Of Mice and Men Book Review
Of Mice and Men is the story of George, the main protagonist, who is small in stature along with his friend Lennie Small whom George looks after as a favor to Lennie's aunt. Lennie, a man very large in stature and simple minded, likes to pet soft things. This is why they are searching for work at the start of the story. George and Lennie are farmhands by trade who constantly have to look for work throughout parts of California because Lennie, being mentally handicapped, always gets them into trouble. George and Lennie find work at a nearby farm harvesting grain, but before going George tells Lennie that if he gets into trouble again to meet him in a certain designated spot to hide away from the farm. George and Lennie stick together because of the human need for friendship in order to avoid loneliness. The other prevalent theme in the novel is the American dream, and how this dream goes wrong for George and Lennie, which represents the reality for most of America during the Great Depression. George and Lennie's friendship is a peculiar one because farmhands tend to wander from farm to farm by themselves. There tends to be a high level of loneliness that exists in this nomadic life style. Steinbach demonstrates the import
This novel illustrates how the American dream, just like George and Lennie's, came to a crashing end for many Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Steinback brings to the forefront the poor working conditions that existed in California during the 1930s which corresponds preciously with our history books. Historian Cletus E. Daniel, in Bitter Harvest: A History of California Farmworkers, 1870-1941, explains historically: The American dream or the yeomen farmer's dream is to have a plot of land to call their own. George and Lennie dream and talk often about how one day they will have a little piece of land together and that they will be able to "live off the fatta the lan'." Lennie's dream within their dream is to be able to raise rabbits that he can pet whenever he wants under the provision that he is good. This dream of how their future will be, pushes them to keep trying to make their dream of becoming self-employed farm owners a reality. This dream; however, takes a bad turn because of a girl who is married to Curley, the farm owner's son. The great tragedy of the story is that George, despite inner turmoil, is forced to kill his friend Lennie, his same friend that set him apart from the other workers. With the killing of Lennie also kills their dream to one day own land together. At the end George laments on his lost dream saying, "I think I knowed from the very first. I think I kn
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 960
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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