What Is The Theme Of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'?

Great Essays
Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. It is set in the Salinas Valley in California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, have a work contract at a local ranch so that they one day might purchase property of their own; however, due to Lennie’s childlike mental state the goal seems far-fetched. In his poem, ‘To a Mouse’, which is also the source of the novella’s title, Robert Burns wrote, “The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go often askew,” which can be compared to George’s goals of achieving the elusive American Dream together with Lennie, but as the poem also suggests this will go askew, and this is Lennie’s fault. Therefore, why does George not get …show more content…
On the simple level, according to Dictionary.com, the name George derived from the Greek word, ‘Geōrgios’, meaning “farmer”, which is exactly what he is and what he does for a living. However, it may also have a link with the theme of fate in the novella. As mentioned above in Robert Burn’s poem ‘To a Mouse’ a little mouse builds a house, but a farmer ruins it, then the poem proceeds by telling the mouse “The best laid plans of mice and men / Go often askew”. In other words, you can try to make things happen, but it will not work out the way you thought it would, because that is your destiny. Therefore, for Steinbeck to give George his name could be a subtle hint that his fate is that of a farmer. He did not choose that life, it chose him. Meanwhile, his last name, Milton, may be a reference to the English writer John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost. This could be random; however, as Susan Shillinglaw wrote in the introduction in Of Mice and Men (p. ix), the novella is the middle of three, where the two others are: The Battle Hymn of the Republic and Paradise Lost. The name of John Steinbeck’s Paradise Lost was presumably borrowed from John Milton’s epic poem with the same name, which could be a connection. John Milton’s Paradise Lost is a poem about Adam and Eve in the Bible and the ‘fall of man’, which is where they elect to go against God’s scheme and eat from the …show more content…
George notices how this loneliness affects the other workers and tells Slim that “(…) [he] seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’t have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin’ to fight all the time.” (OMM, 41). This in turn makes his relationship with Lennie important as this is a destiny he tries to avoid; however, the value of the friendship is tested throughout the book as Lennie keeps getting himself and George into trouble. Lennie is responsible for putting them in difficult situations and it is George’s job to clean up the mess, which sometimes makes him furious, but when Lennie offers to “(…) go off in the hills an’ find a cave.” (OMM, 14) George answers “No – look! I was jus’ foolin’, Lennie. ‘Cause I want you to stay with me.” (OMM, 14). One could compare this relationship to a father & son, an owner & his pet, a teacher & student, or Cain & Abel from Gen. 4 in the Old Testament. The comparison to Cain and Abel is apparent as Cain, who is a farmer, kills Abel, who tends the animals, and although their motivations could be different, their punishment is the same. Just like Cain is punished to wander the earth alone, so too is George as he killed his one and only

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