FREE ESSAY ON OF MICE AND MEN

OF MICE AND MEN

Of Mice and Men 
The book that I have read that has really stayed with me is Of Mice and Men by John
Steinbeck. I really enjoyed reading it which is unusual because I usually don't enjoy
reading too much. There was something about George and Lennie's friendship that really
made me think. Seeing how they were and how they shared life was really interesting.
George didn't have to bother with Lennie, he could have abandoned him and gone on his own
way. But he did not do that, he stayed with Lennie watching over him almost like a parent
to a child. Even though Lennie always got George in trouble, George never stopped loving
him and always stood by him. The friendship they shared went beyond what was not really
there they each shared a dream and both knew they meant the world to each other. I felt
that if these totally different people could get along and look out for each other, why
can't we get along with people who are different than us. They made me realize that I
could learn something from them on how to treat people who are different than me. What I
also liked about it was the way they never stopped trying to reach their dream. This made
me think that if they could work hard for their dream why can't I ?! It showed me that it
does not matter where you come from or what you do, it is okay to dream and work as hard
as you can to reach it. For all it shows for friendship and loyalty it also shows how
sometimes you have to do things you never thought you would do. For example in the end
when George is forced to shoot Lennie in the head you would never have thought he would
do that, but you can see that under the circumstances he had no other choice. He only had
two choices: let the other people get to him first and watch them torture Lennie while he
died a long horrible death or do it himself and get it over quickly where Lennie did not
know what hit him. This is also true in life, many times we are faced with tough choices
and even though they may be the hardest you will have to go through, you know that that
is the only way. You come to the realization that everything you thought you were about,
can all change with a blink of the eye. 
Each and every morning when I wake up, I roll out of bed, attempt to do my hair
perfectly, and then put on my uniform. Now,for some people this may be a fairly easy
decision, but for others, it's a painstaking, mind-boggling,headache-causing thing that
they are forced to go through every day of their existence. Unlucky for me, I happen to
be the latter. But there are so many decisions that need to be made by each one of us
every day, and some are harder than others. Like the decision whether to kill your
best-friend or to let somebody else do it. It may sound absurd, but that's the decision
George is forced to make in the end of Of Mice and Men . At the end of the book when
Lennie is being searched for, there are three choices George had. He could run away with
Lennie, not do anything and let the others kill Lennie, or kill Lennie himself. He chose
to kill his best-friend, Lennie, himself and he made the right decision. If George had
told Lennie that they were going to run away when they met down in the brush, they
might've had a small chance of survival. But this chance was made almost non-existent by
the fact that they were being chased by dogs and a bunch of angry men with shot guns.
They never would've made it. What most likely would've happened would be that both Lennie
and George would've gotten shot because it would've looked like they were running because
they both helped to kill Curley's wife. There were no ties between Curley and anyone on
the ranch, especially these two, so nothing would've stopped him from putting a bullet in
both of their heads. George obviously didn't want to die, so he couldn't choose to run.
He just would've wound up dead too. George also could've stayed at the ranch with Candy
and done nothing, or just followed the rest of the guys looking for Lennie. He knew what
was going to happen, and he knew it from the moment he saw Curley's wife's body lying
dead in the barn. It was clear to him that there was no way Lennie could make it out of
this one alive. But George also knew that he couldn't live with himself if he let the man
he was responsible for be killed by Curley out of revenge. Lennie didn't know what he was
doing and it wasn't fair that he should be killed out of hate. George had learned a lot
from Candy when he said, I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to
of let no stranger shoot my dog. Candy had taught him that if Lennie's death was
inevitable, it might as well be done by someone who knows the him and cares about him.
Lennie had to be killed out of love. That revelation was the driving force that led
George to kill his best friend in the world. This was probably the hardest decision
George ever had to make, and after he made it, he had even a harder time carrying it out.
And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the
back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied.
He pulled the trigger.......George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it
from him, back up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes. Even though this was a
difficult, heart-wrenching thing for him to do, he knew he had done nothing wrong. It was
the only way the 'problem' that Lennie had with hurting people could be resolved with no
loose ends and no guilty consciences. George may have been sad about it, but he had done
the right thing. To many people, the ending of this book may seem sad and kinda screwed
up, and they wish the book had a 'happy' ending. But Lennie ending up dead was the only
way that the book could end believably and happily. It was a much happier ending then
George and Lennie ending up in their little ranch, because that wouldn't have been
believable. Lennie had always gotten himself into trouble before and that wouldn't have
changed just because they owned their own house. He would've screwed it up somehow.
George killing Lennie may have been sad, but it was also believable and right. If you had
to make a decision, would you rather have a 'happy' ending, or one you could really
understand that would keep you thinking? 
In Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck,the social power group is the white, male workers
on the farm. They are younger men, still useful, sort of intelligent, and average-sized.
