A simple story with much emotion and truth tied to each chapter. I believe that Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is an essential read and proof that short fiction can have a large impact on readers, especially when it plays around with the fancifulness of dreams and the severity of reality.
Following George and Lenny, two out of work men, during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Across this short work, Steinbeck details their dreams of living off the ‘fatta the lan’, owning their own place, and getting by in the spiralling American landscape.
The main duo are a compelling pair. They compliment each other well, in a chalk and cheese dynamic, which makes for some natural conflict and surprisingly emotional moments. George is a straight-cut everyman, bearing an attitude but possessing good in his heart. Lenny, a strong and lumbering man, is mentally disabled and has the mind of a child. He is particularly drawn towards soft textures, and has a fondness for rabbits in particular. It makes him adorable, and George’s role in taking care of him helps build most of the tension across the story.
Of Mice and Men, which was written during the era it is set, has merit in how it subtly critiques the attitudes towards mental disablement and different races in the 1930s. Lenny, who is seen as a dullard, is so innocent that socially-driven racial issues are lost on him. Tragically, he is also unaware of his own discrimination and the prejudice many characters levy at him. Lenny’s misfortune and mistakes are what make him such a tragic character by the end of the story, despite the vast majority of it being no fault of his own.
The novella’s greatest quality is how likeable Lenny and George are, owing to their co-dependency and struggles, alongside how tragic the downfall of their dream is. They stand as a pair in the self-centred rat race that America’s floundering economy and capitalist mindset spurs on.
Of Mice and Men is a short story that toys with your emotions, making you amused one moment and miserable the next. Lenny and George, even after years of not reading this book, are characters that I think of sometimes. That should easily illustrate the quality of both characters.
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