are inherent in the nature of American capitalism and its class system (Telgen).” The government in the novel and even in today’s society may look at every man as equal but in reality, equality does not exist. “Curly is always looking for a fight due to his position in society. This is more credited to his power of being able to fire any worker (Telgen).” Curly does most of the things he does on the ranch for self-amusement. He picks fights for his own enjoyment until Lennie put him in his place by breaking his hand with shear strength. Still today, depending on your position in society, the easier life will be for you. One of the most important themes and quite frankly the hardest to come by in the novel are loyalty and friendship. Because of people constantly moving from ranch to ranch, quality friendships are hard to come by in the novel. Luckily, George and Lennie have each other to watch out for. “George remains his brother’s keeper, accepting complete responsibility of Lennie (Telgen).” From the start of the novel to the end, George is always there for Lennie. He does one of the hardest things ever but probably best for both of them by putting Lennie out of his misery. George had to take the situation into his own hands and make things right which he did. He remained loyal to Lennie until Lennie did not remain loyal to him, which he saw coming eventually. “There are other friendships in the novel, Slim and Carlson, Candy and Crooks, but these are ordinary friendships (Telgen).” What George and Lennie have is more of a brotherhood than a friendship. This brotherhood saves each of them in many situations when they would not have to worry about who had their back, when they knew that all the time they had each other’s. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the themes compel the story to the point that the reader wishes the novel did not end. The characters’ individuality, qualities, and differences make reading this a spectacle to which one can see why Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men, due to the intensity and riveting story line, gives the reader a new perspective for the themes in the novel, such as friendship, the chase of the American Dream, and how one’s social rank played a role in the life during this time period. John Steinbeck captivates readers of all ages with this novel and how he allows the reader to create a variety of feelings towards certain characters and situations.