They exclude people who do not fit their norm, such as Curley for being short, Lennie for
being retarded, Candy for being old, Crooks for being black, and Curley's wife for being
a woman. Between themselves, they expect strength, distance and independence, and are
uncomfortable with emotions. This intolerance and isolation cause loneliness for all the
characters in this novel. This social power group oppresses and isolates Curley, Lennie
and Candy because they are different, even though they are white. Lennie is very strong
and big but his mind is like a child's, so the men don't respect him as an equal. For
example, George explains to Slim that he, Used to play jokes on [Lennie] cause he was too
dumb to take care of 'imself Lennie does not take part in the activities the workers do
in their spare time. Lennie does not go to town with the men. In Weed, Lennie gets in
trouble because the people don't understand his problem. They react with anger instead of
understanding. George explains to Slim, Cause he ain't mean....like what happened in
Weed- Candy is afraid that he will have nowhere to go soon because he is old: I won't
have no place to go, an' I can't get no jobs. Candy knows that society doesn't value or
care about people who can't work. Society rejects them because they are no longer useful.
Carlson shows this when he says about Candy's dog,  He ain't no good to you, Candy. An'
he ain't no good himself. Why'n't you shoot him, Candy? Candy knows he is like his dog;
an old man is almost useless. He knows how they will discard them. He's no longer useful:
They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they came here I wish't
somebody shoot me. Curley feels excluded from society because he is too short. He hates
big men because big men automatically get into the social & powerful group. Candy
comments to George that Curley's like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He's all
the time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he's mad at them because he ain't a
big guy Curley shows this about himself when he is upset and angry when he meets Lennie
for the first time. Curley shows his extreme insecurity in the bunkhouse as Slim and
Carlson are not afraid of him. Curley is afraid losing his power of intimidation. He
notices that Lennie is weak and afraid, and turns his anger on Lennie. The reader sees
Curley is insecure because Curley continues to attack Lennie even though Lennie doesn't
even protect himself or fight back. Each man is rejected by the norm, and is lonely.
Black men are not the only people who are victims of intolerance and the loneliness it
causes. The social power group oppresses Crooks because he is black. The boss gets angry
at Crooks anytime the boss is upset. Candy explains,  The boss gives him hell when he's
mad. Only at Christmas Crooks is allowed into the bunkhouse. When he is, Smitty starts a
fight with him, even though Crooks is crippled. Crooks knows he is not important in
society because he is black. He explains this to Lennie by calling himself a negro.
Crooks promises if he had a chance to work for something, he would, such as sharing the
little farm with George, Lennie, and Candy:  I ain't so cripped I can't work like a dog
if I want to Crooks remembers how little power he has when Curley's wife warns him,Well,
you keep your place then, Negro. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't
even funny As a black man, Crooks has no chance against the social power group. The white
men would kill Crooks because he is black. The reader sees this as, Crooks had reduced
himself to nothing Because the white people require Crooks to stay in his own group, he
is lonely. Women are also victims of intolerance and loneliness. Curley's wife dreamed of
being a movie star, but the man who promised he would help her never wrote to her . As a
woman, during the depression, she has no choice but to marry someone who can support her.
Society gives jobs and independence to men, and women have no power. She is on the bottom
of society. Her marriage to Curley is a disaster because he only cares about himself. He
isn't interested in her at all, Swell guy, ain't he? Spends all his time saying what he's
gonna do to guys he don't like, and he don't like nobody Curley's wife understands that
all men think she is an object. She uses her beauty to attract men so they will talk to
her: She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body
was thrown forward Curley's wife needs friends and people to talk to. She tries to find
friends, but everyone turns her away. Curley is jealous and treats he like a possession
to be guarded, but his wife is frustrated: 'What's the matter with me?' she cried. 'Ain't
I got right to talk to nobody?' Curley's wife is isolated because she is the only woman
on the farm, and is kept out of the social power group, so she is terribly lonely. Even
the normal white workers on the farm are lonely because they isolate themselves from each
other. Slim explains that all the men are afraid to show their feelings and be close to
others: Ain't many guys travel around together. I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the
whole darn world is scared of each other. Slim describes how the workers choose to be
lonely: I hardly never seen two guys together. You know how the hands are, they just come
in and get their bunk and work a month, and then they quit and go out alone. Never seem
to give a darn about nobody George and Lennie know that they are lonely like most
workers: Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They
got no family. They don't belong no place .... they ain't got nothing to look ahead to At
the end of the novel, Carlson shows how men shut themselves off and hide their feelings,
when he doesn't even know George is sad: Now, what the heck you suppose is eatin' them
two guys? The white men in the society power group choose loneliness because they are
afraid of showing their feelings and fears. Intolerance and fear exist everywhere in the
world, which leads to loneliness in Of Mice and Men. Loneliness has many causes. The
workers fear showing their feelings to each other. They cast out people who are different
or weak, such as Curley, Candy, Lennie, Crooks and Curley's wife. The author shows the
reader that everyone causes loneliness in society. Maybe when people understand this
about real life , they will be able to end loneliness.