Of Mice and Men

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Points to Consider
The Idea of Redemption

The alliteration of the title, like Little Red Riding Hood, suggests
both a fairy tale structure, and a story of morality, it will have a
moral at the end.
The trick is to work out what the ending means:
Now what do you suppose is eatin them two guys
Possible interpretations

It is not fate, but their fellow man they feed on each other it
is an attack on the world of guys in effect there is a fatal flaw
in the make up of men which makes them turn on each other.
So Georges killing of Lennie is not merely an act of forced
kindness. It is also a murder. Men are destined to kill. So
Lennie is a male representation of a child even in innocence,
mans natural state is destructive it is part of male nature and
is inescapable.

It reworks the idea of original sin, thus man is born evil. There
is no idea of Christian redemption here, where through a belief in
Christ and pursuit of Christian virtues man can escape his evil
beginning, and nature. Here however, Christ is frequently
invoked, but only as a curse. This is a society that has no place
for Christianity. Consequently, perhaps there is no redemption
at the end, only death and loneliness.
Instead masculinity itself is treated as a God it is Slim who is
described as Godlike - he is the epitome of manhood that all
the other men look up to. But what are his male characteristics?

He is ruthless, and only believes in mercy when it is married

to what is practical. So, he drowns puppies that are surplus
to requirements. He is prepared to save some one for
Lennie, or to replace Candys dog.

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He does not consider the emotions of Candy or his dog he

supports the idea of killing the dog merely because it is old
and no longer able to work on the farm.
He supports the idea of killing Lennie you hadda, George
as an act of kindness.

Perhaps there is redemption.

We can, however, see this as a turning point.
It is true that Slim and George learn guilt to feel remorse for their
sin. Killing Lennie is an act of kindness it prevents torture at the
hands of Curly and his boys, a painful, hopeless death.
Yet, the expression eating leads inevitably to the idea that they are
eaten by guilt even that kindness is wrong.
Once they have reached this position, there is a sense of hope the
men are united Come on with me, says Slim.
Their partnership must stand a much better chance of success than
George and Lennies for Lennie, like Carlson, could never
understand the nature of his wrongdoing.
Religious Symbolism suggesting redemption
Their departure is filled with the religious symbolism we might
associate with the Pilgrims Progress, their physical journey a
metaphor for the journey of their souls towards salvation. So, they
do not move toward the road, but to the highway high
suggesting holy, nearer to God.
Similarly their movement is not neutral, but deliberately up
towards salvation. We can see this as a result of their
understanding of each other: George has taught Slim how to help
first in helping Lennie with the gift of the dog, second by example,
in the way he has compromised himself, become a murderer, to
help Lennie. So it is that Slim now helps George: George let
himself be helped to his feet. Another metaphor suggesting that
now, on their feet, they will be on their right footing all will be
well, they have found the highway.
There are other reasons to suppose that George and Slim have now
found redemption,
The title Of Mice and Men, refers to the poem. The equation of
mice with men suggests that their plans are equally trivial and

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pointless. This suggests a higher power, Gods, compelling them:

not a blind fate, but one with a hidden purpose, revealed through
revelation.
In the same way that God reveals his mercy by killing his only son,
Jesus, and so offering men salvation, so Georges killing of Lennie
reveals to him how painful is his compassion, and so he finds
salvation in this act. Both he and Slim are better people, realising
that mutual help is the only possible response to the hostile world of
man.
Just as few initially understand the death of Jesus in this way, so
the death of Lennie, and the fact that George killed him, leaves
them unaffected. Carlson represents their indifference, and they
are doomed to repeating their cruel acts.

The Cruelty of Man

The cruelty of men might be interpreted in two ways.
1.

The men of Burnss poem is generic it represents not

males, but mankind, human nature. So, the men represent
human nature, and it is human nature to be cruel.

2.

Alternatively, Steinbeck could be aiming his criticism directly

at males consequently he excludes all females from the
novel, apart from Curleys wife.
Although she is cruel, as we see in her threats to Crook, she
is made so by the cruelty of males:

Those who have exploited her sexually giving empty

promises of Hollywood stardom.
Curley, who views her both as his property never wishing
her to leave the house.
She is merely a sex object to him the only way he can
think to please her is by keeping one hand oiled with
vaseline inside his glove this is itself a metaphor for his
violence and desire to control, reminiscent as it is of his
boxing glove and fists.
She is allowed no identity as an individual the men
refuse to acknowledge her name, not even questioning
whether she might have one.
Worse than this, the men ascribe an identity for her in
sexual terms, in terms of sexual disgust. She is a tart a
tramp etc.

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She dies at Lennies hand. Lennie is, if you like,

masculinity in its most innocent form, kind, powerful,
desperate not to do wrong yet even this most innocent
form treats her as an object. It is her hair, its softness,
that Lennie sees her as, and it is an object that he breaks.
It is then, masculinity itself which both makes her cruel
and kills her.

