Of Mice and Men is the story of two friends, Lennie and George, who travel from one farm to the next in search of casual work. However, the jobs they take on don’t last very long because Lennie always gets them, albeit unwittingly, into trouble. Lennie, like Benjy in The Sound and the Fury, is a victim of his own
innocence in a
world that exploits innocence for its own means. Steinbeck’s portrayal of Lennie is one of tenderness and empathy. Indeed, the childlike character of Lennie who doesn’t understand the cruelty of the society he must survive in captures the
reader’s attention from the very first page. The relationship between Lennie and his companion George is complex and the reader is initially struck by the harsh manner in which George often speaks to Lennie. However, it is the strength of their friendship that binds the two men together and makes them mutually
dependent. Lennie’s dependency is that of a child to its guardian, but George is equally as dependent on Lennie as he is the one person that can be trusted implicitly. However, it is the outside world and the less well-meaning characters that occupy it that seek to destroy the protective shield the men have created for themselves. Men with
power and the
desire to fight, women with power and the desire to manipulate; this combination proves devastating as the
novel reaches its tragic climax. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck seeks to portray the effects of extreme poverty and the situations that desperate men found themselves in 1930s rural America. Of Mice and Men is a testimony to the beauty of friendship that has the ability to withstand the cruelties that humanity is capable of. However, the novel’s horrific culmination reminds the reader that the struggle for survival is often a losing battle as the innocence that Lennie symbolises is destroyed.
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