Hope dominates despair in the lives of the characters in Of Mice and Men. Discuss.
Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck’s classic story about life during the Great Depression, is infused with realism. Steinbeck does not sugarcoat the fact that despair is an inevitable part of life for people and animals in these times. Each character in the text faces adversity due to the harsh climate they must exist within. The protagonists, George and Lennie, are representative of the overarching premise of the text, which is, that whilst having hope helps people survive in an unforgiving world, it does not save them from miserable fates determined by factors beyond their control. Steinbeck constructs the other characters in the narrative to also support this philosophy. The storylines for Candy and his dog, Crooks and Curley’s wife stand as prime examples of how people can maintain faith in their dreams for a better life but, in a society where inequality, discrimination, poverty and suffering are rampant, ultimately find that despair dominates their existence and/or demise.
As a whole Of Mice and Men works as a social comment on the unjust nature of life and how humanity skews towards the cruelty necessary for survival before considering sacrifice and kindness as a way to cope with hardship. Animal imagery is employed by Steinbeck to make this perspective clear to the reader. Lennie is described at various instances in the text as being like a bear, horse, bull and dog. He ‘dabble[s] his big paw’, is ‘strong as a bull’ and ‘whimper[s]’ after he crushes Curley’s hand. The innocent, loving and loyal but naïve nature of animals and children is an integral facet of Lennie’s being. In this his understanding of the world is simplistic and his belief in George and their dream that they can ‘live offa the fatta the lan’’ is a very real possibility for him. Despite this hope and having George to look after him, the truth for Lennie is that he is vulnerable in a society that does not recognise or know how to cater to his disability. George tells Slim, ‘Course he ain’t mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so God damn dumb’. A gentle giant, but a simpleton, ‘Lennie Small’ does not have the mental capacity to know his own strength and ‘trouble’ is a constant subject in his life. Steinbeck establishes from the instance he tells the reader Lennie and George are on the run from ‘Weed’ that an insidious manifestation of hopelessness will cheat Lennie out of the life he deserves. Once the omniscient narrator imparts without sentiment that Curley’s wife is dead ; ‘And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck’, Lennie’s fate is sealed. There is no trial, no jury for someone like Lennie, a member of California’s dispossessed roving farmworkers, just a lynch mob confident in their righteousness and eager to dispose of a human they judge to be a senseless beast. In a definitive act of courageous friendship, George ‘takes care’ of Lennie by shooting him himself and thus, destroys his own aspirations of their fantasy farm, a place of companionship and comfort, coming true.
The circular plot structure Steinbeck uses to cycle the narrative from the anxious yet optimistic arrival of George and Lennie at the banks of the Salinas River just outside of Soledad, to the tragic denouement of Lennie’s death in paralleled circumstances, is a key feature of many of the characters’ stories. Candy and his dog’s journey are presented in such a scenario which works to prompt foreshadowing of coming events to the reader. Just as in Lennie’s case, clues in the text preempt the sad ending to Candy and his dog’s relationship. Carlson insults Candy’s dog, ….
Of Mice and Men - Essay Approaches and Advice 