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Essays
on Of Mice and Men:
Essays on The Grapes of Wrath: Essays on East of Eden Essays
on The Pearl
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Of
Mice and Men - Essay 8 The
immoral nature of the human race Of
Mice and Men, was a disturbing tale of friendship, and animosity
and immoral nature of the human race. Along the Salinas River and
underneath the Gablian Mountains of California during the Great
Depression of the 1930’s this novel takes place. Steinbeck
is truly a great writer, and Of Mice and Men is no exception, but
while reading this book I was greatly troubled by its ending. I
can see why it is an excellent novel, but at the same time it left
me with a kind of unpleasant feeling in the back of my mind. I can’t
see how an author could write a book with such a short and sudden
ending. The last images he leaves the reader with is George and
Slim walking off as Curly says " Now what in the hell is eating
them?" thus the book ends on a harsh, cruel note, topped off by
the lack of understanding and compassion of an extraordinarily immoral
and cruel man. Whatever Steinbeck’s intent for writing such a jarring
ending, he leaves the reader with a powerful sense of the world’s
immorality. In
this book there were several characters, but only a few had significant
roles. I would have to say Lennie is the protagonist of the book
even though George is an extremely critical character as well. Lennie
Small is described as being a monstrous man with the mind of a child,
a shapeless face, big pale eyes, sloping shoulders, and big feet
that dragged a bit when he walked, much like a bear. George has
taken Lennie under his wing and thus Lennie depends solely on George
for everything. Ever since Lennie hasbeen with George, he has told
Lennie stories of a great place, with a cabin all to their selves,
and rabbits for Lennie to care for. This leads me to his next obsession
for feelingand caressing soft things such as fur, velvet, or human
hair. This is eventually his downfall as when he kills Curley’s
wife when he wants to feel her hair. Lennie is not an evil or devious
man. He’s just a little senseless. Lennie’s good will and purity
of intention is never in question during this book, but his memory
operates poorly, and he is able to only remember such details as
particular words and phrases as if only George tells him. Lennie
is a good person it’s just his difficulty to think about his actions
that eventually costs him his life. George
is the other main character in Of Mice and Men. He’s just an ordinary
man, who is obligated to take care of Lennie, and does a fair job
of it. His relationship with Lennie is admittedly a close one, but
it is more fatherly than anything else and certainlyhas no time
for the intellectual give and take that is needed to look after
Lennie. Theauthor defines George’s features as restless, with strong
small hands, thin arms, and abony nose. From reading this you can
tell George has an incredible work ethic as he hasto put up with
Lennie and still continuously find work for both of them. As you
read thisbook you see that George is gradually starting to accept
Lennie, but then that all ends when George is faced with the choice
of letting Lennie be killed by Curley or just doingit himself. Either
way George is faced with a morally impossible task. As you know
he ends up shooting Lennie himself in a tragic ending. Slim is not
so much a main character, but is a critical piece to the book. He
best described as the Prince of the ranch, a skilled workman, and
a great friend to all in the bunkhouse. Curley is infuriated at
the fact that everyone looks up to Slim instead of cowering at the
power of himself. In times of Crisis Slim quietly and gracefully
helps to solve whatever problem has arisen. This is why he was loved
and endeared by all who knew him. Curley
is an arrogant stuck up man with a hatred for big men, such as Lennie.
He could be classified as the villain of the book, as he is constantly
making life miserable for Lennie and George. He is exactly like
his father, who is the boss of the ranch, which makes clear the
family pattern of bullies. Obviously Curley is insecure about himself
since he is constantly looking to boss people around throughout
the course of this novel. Curley’s
wife comes across as overly flirty with the workers of the ranch.
This is in turn what probably gets her killed when she allows Lennie
to feel her hair, which then she inaddvertainly gets her neck broken
when Lennie gets nervous. She is not a main character, but much
like Slim plays a vital role in the plot line. Of
Mice and Men starts out when George and his retarded friend Lennie
get jobs working on a Californian ranch bucking barley. They soon
fit in, and everyone pretty much accepts Lennie, except for the
boss’s son Curley who hates him because of his disability and size.
Other than that everything is fine until one day when Lennie is
in the barn playing with the puppies Curley’s wife comes in and
starts flirting with him. As the conversation between the two progresses,
she allows Lennie to touch her long, soft hair. As
I said Lennie loves soft things, and when she tells Lennie to stop
he refuses, and Curley’s wife starts to scream. This is when Lennie
gets nervous and tries to make her be quiet. Not realizing his own
strength he inadvertently breaks her neck, killing her instantly.
Once he realizes what he’s done he runs to the secret spot by the
river where George told him to go if he ever got into trouble. An
old ranch hand by the name of Candy finds the body and tells George.
When Curley finds the body of his wife he seems to be more set on
killing Lennie than feeling any kind of remorse or sadness. George
knows where his friend is at and runs to find him knowing what must
be done. Once he reaches the stream Lennie comes out of some bushes
to great George. He seems to have no recollection of what he had
just done. He asks George to tell him one more time about their
dream farm, and the rabbits. George begins to tell it, and at the
same time tells Lennie to turn around so he can invision it a little
better. This is when George pulls out his gun and shoots Lennie
in the back of the head, killing him. As the book ends Slimwalks
up knowing what just happened, and it ends as the two of them walk
down the road together while Curley says " Now what in the hell
is eating them?"
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