American Dream
One of the major themes of Of Mice and Men is the impossibility of the American Dream. America is known for its endless possibilities and fantastic opportunities it offers, but only few realize the absurdity of the American Dream and the people who believe in it. Unfortunately, the majority of the characters in this story are faithful.
The Farm
The main dream in Of Mice and Men is "the farm." Originally the farm started out as Lennie and George's dream solely, the farm grew to encompass both Candy and Crooks. In the beginning, however, Lennie and George thought of this farm as a way to perfect their lives. George wanted to settle down, work when he please, get away from people like Curly, who causes trouble for Lennie, and even go to baseball games if he so desires; all Lennie dreams of is the rabbits and being with his best friend. And so, they travel around trying to save up to buy a piece of land, but as stated int he story, they only have about fifty dollars saved up, which is no where near what they need for the down payment. Despite their troubles with money they keep hope, Lennie more so with the story of the rabbits. Then, they meet Candy and figure out that he has money saved up and all his dream is to have a secure place for the rest of his life and companionship, so, Lennie and George take him in, in order to get closer to their dream. Later, with their dream just out of arm's reach, Lennie and Candy talk to Crooks, who just wants to be like all the other guys no matter what color his skin is, and he agrees to come with a hoe the land for them. With all their money pooled and enough people to run a small farm, all their dreams seem to be coming true. Nevertheless, Steinbeck is set on proving the point of the impossible American dream, and when Lennie dies, so does the dream.
Other Characters
Curly and his wife are another two main characters in the book. Curly from the beginning is a slimy, degenerate, over-all horrible man and his wife is a supposedly promiscuous, cheap, tramp-like woman. Curly while he does not change throughout the book does show to have some pretty strong dreams. He dreams much like Crooks to be like all the other guys, but more over he wishes to be respected; while Curly maybe the boss's son, the ranch hands do not respect him and do not even want to be around him most of the time, after all, Curly wears a glove for his wife. That alone is the reason his dream will never be achieved. Curly's wife on the other hand does change somewhat throughout the book , or at least more is known about her past to see why she acts the way she does. We find out right before her death that when she was younger she was deceived by an older man into thinking she could be an actress, and this appealed to her because it would give her the opportunity to leave her poor, mundane life which is all she ever dreamed of. When the man never contacted her, Curly came along promising her nearly the same as the man before him, and unfortunately, she fell for it. Later, when Curly abandoned his promise to make her dream come dream, she totally gave up. She was the worst character in repects to the fact that she did not fight for her dream, but just waited for people to give it to her. Unlike others who failed through bad luck or disastrous circumstances, Curly's wife deserved for her dream to fail.
Slim is the unofficial leader of the ranch. He is not the boss or the boss's son, but instead just a lowly mule herder, but he treats people with the respect they deserve and never put himself on a higher pedestal and for this he gets the utmost respect. He seems to know how the world works and he accepts it, this however, does not mean he has an easy but a comfortable life. This does not mean that Slim has no dreams, but instead that his world is not driven by them. This also contributes to to his role as leader for he does not make decisions based on self gain. Now, the question is what is his dream. The answer is not clearly stated in the book and so it can only be inferred that his dream is to be happy. As said before his is only content with his life and no one is pleased with being simply content. Since Slim never offically states his dreams, in accordance to the silent rule of the book, he could have a chance of reaching it. However, the American dream usually has to do with happiness from financial gain, and Slim could not care less about the money.
Last, is Carlson, the stubborn,big-stomached, mean mechanic. He is the man who convinced Candy to put down his down his dog Lulu purely because he could not stand the smell. So, the reader could assume that a man like Carlson is not capable of having dreams, which is actually does. Yet, Carlson's dreams are a tad unusual, all he wants is to be left alone. Now it is clear to see why his dream will not come true. He works and live at a ranch with ten other men, so, his chance of alone time is rather slim. Maybe one day he can buy his own farm like George and Lennie and live by himself.
