‘Of Mice and Men’ is a novel written by John Steinbeck in 1937.

This book,

though easy at the surface, contains many hidden meanings, details and

observations of human nature. There were two movies made based on this novel:

one was released in 1939, the other in 1992. Here, I will examine and compare

two scenes from the book and both movies.

The first scene I picked is the first scene. There, George and Lennie come

to the river and through their dialogue are introduced. Also, there is a slight hint of

what happened before and an indication to what shall happen later in the story.

In the book, the first scene begins with an introduction to the setting. It is

described in present: ‘…the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and

runs deep and green’, ‘the water is lined with trees’, ‘the leaves lie deep’. The

author imagined that, in many years time, when ‘Of Mice and Men’ will still be

read, that place will stay the same. He meant that nature can not be changed,

despite that there are many events taking place in the lives of humans. John

Steinbeck made us feel that the setting is peaceful. The river is green, deep and

warm. Many people come there to swim or to make campfires – there is an ash

pile. On both banks of the river there is yellow sand. On one side are the Gabilan

mountains, and on the other side is a sycamore forest, which is a home to many

animals. Crispy leaves suggest that it is autumn or late summer.

After the introduction to the setting, the story begins to develop. There are

two men coming down a wide road single-filed. From the fact that they are both

wearing denim we can already understand that they are poor, since in 1930s jeans

were the cheapest clothing. It is also clear that they are homeless since they are
carrying sleeping bags. These two men are described very differently: one is short,

quick, with tanned skin and sharp features. On the contrary, the other man is tall,

with ‘shapeless face’, slow, and when he walks, his feet drag along the ground,

and his arms hang loosely. When the two settle down by the river bank, their

behavior is different, too: the bigger man, whose name is Lennie, seems

unconscious of what is right or wrong, and what he has to do. The shorter man,

George, is in complete control of Lennie. George has to look after him, and

practically think for him. From the conversation between the two men we can see

that George is a little bit annoyed with Lennie, so he is strict and grumpy.

However, George does not think of Lennie as of ‘pain in the neck’. They are

friends and care for each other. At one moment, George gets angry with Lennie

and yells at him, but then apologizes. He is very caring not to hurt Lennie’s

feelings. Lennie, on the other hand, is described childish: he seems absolutely

innocent when George is strict with him, but then cautiously annoys him when

George is in a better mood. There is also a distinctive trait about Lennie: he can

hardly remember anything. It takes him a very long time to memorize simple

things, and then he forgets them easily. One moment is distinctive in the first

scene: Lennie picks up a dead mouse and strokes it. From George’s and Lennie’s

discussion we understand that Lennie likes to touch soft things.

The first scene is different in both movies. The movie that was created in

1939 start with a flashback of what happened in Weeds. In the book, that

flashback was included in the conversation between Lennie and George.

Probably, the director of the movie decided to film that part instead of making the
characters talk about it because it is clearer to visualize than to hear. Part of the

talking between George and Lennie happens on the bus as they ride along the

Gabilan mountains. The characters are presented different from the book: George

is smiling and seems satisfied instead of being annoyed. His face is also not as

described: he does not have sharp features. Lennie’s face and size are similar to

the description, but he does not resemble an animal, he does not walk like a bear,

and instead of being slow he acts excited and energetic. None of the two wear

denim.

When George and Lennie come to the river bank, it is different from the

description, too. The forest is on both sides, and you can not see the mountains.

The river is steep. There are a few animals, but not as much as described in the

book.

There is also one significant difference between the first scene of the novel

and the first movie: in the film, instead of the mouse, Lennie finds a dead bird. It is

not particularly clear to me why did they do that, but I suppose that the director

decided to cut the mouse out because of ideological reasons. Throughout the

entire movie, the ugly parts were not included: in fact, there is almost no swearing,

the faces of the dead bodies are not shown, and even the phrase ‘cat house’ was

missed. I suppose that back then, all those disgraceful moments were not allowed.

The second movie, in my opinion, was more similar to the book. However,

there were differences. The movie begun with George alone in the train. That was

an indication that the whole movie is a flashback. Then, it showed again what

happened in Weeds for the same reason as in the first movie. It showed the way
George and Lennie went away from Weeds. The characters were alike their

description, and I liked the way Lennie walked and talked – like in the book. Only

Lennie wore denim. I imagined Lennie with longer hair, whilst in the movie he had

them really short. George seemed too annoyed with Lennie. The setting was quite

different: there was no sight of Gabilan mountains, and the forest was on both

sides of the river. The Salinas river was very steep, and there were no animals at

all. Yellow fields reminded us of summer.