Crooks and the Cruelty of Man

Crooks neednt exist as a character at all in the novel which is
concerned with the tragedy of Georges relationship with Lennie.
His existence very clearly points to a wider purpose in the novel
to illustrate mankinds cruelty to others in the form of racism.
Crooks listed possessions at the beginning of Chapter 4 exist to
show that he is the most educated and perhaps the most intelligent
of all the characters. We might assume, therefore, that in a
meritocracy, in a just world, he would be able to make the most of
himself. He is also the character who is most determined to fight to
succeed: we see this in the fight he is forced into in the previous
Christmas; his invincibility at the horseshoe game; his gold
rimmed glasses to improve his vision (but, metaphorically, his
understanding); his dictionary to improve his communication skills;
his civil code to defend his rights; his liniment to relieve the pain in
his back, and his shotgun to defend his life.
Yet all these point to the fact that he is not allowed to succeed. He
may be articulate, but has no one to talk to. His civil code is well
used he has had to defend himself and his rights frequently, but
Steinbeck describes it as mauled to suggest not merely how often
it has been used, but how badly Crooks has been treated.
Finally, his hunched back is itself a metaphor for the treatment he
receives he is literally oppressed, like all blacks, and it is as
though the constant pressing down on him by racist white society
has bent him double and hunched his spine.
He too is objectified like Curleys wife his name is deliberately
chosen: because he is black he is associated with crookedness. His
hunch, to the whites, does not illustrate or represent their own
cruelty towards blacks. Instead, ironically, it shows them their
truth: black people are lesser than whites, morally inferior like
crooks, like thieves.

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He is referred to frequently as stablebuck identified clearly as an

animal. A buck is a male deer here also stabled. Crooks is
literally stabled his room is with the horses, his bed is a box filled
with straw, his medicines on the shelf have equal status to those
for the horses. He is a tanned animal to the other men.
Even his sharing of George and Lennies dream of their own ranch is
inferior he will have no rights or ownership at their farm, still
performing all the chores. He will have only companionship. Yet
even this smaller dream is denied to him by racism. Curleys wife
turns on him, threatening to have him lynched merely because he
has tried to get her to leave his room. He realises, in a white world,
he has no rights: men are naturally cruel and will always exploit
him. He pulls out of the dream swiftly.

Language work on the beginning of each Chapter

Steinbeck begins each chapter with a piece of description. This is a
very high-risk strategy: it threatens to alienate many readers who
would select a short novel precisely because it is likely not to be
descriptive but full of action.
Because it is such a risk, and one he takes at the beginning of each
chapter, repeatedly, he calls attention to the importance of this
description to the novel as a whole.

Chapter 1
1.

2.
3.
4.

We begin in Soledad, the Mexican word for loneliness. This is

a book about the loneliness of men which, perhaps, George
and Slim are able to escape at the novels end through
compassion.
The valley is described like a paradise, perhaps Eden-like,
deep and green, The water is warm, twinkling, the hills
golden, fresh, etc.
Even the landscape is like Adam and Eve in their innocence.
So the trees are deliberately personified, the sycamores have
white recumbent limbs.
The animals are at peace, the rabbits sit despite the
presence of dogs who seem not to hunt, but leave gentle
tracks, spread pads side by side with tracks of deer.
Nature lives in harmony, like the wolf lying down with the
lamb.

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5.

But, this paradise was only possible in Eden because Adam

and Eve were ignorant they had not tasted the tree of
knowledge and good and evil.
Similarly, the animals are ignorant the dog does not
understand its true nature as a hunter, the rabbit its nature
as hunted prey they all come to drink in the dark.
Darkness here represents their ignorance.

6.
7.

8.

9.

10.

11.
12.
13.

14.

The trees, like Adam and Eve, are not fully awake, they are
sleep-like, recumbent. Like people, they are personified with
limbs.
And so, though this is a natural paradise, there is something
wrong with it. It is only possible through ignorance, just as
Edens was.
Just as Adam and Eve were denied paradise once they had
sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, so the entry of man into
this landscape ruins it, as though they carry their original sin
with them.
The entrance to the valley is therefore a path beaten hard by
boys because, even in its boy-like, innocent form,
masculinity is violent. Moreover, their desires are violent to
play they jungle up. The trees are no longer personified as
people, but dismembered, the sycamore has apparently only
one limb, and in front of it is an ash pile a symbol of the
destructiveness made by men.
From the generalised portrait of the destructive power of
males, boys and men, Steinbeck introduces us to the
particular: George and Lennie, who are now viewed in relation
to violence: will they share the portrait of violent masculinity
to which we have been introduced?
As they enter the valley, the rabbits are no longer free, but
colourless, grey. They are now vulnerable, little and
lifeless, like sculptured stones. It is mans threatening hand
that has sculpted them.
Nature also changes a heron does not fly neutrally, but
pounded down-river reflecting the beaten path created by
boys.
Lennie and George enter in single file, like soldiers, dressed
as though in uniforms of denim, complete with militaristic
brass buttons.
The description of George reminds us of a predator like a bird
of prey, quick, dark, with the restless eyes, sharp and
strong. He is marked out as a killer from the start, whereas
Lennie isnt.
Lennie is threatening due to his bulk and power he moves
the way a bear drags his paws. His heavy hands were

