‘Of mice and men’ is a well acclaimed by novel by noted American novelist, John Steinbeck. The author is recipient of several reputed awards including Pulitzer and Nobel awards. The novel was published in the year 1937 and narrates tragic story of two workers who in search of employment visited place to place during the great depression of America. The portrayal of common people, their problems, and their life is done in an effective manner. This paper intends to discuss the novel, ‘of mice and men’ along with discussing several other related aspects.
Curley, who is son of the boss, has been portrayed as evil in the novel. He is a sadistic person who gets pleasure in harming and causing pain to other people. He is very short tempered and seems suffering from some kind of inferiority complex. Curley deliberately indulges in fight with others and always boasts about his masculinity. He is very possessive about his wife and can not tolerate anyone talking to her. Curley lacks sexual powers and to show his power, he keeps fighting with others. Curley is a character that requires sympathy because he suffers from inferiority complex. Though Curley has been portrayed as very bad character in this novel but actually his main problem lies in the fact that he fails to understand how to deal with his problems. He is short height man who is suffering from inferiority complex and just to show his masculinity, keeps boasting and fighting with others. Curley is a bad man but these all are the problems that are responsible for making him bad. Curley was died in a conflict with Lennie and his episode came to an end.
Steinbeck in his novel focuses on a group of unimportant people and throughout his novel, he talks about these common people. Author seems hopeless for them and it was due to the contemporary economic slowdown that United States of America faced for a long time. Author portrays about their life and through this portrays the life of common people in an effective way. The background and time of this novel is one of the reasons why author has focused on the common people and talks about them throughout the novel. He even does not want to bother to improve their situation at any point of time in his novel. Considering the story, background and proximity with the story of this novel people find it interesting. Author in his story never attempts to improve the situation of common people to make it more realizing in the given scenario. The novel was written in the time of economic slowdown and any abrupt changes in the book could have become indigestible for the readers. Author has knitted the story around realistic characters and portayed several common aspects of human life.
George and Lennie, two main characters of Steinbeck’s novel are wandering from one place to another in the search of Holy Grail, a paradise of their own imagination. They thought to live at a place with basic facilities of life without any disturbances. They dreamt and set their own criterions for life and have decided to live a peaceful life though life has decided something different from what they thought. The uncaring and practical world, laws of societies changed their ways and decided their fate in a new way. Lennie and George could not fight with their fate, Lennie died and George had to kill his dearest friend. The Holy Grail that they searched throughout their life was still unattainable for them. Author seems to be a bit negative here and he portrayed the fate of these two friends in this way. They struggled for their whole life and at the end of their life they died in a very wacky manner. The Holy Grail, that they dreamt, remained unattainable for them.
After having observed the abovementioned analysis of the subject, it is good to say that the novel succeeds in entertaining the readers. It also conveys several massages to the readers and author beautifully portrays the life of common people. The portrayal of Common people in a specific background makes a good environment. The author has presented the novel in the time period of great economic depression that haunted the United States of America. The novel focuses on practical aspects of common people’s life and this seems the main reason why the author has knitted this story around common man their life and never let them progress. Author seems very practical because after seeing the great depression of that time author did not assume that the economy can be strengthened and people can be rich in such a short span of time. The characters are well chosen a well portrayed along with several other aspects of life that makes the story a complete entertainer.
Works Cited
Clark, Linda. Of Mice and Men: Image, Belief and Regulation in Late Medieval England. New York: Boydell Press, 2005.
J. Steinbeck & M. Goodman. Of Mice and Men. New York: Barron's Educational Series, 1984.
J. Steinbeck, P. Page & H. Clyde. Of Mice and Men. London: Hodder Arnold, 2007.
Lena T. Shamblin & Joseph E. Scalia. Of Mice and Men. New Jersey, USA: Research & Education Assoc, 2001.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. City of Westminster, London: Penguin Books Limited, 2000.