The other scene I picked is the last scene. That is the part where George

finds Lennie and shoots him. That scene is presented really differently in the novel

and both movies.

In the book the last scene is much more detailed than in both films. It starts

with an introduction to the setting. The place is the same as in the first scene, but

the mood that the author expresses is different. It is afternoon (just like the first

scene), however, it is sunset. The place is already in shade, but there is still

sunlight in the mountaintops. The way John Steinbeck relates the nature provokes

us to feel peaceful. Then, there is a very interesting action: there is a water snake

that glides across the river and a heron swallows it. The water snake swings its tail

frantically. The author explains that part in a calm way, so the first time you read it

you do not even realize that it is important. This episode is similar to the part

where Lennie kills Curley’s wife: she did not know of the danger coming, so she

continued on talking the way she usually did, and even ‘came towards the heron’.

When Lennie was killing her, she was trying to release herself, curling her body

desperately. This part with the snake also has another meaning: it states that most
of the times we do not even notice a death, it is natural, always around us.

Usually, nobody cares about creatures dieing – be it humans or not.

Then, Lennie comes. He drinks from the river, but in a very different way

from the beginning: in the first scene, he is compared to a horse because he dips

his face in the river and drinks a lot, whereas now he drinks barely touching the

water with his lips. He is very scared and conscious. He is only scared of George’s

reaction – and he is horrified. He is considering going to live in a cave. In my

opinion, the next part is very interesting. Lennie goes crazy and has hallucinations.

First, he sees his dead Aunt Clara, and she is cross with him. Surprisingly, Lennie

is very polite and respectful of her. Aunt Clara speaks in Lennie’s voice, as if it was

him telling the truth to himself. She is strict and not tolerant to Lennie, whilst he

tries to find excuses. However, eventually he starts to agree. Lennie tries to talk

about going to live in a cave, but is interrupted by Aunt Clara, who tells him to be

realistic. Here, Aunt Clara represents his past, the truth, what he knew in the back

of his head all the time but never was brave enough to admit to himself.

Then, when he remembers the rabbits, Aunt Clara disappears and instead

of her comes a giant rabbit. The rabbit talks in Lennie’s voice, again. The rabbit

represents Lennie’s potential future, of which he is afraid, but does not really

believe in. The rabbit is rude to him, and Lennie disagrees with him, being rude

back. The rabbit tells Lennie about how mean will George be. He does not provide

any arguments, so Lennie does not trust him at all. However, he is very scared

and calls for George out loud.

 Then, the rabbit disappears and George comes. He is really calm. We do

not expect him to act like that, so it is not clear if George is real or is he still one of

Lennie’s hallucinations – and it will not be clear until the end. He is really kind to

Lennie. There is a sound of men approaching, but George does not do anything.

Then, George tells Lennie to face the river and imagine the house they wished to

get. He hesitates and mentally suffers before shooting Lennie, and he wishes that

he did not have to do it, but he understands that killing Lennie is the best thing he

can do for him. George shoots Lennie in his neck – like Candy’s dog, the least

painful place. Then, people who were hunting for Lennie come. They crowd

around Lennie and are described amazed. Curley, who wanted revenge on

Lennie, suddenly acts kinder. Slim tries to support George, who acts melancholic

and unconscious of what really happened.

This scene was shortened in both movies mostly because it would be hard

to film the nature and the hallucinations, and then because the messages behind

those parts would not be clear. In both movies, the main focus in the scene is

George killing Lennie. Since there are no additional details, the directors tried to

make it sentimental and dramatic.

In the 1939 movie, it is not a surprise that George will kill Lennie, since he

reveals his plan to Slim. Slim and George both come to the river bed, but then

Slim leaves George alone. Instead of sunset, it is day. Lennie is not scared of

George, but he is still a little bit conscious. He does not remember what he did,

however, he knows that he did something wrong. In fact, he is happy that he did

not forget where to come. In the end, Lennie says that he actually sees the house
that George told him to imagine. George shoots Lennie quickly, backing up, with a

handkerchief over the gun. When men come, they crowd up around Lennie and

then most of them walk away. A significant difference was that in the end of the

film, Carlson felt sorry for George and supported him.

The last scene of the second movie is even shorter. Once more, it is

daytime. Lennie is frightened. George kills Lennie quickly, and he seems tired and

depressed. There are no people coming after Lennie’s death. The director missed

that part because it was no longer important for George, and the main part was

done. This ending was also effective because it made us feel melancholic, like

George was.

I preferred the book to the movies. I liked it best because it was much more

detailed, and so it had much more emotions that I could experience. The book was

very dramatic, and I enjoyed it a lot. The parts I liked were the foreshadowing and

analysis for different events. It is a very talented book, one of the best books I

have read.