Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Title: Of Mice and Men

Author: John Steinbeck

Rating: ★★★★

Number of Pages: 107

Edition: Paperback

Extra Info: Published in 1937; made into a movie; had to read for English class.

Contains: Drama, Classic, Relationships.

 

 

Analysis of Book (1-10 on each aspect):

Characters: 10

Plot: 7

Writing: 7

Wow Factor: 8

Summary: George and Lennie are two guys who travel together. They are good friends but are very different. Lennie is forgetful, having to repeat things three times to remember them. He likes to pet things: mice, puppies, and other soft surfaces. He’s a little slow mentally but is a great worked cultivating land in ranches. Lennie is also always finding way into trouble, of course unintentionally and without meaning much harm. George is always taking care of Lennie and getting him out of trouble. Together they get to a new ranch in Soledad after finding trouble in Weed. In this new ranch they meet the workers, the boss’s son Curley, and his flirtatious wife. Ultimately what George and Lennie want is their own “promised land”, a place to call their own and to do what they want on it. This becomes a hard feat due to Lennie’s getting into trouble a lot and forgetting what George taught him.

My Review (no spoilers): Of Mice and Men is a tale which begins low-paced and a little on the boring side until things start getting into place. Lennie and George are magnificent characters, John Steinbeck depicts very well what I think of a migrant workers around the 1930s. Lennie is my favorite character due to the fact that he is always trying his best not to get into any trouble. However, he is illiterate and this is a hard thing to do. He always turns to George to help him and George is always there. The ending is a string of all the events that went throughout the book and it is a very phenomenal ending at that. This is a book I won’t forget because of the impact it has at the near-end and end. This book will cause happiness, sadness, a little laughter at Lennie’s naiveness, closure, and a feeling of all of these at the same time. Please go out to read this book… it is short, well-told, and a definite thumbs-up.

My Thoughts (contains spoilers): I can’t believe this book! It was really more than I expected to say the least. Why did Lennie have to accidently kill Curley’s wife? Why, oh, why, oh why? Why couldn’t she stop being flirtatious around him. I understand that she is lonely because Curley never pays attention to her but still. I feel very sad for Lennie, I wished he wouldn’t have killed Curley’s wife. I also wish he was just a little smarter so he could see right from wrong more clearly. I understand why George in the end killed Lennie. It’s like what Candy said, “I did bad, I let a stranger kill my dog, it’s my dog, I should’ve put him down” when he let Carlson kill his dog. George felt as though these strangers, these savages of men (Carlson and Curley for the most part) shouldn’t kill Lennie. George should just because he was closer to Lennie. If he hadn’t killed Lennie they would have stayed getting into trouble with every ranch they got to (like why they were kicked out of Weed and had to go to Soledad). I am sad about the ending although I did see the product of it would be beneficial in the future for both poor old Lennie and George who just wanted his friend to stop suffering. Like I said, admiring read.

 

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