Of Mice and Men short summary & analysis

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men Analysis

John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men book based on the words of Burns; "Men and mice can never make their dreams come true." The book contains intense feelings of sensuality, poverty, innocence, purity and friendship. At the same time, he emphasizes the racism in the California of 1930's. In this book, similar to other John Steinbeck’s books, he benefited from his own experiences. He explains little people with their little dreams and the difficulties they had on the road to reach those dreams, and how they never be able to live the life they want. As a summary of Of Mice and Men, we can say it is just like; "One lives as long as he imagines."

The author's descriptions are as simple and impressive as ever. It is a beautiful work that all people of all ages can read easily and can make sense out of it. For some people it tells about a great friendship, and for some it tells about a man who tries get rid of a burden on him to live his own life. In this book, I saw despair, obligation that comes from desperation and how a person can love another person despite everything. It's up to you to read and interpret, but I would say it's a worthy classic that needs to be read.

Of Mice and Men Short Summary

Of Mice and Men tells the story of two close friends, George and Lennie. George is small but simple, on the other hand, Lennie, unlike him, is big but weak-minded. George and Lennie live their life by working at farms, but they always get in trouble because of what Lennie does, and they can't keep up at any job. Lennie's biggest weakness is his desire to caress anything that is soft and fluffy, and this weakness puts them in a difficult position every time. The last time they separated, or rather escaped from their job was because of this weakness.

One day, Lennie wants to touch a girl's dress in the farm they worked earlier but makes the girl scared and scream and as the girl screams he gets into a panic and with panic, he holds the girl and doesn't let go. The guys around him hear the girl's screams and go after George and Lennie. When they are on the run, they have to spend whole night in a water channel, therefore, they become unemployed again. After that, they get the news that there is work on a farm in California and they take the road. The driver of the bus they got in deceives them by leaving them halfway because he was too lazy to go all the road, and therefore, they must walk for the rest of the road. George realizes that Lennie is hiding a dead mouse in his hand and finds out that he accidentally killed it while he wanted to pet it and by picking it up from his hand, he throws it behind the bushes. He warns Lennie not to talk on the farm they go to, because if he talks, the boss would understand he's weak-minded and he wouldn't want to hire him. However, Lennie is a person with muscle strength although he is weak-minded.

On the day of their start to work on the farm, the boss's son, Curley, become fixated on Lennie. Curley is a short frail man, so he doesn't like big tall men. George warns Lennie not to fight with Curley many times as they will have to get away if they get in trouble and therefore they won't be able to earn the money they need for their dreams. Lennie and George's biggest dream is to have a harm of their own. They want to buy a small land, put animals in it, to cultivate their own land and not to account for any boss. Although they do not like the boss of the farm they have just started working and his son, they have to endure. Candy is the first one in the farm to act in a warm way against George and Lennie. Candy is an old man who lost one of his hand and works as a cleaner with his old dog in the farm. No one wants his dog in the farm because it is old and useless and one day, they kill it. Candy says one day they will also call him useless and kill him too, so in return for himself to give them his accumulated money, he wants to be one of their partners and this way, their dream becomes for three people.

There's a woman on the farm chasing men, Curley's wife. Since he did not marry Curley out of love, she wants to talk with men, to be close with them and to be friend with the men in the farm. Lennie watches her with admiration every time she sees that woman and George warns him to stay away from Curley's wife every time. One day, Lennie goes to see the puppies at the barn while everyone is playing and having fun in front of the door. He kills one of the puppies while petting it just like he did to the mouse and while he was trying to hide it Curley's wife comes. When they start chatting, Lennie tells her about his weakness, and the woman lets her caress her hair. Lennie loses himself while caressing her hair and kills the woman who is trying to save herself by mistake, breaking her neck. He runs away from the farm unable to know what to do with fear. When Curley and the other farm workers see that the woman is dead, they find out that the one who did it is Lennie and they go out to search for him together with George. George finds Lennie before the others, sits down next to him and begins to tell his dreams that he has been telling him all the time. When Lennie is the happiest listening him telling his dreams, George does what he has to do and frees his friend Lennie from the things he's been through…

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