The Farm
The main dream in Of Mice and Men is "the farm." Originally the farm started out as Lennie and George's dream solely, the farm grew to encompass both Candy and Crooks. In the beginning, however, Lennie and George thought of this farm as a way to perfect their lives. George wanted to settle down, work when he please, get away from people like Curly, who causes trouble for Lennie, and even go to baseball games if he so desires; all Lennie dreams of is the rabbits and being with his best friend. And so, they travel around trying to save up to buy a piece of land, but as stated int he story, they only have about fifty dollars saved up, which is no where near what they need for the down payment. Despite their troubles with money they keep hope, Lennie more so with the story of the rabbits. Then, they meet Candy and figure out that he has money saved up and all his dream is to have a secure place for the rest of his life and companionship, so, Lennie and George take him in, in order to get closer to their dream. Later, with their dream just out of arm's reach, Lennie and Candy talk to Crooks, who just wants to be like all the other guys no matter what color his skin is, and he agrees to come with a hoe the land for them. With all their money pooled and enough people to run a small farm, all their dreams seem to be coming true. Nevertheless, Steinbeck is set on proving the point of the impossible American dream, and when Lennie dies, so does the dream.
Other Characters
Curly and his wife are another two main characters in the book. Curly from the beginning is a slimy, degenerate, over-all horrible man and his wife is a supposedly promiscuous, cheap, tramp-like woman. Curly while he does not change throughout the book does show to have some pretty strong dreams. He dreams much like Crooks to be like all the other guys, but more over he wishes to be respected; while Curly maybe the boss's son, the ranch hands do not respect him and do not even want to be around him most of the time, after all, Curly wears a glove for his wife. That alone is the reason his dream will never be achieved. Curly's wife on the other hand does change somewhat throughout the book , or at least more is known about her past to see why she acts the way she does. We find out right before her death that when she was younger she was deceived by an older man into thinking she could be an actress, and this appealed to her because it would give her the opportunity to leave her poor, mundane life which is all she ever dreamed of. When the man never contacted her, Curly came along promising her nearly the same as the man before him, and unfortunately, she fell for it. Later, when Curly abandoned his promise to make her dream come dream, she totally gave up. She was the worst character in repects to the fact that she did not fight for her dream, but just waited for people to give it to her. Unlike others who failed through bad luck or disastrous circumstances, Curly's wife deserved for her dream to fail.
Slim is the unofficial leader of the ranch. He is not the boss or the boss's son, but instead just a lowly mule herder, but he treats people with the respect they deserve and never put himself on a higher pedestal and for this he gets the utmost respect. He seems to know how the world works and he accepts it, this however, does not mean he has an easy but a comfortable life. This does not mean that Slim has no dreams, but instead that his world is not driven by them. This also contributes to to his role as leader for he does not make decisions based on self gain. Now, the question is what is his dream. The answer is not clearly stated in the book and so it can only be inferred that his dream is to be happy. As said before his is only content with his life and no one is pleased with being simply content. Since Slim never offically states his dreams, in accordance to the silent rule of the book, he could have a chance of reaching it. However, the American dream usually has to do with happiness from financial gain, and Slim could not care less about the money.
Last, is Carlson, the stubborn,big-stomached, mean mechanic. He is the man who convinced Candy to put down his down his dog Lulu purely because he could not stand the smell. So, the reader could assume that a man like Carlson is not capable of having dreams, which is actually does. Yet, Carlson's dreams are a tad unusual, all he wants is to be left alone. Now it is clear to see why his dream will not come true. He works and live at a ranch with ten other men, so, his chance of alone time is rather slim. Maybe one day he can buy his own farm like George and Lennie and live by himself.
Prejudice
Prejudice is another common theme throughout the book. After all, all characters are based off of common social sterotypes, and half of which are minorities. This stereotypes include the average guy, the rich guy, the good guy, the mean guy, the black guy, the woman, the disabled/aging guy, and the retard. The book subtly explores and show how each of these stereotypes live their lives and whether or not they are minorities, they all face hardships and more importantly, prejudice.
Majority
George is the stereotypical average guy; he is short, gets along with some but not all people, and he is nothing too spectacular in appearance. It is his average nature that actually leads to the prejudice he faces. Since George is the average guy, no one really expects much from him. He is an adequate worker but Lennie outshines him, he is a nice guy but more of the ranch hands like and respect Slim, he has a usual appearance but Curly's wife does not take interest in him. Steinbeck is showing, even the average, everyday people can in fact be a stereotype and face their own type of prejudice.
Curly is the rich guy. He is the pompous son of the boss who thinks he deserves respect for his title only. He in a sense is the source of his own prejudice. curly is one of the few in the book who faces prejudice because of his personality. He does no work, wears a glove of Vaseline, and picks a fight with a retard, in short, Curly is a jerk. So, the prejudice he faces is not because of his skin color, mental state or physical appearance, but instead because he is a nasty, malicious person.