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15.
16.

pendula, as though unstoppable like the mechanism of a

clock: like the inevitability of time.
The inevitable character of Lennies hands is the fact that they
kill: he cant escape this.
Lennies power is clearly menacing due to the slowness of his
mind: The first man stopped short in the clearing, and the
follower nearly ran him over.
We realise all is not well between these two, that Lennie
appears to pose a threat to himself and others as we se
Georges reaction to him: as Lennie gulps, The small man
stepped nervously beside him.

Chapter 2
The description of the bunk house is deliberately reminiscent of a
jail to suggest that:
a)
they are trapped by their masculinity.
b)
they are trapped by fate.
c)
they are being pursued but for what?
1.
So the walls are whitewashed, depersonalised. The floor is
unpainted, the windows small, and the door solid. The
impression is of confinement and oppression.
2.
All their possessions are basic and meagre, like a prisoners.
Crucially, there is no privacy, just as a convicts possessions
must be open to public inspection, they are in an apple-box
with the opening forward. Steinbeck emphasises the
importance of this symbolism in Chapter 4 when describing
Crooks room with an identical apple-box: the apple serves to
remind us of the fall when Adam and Eve ate the apple from
the forbidden tree. It is original sin, human nature is
naturally evil, and it is for this that the men are being
punished.
3.
An improvised card table dominates the centre of the room.
Recurring images of chance will serve to remind us that the
men are certainly the victims of fate: we must decide whether
it is blind chance that acts against them or an intelligence
controlling their fate.
4.
The sun creates the bars of their prison with a bright dustladen bar.
Chapter 4
We have considered this in relation to Crooks. A new motif is
introduced here, the harness, which will be repeated frequently
we are given the impression all the characters are hardened to their
fate, not always realising it. Similarly from this point we will

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frequently hear the rattle of halter chains, as though the

characters are chained to their fate, with no hope of escaping it.

Chapter 5
The barn will be the scene of two deaths, Lennies puppys and
Curleys wifes. The atmosphere is deliberately sinister. The first
sentence shows us a four taloned Jackson fork, like some giant
bird of prey. It is suspended, as though about to strike, as
though fate is waiting to kill.
We view horses from above, as though from the eyes of a bird of
prey. We see only the heads of horses as though sensing the
imminent killings, as though they are already dismembered.
The sun sliced in, also violent; there is the buzzing of flies in the
air the buzz of flies we might associate with death. Fate is also
represented by the clang of horse shoes, like a bell taking
mourners to a funeral, the horseshoes symbolising the running out
of luck.
Chapter 6
Steinbeck has so far written a tragic novel. He follows, loosely, the
traditions of Greek tragedy, where all the action takes place within
24hours here it is stretched to nearly 48. Similarly, all the action
occurs in one place, the ranch. Finally, the tragedy should unfold in
five parts. Yet here we are at Chapter 6. This invites us to view
the first five chapters as the tragedy, but to view the sixth as
something else.
Each character has now met with tragedy, and like tragic heroes,
each have their fatal flaw.
Lennies tragic flaw is his child-like understanding, unable to control
or comprehend his own strength. He has become a killer. Curleys
tragedy is that he seeks to mimic masculinity: he mimics physical
power by picking on his employees, beating them. He mimics
sexual dominance in his display of his gloved hand and pursuit of
his wife. He is thwarted in both of these when Lennie crushes his
hand and kills his wife.
Curleys like a parody of masculinity crushed by Lennie, masculinity
that is real, but innocent.

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However, the fact that Chapter 6 exists, points to a departure from

tragedy. We are invited to look once more at the killing of Lennie,
and ask whether this is tragic or an image of hope to the whole
body of men they represent.
So, the chapter opens with a deep green pool, almost and image
of spring, growth and rebirth. Similarly, the hilltops were rosy in
the sun. Without irony, this offers us a setting for hope rather
than despair. If death is coming, it is welcomed in, or as a
pleasant shade.
This is the same Eden-like setting the novel began with. Steinbeck
introduces a water snake, a reminder of the serpent of Eden,
which tempted man to understand the knowledge of good and evil.
It is swiftly, killed as a heron plucked it out by the head while its
tail waved frantically. This suggests that for George, death itself,
the murder of his friend, will offer him that knowledge, and with it
the desire to seek redemption.
The wind sounded and then the wind died, again reminding us of
imminent death. But does this, and the frantic end of the snake
invite us to see death as natural, not as a tragedy but the
overcoming of evil?

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