March
2009
“Of Mice and Men” Analysis0
“Of Mice and Men” is a book about how life really was during the great depression. I think that the book was really good because the story line was not something that you would hear about very often. It was a good book however I really do not like the way it ended. It ended with George going to get a drink with Slim. You do not even find out what the reaction of the police would be. It does not tell you if George has to go to jail or not. It only ends with a line from Carlson, which is “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys.” I think Steinbeck could have ended with having a bit of a reaction from the deaths of Curley’s wife and Lennie. Steinbeck was very descriptive throughout the book, however he failed to be desciptive right when I thought it mattered.
The way John Steinbeck wrote was extremely descriptive. He gave description after description. He wrote about the setting and the people. “…willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding: and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool.” It was so detailed; you could almost imagine it in your head. Because of this, the story was improved and easier to believe it could have happened.
The issues that were brought out in the book were woman’s rights and racism. This book really made you think about the issues and I think people even started to want woman’s right more after the book was written, because women were given the right to vote in 1916, which was after the book was published. I think another way they put in the problem with woman’s rights was with Curley’s wife. Just before she is killed she talks about how she could have been something, she could have done something but then she married to Curley. I think in that time, once a woman has gotten married, she almost is not as important as their husband. The husband gets to have so many other rights that the woman does not as well as the fact that the women was forced to take the man’s name. I think the reason they did not have a name for Curley’s wife is because it again shows that woman were not as important as the husband was. She was just known as Curley’s wife because the wife is not known as an individual, but as the husband’s woman.
In my opinion, racism was the issue that was conveyed more than women’s rights. In the book, Crooks was discriminated by everybody except Lennie. I think the only reason Lennie did not discriminate Crooks is because he was not aware of racism. Even George, who was portrayed as someone who was generally fair, discriminated Crooks. I felt that the reason Crooks acted so strange with Lennie, was because he didn’t have to be very carful with what he said, because Lennie would not have understood.
What I think is the main theme to “Of Mice and Men”, is friendship. The friendship between Lennie and most of the characters is what brought the story together. More than just friendship, I think the theme is more about relationships. The relationships between each of the characters to the other are so different with each person. Between George and Lennie, I think their relationship is a little bit like father and son but also like brothers. George is quite obviously the older brother figure or father by taking care of Lennie, whenever he gets in trouble or wants something.
