Of Mice and Men

Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John Steinbeck’s tale of two drifters is one of the most widely read stories in America. Written as both a novella and a script for a play, Of Mice and Mentells the tragic story of two California migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression. George and Lennie have delusions of making enough money to buy their own place. Lennie, a man-child, is a little boy in the body of a man. George is ever cautious of his gentle giant friend, dangerously powerful yet in need of constant reassurance.

Although Steinbeck emphasizes dreams throughout this work, his characters are often powerless, due to intellectual, economic and social realities. Fate is felt most heavily as George is left to face the question of how to deal with Lennie who, although in great danger, dreams only of their future, of their farm–as the sound of destiny bounces off the mountains.