Again, Carlson is a character at fault for his own prejudice. He is the stereotypical mean, grump man. He walks around the arm with his swollen stomach and near permanent frown, judging and yelling at people to leave him alone, why would people not judge him in return? Although, to any extent Carlson might be causing prejudice towards him intentionally. He might know if people know him as bad person they will leave him alone and that is what he wants.
Lastly is Slim the stereotypical good guy. As said before practically everyone respects him so he faces little prejudice. His main source is from Curly. Curly envies Slim's place on the farm as the leader and so he constantly hounds on Slim on every little thing he does. He assumes Slim is having an affair with his wife, that he does not do his work right, and that Slim is just wrong with everything he does. So, in this way Steinbeck can show that even the best of people face their own problems.
Minorities
First and most prominently of the minorities in the book is the retard, Lennie. Despite being an amazing worker and a generally nice man, he is known by other for his low intelligence and childish demeanor and he is judged for this. From the beginning of the story even when people do not known about his mental retardation Lennie faces prejudice, mostly from Curly. Curly feels that just because Lennie is a "big guy," he should prove his strength. Later in the story when the ranch hands and Curly find out about Lennie, they are not so quick to trust him and treat him as a lesser such as when they leave him with Candy and Crooks when everyone else goes to Susy's brothel and again they leave Lennie out of their card game near the end of the book when Lennie accidentally kills the dog. Even George shows slight prejudice towards Lennie when he constantly calls him stupid and that he would be nothing without George.
Candy is a mix of stereotypes and be interpreted either way. First he is the average disabled guy, with his hand being cut off in a farming accident, but he is also the aging man fearing for his job. Candy is an older gentleman who has spent nearly his entire life working on someone other man's ranch and compiling a meager life savings that would barely last him three months; now, that he lost one of his hands and can barely continue his work, he fears for his job and his future. His fear combined with the lose of his dog makes his life a rather depressing one, but that does not stop others from passing judgement on him. The other men see his stump on the end of his arm and think of him as lower and even on Lennie's level. They even leave him with Lennie when they go to the brothel. This is one of the greatest lessons of prejudice and cruelty. An old, hurt, sad man is thought no higher than a retard and is treated much like a child by men a bit younger and stronger than him. They have no mercy for Candy.
Next is the stereotypical black guy, Crooks. Despite being in a time period after slavery was abolished, Crooks is still forced to sleep in a room full of animal equipment in the barn and is practically forbidden with fraternizing with the other workers. And so, Crooks faces one of the most obvious forms of prejudice. Its as simple as all Crooks wants to do is play cards with the other but they ignore him because of his skin color. The only person who seems to see past that is Lennie and that is only because he cannot comprehend the the ignorant fact that Crooks is lesser.
Much like Curly, his wife is a victim of prejudice because of her personality. However, unlike her husband, to an extent her attitude is somewhat unintentional. Curly's wife is the stereotypical poor woman, and by that it means that she is the poor "tart," as they call her, that latched onto a rich man for his money only. This is proven wrong near the end of the book when she admits that Curly tricked her unto marriage with the promises of bringing her out of her horrid previous life. She also is not a tar because there is nothing in the text that tells of her being unfaithful to Curly, only that she does not love him. So, when the men avoid her because of her "promiscuous" nature, they are wrong in doing so. When she goes around trying to catch attention of the men, it is only because she wants someone to talk to, confide in to appease her loneliness.
Majority
George is the stereotypical average guy; he is short, gets along with some but not all people, and he is nothing too spectacular in appearance. It is his average nature that actually leads to the prejudice he faces. Since George is the average guy, no one really expects much from him. He is an adequate worker but Lennie outshines him, he is a nice guy but more of the ranch hands like and respect Slim, he has a usual appearance but Curly's wife does not take interest in him. Steinbeck is showing, even the average, everyday people can in fact be a stereotype and face their own type of prejudice.
Curly is the rich guy. He is the pompous son of the boss who thinks he deserves respect for his title only. He in a sense is the source of his own prejudice. curly is one of the few in the book who faces prejudice because of his personality. He does no work, wears a glove of Vaseline, and picks a fight with a retard, in short, Curly is a jerk. So, the prejudice he faces is not because of his skin color, mental state or physical appearance, but instead because he is a nasty, malicious person.
