OF MICE MEN – THEMES

DREAMS
 Linked to the American Dream – in America it’s possible to achieve success through
hard work – United States Declaration of Independence ‘all men are created equal’
 For men on the ranch having dreams gives them hope all their hard work will pay
of/be rewarded.
 Curley’s wife wants to be a film star- although she knows it can’t happen anymore it
gives her a distraction from the unhappiness of her life – other characters same
 Dreams are initially a source of hope in the book but Lennie’s death makes his and
George’s dream impossible so as the novel ends, we see even the simple, modest
dreams are unattainable in the harsh world they live in.
 George recites the dream over and over again to Lennie and it’s something they both
really want. It lists the simple things they are missing in their lives and they dream
their lives will improve. However, the way that George recounts the dream like a bed
time story suggests that it will never come true and what they have is more of a
comfort than a plan
 Crooks and Candy both want in on the dream but for different reasons. Crooks wants
to escape the constant racism directed towards him and Candy wants a permanent
home where he feels he can be useful. Crooks realises very quickly the dream will
never happen and his hopes are futile, Candy understands at the end of the book the
dream was never really possible but gave him short term comfort.
 Curley’s wife is focused on how her life could have been if she had become an
actress, showing how her dreams are also a form of escapism. Her dream differs
from George’s and Lennie’s because it’s grander, but they are both relied on by the
characters as way of coping with their difficult lives.
 Crooks comments that many men dream of having their own patch of land but none
of them ever get it. It reminds the reader that George and Lennie’s dream is not
unusual for men like them, all dream of a better life. American Dream suggests they
will be rewarded for their work and their dreams will come true. However, George
realises at the end of the book that his plan with Lennie really was just a dream; they
would never come true. This suggests dreams that men like them held during this
period were hopeless.
LONELINESS
 Name of the town close to the ranch is called Soledad – Spanish for ‘solitude’ –
loneliness is established as a theme very early on and proves to be very important
throughout the novel.
 Most of the characters in the novel are lonely, which makes George and Lennie’s
friendship stand out. They are not isolated and makes some people (e.g. the Boss)
suspicious of them.
 George demonstrates how they are different when he separates him and Lennie as
‘we’ and everyone else as ‘they’ – clear they are different to normal ranch workers.
 Steinbeck shows how the lifestyle the men lead is very damaging to their
relationships – lack of compassion for others.
 The loneliest characters in the book are Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife. They are all
different to the others and isolated to different extents. Candy is older, Crooks is
black, Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch. The other men on the ranch feel
no empathy towards them and instead make them more isolated by treating them
poorly 
 Crooks is physically separated from the other workers due to his skin colour. The
isolation makes him bitter when others try to reach out to him, demonstrating the
devastating effects loneliness has on humans.
 Candy is isolated by an age barrier and his disability, making him less useful and
insignificant as a result. The lack of reaction when Candy pleads with Carlson not to
shoot his dog emphasises this. The men have no empathy for someone in pain and
Candy’s need for companionship is not acknowledged as the other men are not able
to form relationships themselves.
 Curley’s wife is the only woman on the ranch and her flirtatious behaviour is treated
with suspicion. She acts this way only to get attention due to her poor relationship
with her husband, even though the men know Curley is unpleasant the don’t speak
to her so she becomes even more desperate for acknowledgement -vicious cycle.
OF MICE MEN – FORM/STRUCTURE/LANGUAGE
STRUCTURE
 Structure is CYCLICAL – there is a sense of things happening in a certain order and
being repeated. This is reflected in the way the novel starts and ends in the same
place – brush by the Salinas River. This gives the reader the impression that the
ending is inevitable and nothing can be done to stop it – characters fates are
inevitable, makes the story seem fatalistic.
 The sense of repetition creates a feeling of hopelessness in the reader, reflecting the
lack of choices that itinerant workers would have had at the time. The men’s lives
are also repetitive and only the American Dream gives them any hope of breaking
the cycle, however Steinbeck shows at the end that even this dream is pointless.
 Death has a constant presence in the novel, from the very beginning when Lennie
kills the mouse right up to when Lennie kills Curley’s wife and George is forced to
shoot Lennie.
 Lennie’s lack of awareness of his ability to harm is immediately presented as a
problem and escalates throughout the book; mouse/puppy/Curley’s wife. His
inability to control himself when panicked is also revealed in different stages (red
dress in Weed/Lennie crushing Curley’s hand when attacked) adding to the sense he
will inevitably cause destruction.
 Increasing amounts of violence foreshadows the books tragic end. Life is not valued
in the novel; Lennie accidently kills the creatures he pets and Candy’s dog is shot
when it’s no longer useful. The books title also foreshadows the ending; it provides a
warning that things will not turn out the way any of the characters hope it would.
 Title is based on a Scottish poem called ‘To a Mouse’. The poem is about a mouse
who builds a nest in a wheat field only for it to be destroyed by a ploughman. It’s
linked to ‘Of Mice and Men’ as it shows that George and Lennie’s plans for happiness
and safety will also be destroyed, leading to only pain and suffering at the end of the
novel “The best laid schemes of mice and men/Gang aft agley/And leave us with
nought but grief and pain/For promised joy!”