Of Mice And Men :: essays research papers

The same gun is used in the same manner to kill two beings, a smelly, old dog and a man named Lennie, in the novel "Of Mice And Men." This story deals with love and death while displaying an everyday scenario about friends and isolation. The symbols in this book represent the basic elements of human love. Some of the characters in this novel, such as Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife, epitomize loneliness. Lennie, bearing his retardation, has trouble fitting in with the current workers at the ranch. Even though all the ranch hands praise Lennie for his hard work, they leave him out of nightly activities such as horseshoes. George, Lennie’s traveling buddy, is smart and fits right in with all of the employees of the ranch, adding to Lennie’s isolation. The black stable hand, Crooks, sleeps alone in a tiny room in the stable and is disliked by everyone except for Lennie. Since he is black, segregation is the ultimate reason why no one tries to like or befriend Crooks. Lennie, who, as an innocent person, has no bigotry in him, visits Crooks one night when everyone else is in town. Even thought Crooks does not show it, he enjoys Lennie’s company, and it seems that he and Lennie form a small friendship that would had developed more has the book been longer. Anot her soul not included with the ranch clique, Curley’s wife, whose name is not mentioned in the book, is new to the ranch as well. She married Curley just weeks before Lennie and George arrived. The ranch hands do not accept this lonely soul into their social group because she is new. However, the ranch hands also do not accept Curley’s wife because she obviously is so lonely that the only way she can get attention is by flirting. The only one who does not dismiss her when she flirts is Lennie who is obviously trying to make a friend with another lonely person. These lonely individuals make this novel into a very sad story of real life situations of when people really do not "fit in." The idea of obtaining a little farm with animals and crops raised by George and Lennie, and later joined by Candy, an old man, shows how dreams may cause a man to do anything to fulfill that dream. Lennie is the most enthusiastic and determined to gain the small farm and the all-important things -- the rabbits.