500+ Words Essay on Of Mice and Men
The sad tale of two men – Lennie Small and George Milton – whose way of life has been affected by the Great Depression years, says one of John Steinbeck’s most exceptional American scholars, “Of Mice and Men.”
Steinbeck looks at the manipulative essence of human experience, the tragic delusion of the American dream, isolation and corruptive forces of friendship in the novel. The author reveals how the lives of immigrant farmers in California are memorable and complicated.
In California, Georges and Lennie dream of owning their farm. They were simply attracted by the long growing season promise, more harvest prospects, the wider variety of crops and the mild climate. Nonetheless, Steinbeck reveals that very few consider California to be a land of prosperity or dreams, amid these claims.
Characters
There are two main characters
George Milton: A guy of fast-witting, a guardian and best friend of Lennie. His relationship with Lennie leads to preserving his vision of a better life. Steinbeck defines him in the novel as ‘tiny and fast’ with tiny hands-on slender arms. He has a dark face and ‘stubborn’ eyes and ‘strong, powerful features’ including a ‘short, bony leg.’
Lennie Small: A giant, but physically tough, mentally impaired man, travelling with George and being his steady companion. His passion for gentle stuff conspires against him, primarily because he has little concept of his strength and ultimately becomes his demolition. Steinbeck described his presence as George’s “opposition,” writing that he is a “poor man, without a face, with big, pale eyes” and “wide, sloppy shoulders,” and that Lennie walks slowly, pulling his legs a little, “the way that a bear drags his paws.”
Plot
Throughout the Great Depression, two migrant farmworkers in California — George Milton a smart but uneducated man, and Lennie Small, a bulky, heavy man who was mentally impaired, are on the way to another part of California in Soledad. They expect to fulfil one day the vision of establishing themselves in their own country. Lennie’s part of the plan, though unintentionally, is to tend to pet rabbits on the farm because he likes fluffy animals. This dream is one of the favourite stories of Lennie, and George often shares them.
After they have been employed on a farm, the two meet Curley, The Boss’s violent small boy, with a Napoléon ego who does not like bigger people and starts to assault Lennie. A concern is also Curley’s flirtatious and suggestive friend, to whom Lennie is instinctively drawn. The pair even encounters Candy, a one-handed elderly ranch handyman with a loyal dog, and Slim, a smart and friendly skinner whose dog has had a litter of puppies. Slim also gives Lennie and Candy a puppy.
Facing difficulties, Candy offers $350 to pitch up with George and Lennie to purchase an estate at the end of the month in return for permission to stay with them and their wishes come true. The three are delighted, but their joy is interrupted when Curley threatens Lennie, who protects himself efficiently by smashing the fist of Curley as George insists.
George nonetheless appears more comfortable, as he also leaves Lennie on the ranch while moving into town with his other ranch workers. Lennie goes through the stall and converses with the angry but trained buck of Crooks, who, due to being black, is segregated from the other staff.
Candy meets them, and they speak to Crooks about their dreams for the farm who cannot stop asking them if he should hoe a garden park on the farm as it is impossible to do so. Curley’s wife makes another look and flirts with the guys, Lennie in particular. However, her dark face emerges as it tries to kill them and to lynch Crooks.
Lennie kills his puppy by accident the next day. Curley’s wife comes into the barn and tries to tell Lennie that she is lonely and how her dreams of a movie star are broken, and her personality is revealed. She offers to let him stroke her hair, after finding out about the habit of Lennie, but is in panic and screaming as she feels his strength.
Lennie gets frightened and breaks her neck and runs away unintentionally. George realizes that their dream is over when the other ranch hands find the dead body. George hurries to find Lennie, hoping to be at the meeting place they had chosen if they got into any trouble.
The Ending
Before they come to this ranch, George encounters Lennie in their campsite. Both sit down together, and George tells the cherished dream story, realizing they will never share it. Then he euthanizes Lennie by killing him, as he views it as an action in the best interest of Lennie. Curley, Slim and Carlson arrive a few seconds later. Even Slim knows what had happened and takes George away with comfort. Curley and Carlson look, struggling to grasp the two men’s relaxed mood.
Conclusion
John Steinbeck explicitly reflects the utter breakdown of American Dream in his novel “Of Mice and Men” stressing that idealized relationship and discrepancies in the role in life and the predatory essence of human creation contribute to the fall of American Dream. The world is harsh and inhuman, and characters can barely deal with each other’s desires and needs. The heroes are charmed by the land of possibilities, but they do not consider reality: not something near and practical in the universe can be achieved.