Shortly before it was published, Of Mice and Men was chosen by the 'Book-of-the-Month' Club, guaranteeing it a large audience and big sales. Steinbeck found the news "gratifying but also frightening". The book was a big success; it was published in early February 1937 and by mid February had sold 117,000 copies. "That's a hell of a lot of books, " said Steinbeck.

As it leapt into the bestseller lists, it made Steinbeck suddenly a famous author. He was now a public person, and there were parties in his honor (in New York). But his shyness and need for privacy made this difficult for him. When he finally got away for a well-earned holiday in Europe, Steinbeck wrote in a letter: "I just need to get away from being John Steinbeck

In the fifth conflict Lennie deals with underestimating his strength again, and it becomes another man vs. man. Curley's "sweet-talkin'" wife comes into the barn and begins to converse with Lennie about her loneliness, and how she did not and never will love her husband. After a while she becomes comfortable with Lennie and they began talking about soft things. She then invites him to stroke her long soft mane. He begins to hold onto it very tightly, she begins to scream, he tells her to stop and she did not so he starts to shake her, and he then shakes her too hard, consequently he unintentionally snaps her delicate spine. When Lennie realized what he had done, he left. He left and went to hide in the brush by the sandy banks of the Salinas River, just like George told him to.

Steinbeck had four major characters, George Milton (protagonist), Lennie Small (also Protagonist), Slim, and Curley (the antagonist).

This novel is a good read, it is enjoyable, well written, and a timeless classic. It is as relevant today as it probably was in the late 1930's. As two young men on a highway hitching a ride to California, making new friendships, and making their own stronger.

Steinbeck wrote the novel from a slice of life style. All of the farmhands speak plain English, and sound uneducated. The boss, Curley, and his wife seem to speak as if they feel that they are better than every one else, yet their speech also sounds somewhat uneducated.

George Milton is small, quick, dark of face and eyes, short tempered and bossy, restless, and likes to complain. He is also Lennie's friend, but he is very dominating of Lennie, by telling him what to do, where to go, and when to do it. However, he is passionate about protecting him from the harm of others and he keeps dreaming of the little place they are going to have someday all their own. Both he and Lennie are the protagonists of Steinbeck's novel.

Throughout the novel you never know what anybody is thinking. It is told from a narrator outside of the story. This makes this novel third person limited. Steinbeck did not need to write it from third person omniscient because that would present too much information and too many different ideas.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1547
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)