Again, Carlson is a character at fault for his own prejudice. He is the stereotypical mean, grump man. He walks around the arm with his swollen stomach and near permanent frown, judging and yelling at people to leave him alone, why would people not judge him in return? Although, to any extent Carlson might be causing prejudice towards him intentionally. He might know if people know him as bad person they will leave him alone and that is what he wants.
Lastly is Slim the stereotypical good guy. As said before practically everyone respects him so he faces little prejudice. His main source is from Curly. Curly envies Slim's place on the farm as the leader and so he constantly hounds on Slim on every little thing he does. He assumes Slim is having an affair with his wife, that he does not do his work right, and that Slim is just wrong with everything he does. So, in this way Steinbeck can show that even the best of people face their own problems.
Minorities
First and most prominently of the minorities in the book is the retard, Lennie. Despite being an amazing worker and a generally nice man, he is known by other for his low intelligence and childish demeanor and he is judged for this. From the beginning of the story even when people do not known about his mental retardation Lennie faces prejudice, mostly from Curly. Curly feels that just because Lennie is a "big guy," he should prove his strength. Later in the story when the ranch hands and Curly find out about Lennie, they are not so quick to trust him and treat him as a lesser such as when they leave him with Candy and Crooks when everyone else goes to Susy's brothel and again they leave Lennie out of their card game near the end of the book when Lennie accidentally kills the dog. Even George shows slight prejudice towards Lennie when he constantly calls him stupid and that he would be nothing without George.
Candy is a mix of stereotypes and be interpreted either way. First he is the average disabled guy, with his hand being cut off in a farming accident, but he is also the aging man fearing for his job. Candy is an older gentleman who has spent nearly his entire life working on someone other man's ranch and compiling a meager life savings that would barely last him three months; now, that he lost one of his hands and can barely continue his work, he fears for his job and his future. His fear combined with the lose of his dog makes his life a rather depressing one, but that does not stop others from passing judgement on him. The other men see his stump on the end of his arm and think of him as lower and even on Lennie's level. They even leave him with Lennie when they go to the brothel. This is one of the greatest lessons of prejudice and cruelty. An old, hurt, sad man is thought no higher than a retard and is treated much like a child by men a bit younger and stronger than him. They have no mercy for Candy.
Next is the stereotypical black guy, Crooks. Despite being in a time period after slavery was abolished, Crooks is still forced to sleep in a room full of animal equipment in the barn and is practically forbidden with fraternizing with the other workers. And so, Crooks faces one of the most obvious forms of prejudice. Its as simple as all Crooks wants to do is play cards with the other but they ignore him because of his skin color. The only person who seems to see past that is Lennie and that is only because he cannot comprehend the the ignorant fact that Crooks is lesser.
Much like Curly, his wife is a victim of prejudice because of her personality. However, unlike her husband, to an extent her attitude is somewhat unintentional. Curly's wife is the stereotypical poor woman, and by that it means that she is the poor "tart," as they call her, that latched onto a rich man for his money only. This is proven wrong near the end of the book when she admits that Curly tricked her unto marriage with the promises of bringing her out of her horrid previous life. She also is not a tar because there is nothing in the text that tells of her being unfaithful to Curly, only that she does not love him. So, when the men avoid her because of her "promiscuous" nature, they are wrong in doing so. When she goes around trying to catch attention of the men, it is only because she wants someone to talk to, confide in to appease her loneliness.
Loneliness
Loneliness is the last theme of Of Mice and Men. It is shown are represented by the men at the ranch playing Solitaire in their spare time, a game that is played alone. Throughout the story Steinbeck shows the overbearing loneliness of society, and how it does not just affect the weak but also he strong equally if not more so. He also explored the types of depths of loneliness and how it can dictate your life or barely affect it. Sadly, most of the characters live in this book are ruled by their overwhelming loneliness.
George and Lennie
George and Lennie are what keep each others loneliness at bay. More so Lennie does that for George; George always is listing out what he could be doing without Lennie, marrying, settling down and getting money easier, but he never means what he says. He rather stay with Lennie and get their own farm, but he would not say the others if he did not mean them at some sort of level. Nonetheless, George is giving up one life for the other he desires just a bit more, but that means that he still longs for the other. No matter how content or even happy he gets with Lennie, he will always want more. Then when George is forced to kill Lennie, he has a shot at the other life, but he becomes more morose at the loss of his friend and their life together. Now, on the other hand Lennie is barely capable of feeling loneliness, after all, he lost his Aunt Clara and can barely even remember her. Lennie as long as he is with George is happy and George is the person who keeps the loneliness at bay. For example, when George went out with the stable hands and Crooks put the idea of George leaving in Lennie's head, Lennie goes near crazy with loneliness at the loss of his best friend and near brother.
Other Characters
Crooks and Candy are also very lonely characters in the book. Both are outcasts in a close knit society that are ignored for pure physical reasons, Crooks for being a black and Candy for being disabled. In the story all Crooks wants is to play cards with the other men and fit in while Candy does not outright say he is lonely, but instead jumps at the chance of sharing a farm with George, Lennie and Crooks. So in a way Crook and Candy find a middle ground within each other and with Lennie. However, with Lennie gone at the end of the book, it is not likely that Crooks and Candy with stay with George but instead becomes even more lonelier.
Candy and his wife are two characters who should not be lonely because they have each other, but are perhaps the loneliest in the book because of Curly's wife's disdain for him. Candy is lonely because neither his wife nor the other ranch hands truly like him, and even his father is barely mentioned talking to Curly or at least giving him some sort of companionship. His wife is perhaps more lonely because she is in a terrible marriage of her own doing with a man who she does not love and perhaps hates. She then is scorned by the other farm hands who she simply tries to befriend because of her already depised husband
Last are Slim and Carlson. Both characters are not entirely elaborated on in the text so not much is known about them. Enough is known about Carlson to assume that he is not a particularly lonely character; his legitimate wish was to be alone. His cold, negative exterior could be a front for the loneliness he is harboring inside. He uses a rather simple coping mechanism. Similar to Carlson, Slim is not noticeably lonely, like his wish to be happy, his loneliness stem from that. He wants so badly a better life than his loneliness is in his longing for it.
George and Lennie
George and Lennie are what keep each others loneliness at bay. More so Lennie does that for George; George always is listing out what he could be doing without Lennie, marrying, settling down and getting money easier, but he never means what he says. He rather stay with Lennie and get their own farm, but he would not say the others if he did not mean them at some sort of level. Nonetheless, George is giving up one life for the other he desires just a bit more, but that means that he still longs for the other. No matter how content or even happy he gets with Lennie, he will always want more. Then when George is forced to kill Lennie, he has a shot at the other life, but he becomes more morose at the loss of his friend and their life together. Now, on the other hand Lennie is barely capable of feeling loneliness, after all, he lost his Aunt Clara and can barely even remember her. Lennie as long as he is with George is happy and George is the person who keeps the loneliness at bay. For example, when George went out with the stable hands and Crooks put the idea of George leaving in Lennie's head, Lennie goes near crazy with loneliness at the loss of his best friend and near brother.
Other Characters
Crooks and Candy are also very lonely characters in the book. Both are outcasts in a close knit society that are ignored for pure physical reasons, Crooks for being a black and Candy for being disabled. In the story all Crooks wants is to play cards with the other men and fit in while Candy does not outright say he is lonely, but instead jumps at the chance of sharing a farm with George, Lennie and Crooks. So in a way Crook and Candy find a middle ground within each other and with Lennie. However, with Lennie gone at the end of the book, it is not likely that Crooks and Candy with stay with George but instead becomes even more lonelier.
Candy and his wife are two characters who should not be lonely because they have each other, but are perhaps the loneliest in the book because of Curly's wife's disdain for him. Candy is lonely because neither his wife nor the other ranch hands truly like him, and even his father is barely mentioned talking to Curly or at least giving him some sort of companionship. His wife is perhaps more lonely because she is in a terrible marriage of her own doing with a man who she does not love and perhaps hates. She then is scorned by the other farm hands who she simply tries to befriend because of her already depised husband
Last are Slim and Carlson. Both characters are not entirely elaborated on in the text so not much is known about them. Enough is known about Carlson to assume that he is not a particularly lonely character; his legitimate wish was to be alone. His cold, negative exterior could be a front for the loneliness he is harboring inside. He uses a rather simple coping mechanism. Similar to Carlson, Slim is not noticeably lonely, like his wish to be happy, his loneliness stem from that. He wants so badly a better life than his loneliness is in his longing for it.