John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

- a novelist, short story writer

- born in California
- of German, English and Irish descent
- lived in a small rural valley – 25 miles from the Pacific Ocean – set in
some of the world’s most fertile soil; therefore, both valley and coast
would serve as settings for his fiction;
- he spent his summers working on nearby ranches and with migrant
workers on sugar beet farms; there he learnt of the harsher aspects
of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which
supplied him with material expressed in Of Mice and Men;
- studied English literature at University, leaving without a degree;
took odd jobs in NY while trying to write; when he failed to publish
his work, he returned to California where he met his first wife.
- during the Great Depression J. Steinbeck bought a small boat and
lived on the fish and crabs that he gathered from the sea and fresh
vegetables from his garden. When those sources failed, he and his
wife accepted welfare (помощи) and on rare occasions they stole
bacon from the local market.
- In 1930, J. Steinbeck met the marine biologist Ed Rickets, who
became a close friend and mentor to him, teaching him about
philosophy and biology. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of
diverse subjects. Rickets was a proponent of ecological thinking, in
which man was only one part of a great chain of being, caught in a
web of life too large for him to control or understand.
- 16 novels, 6 non-fiction books, 2 collections of short stories
- Most notable works:
Of Mice and Men (1937)
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) – his masterpiece; got a Pulitzer Prize
for it (1940)
East of Eden (1952) – deals with the nature of good and evil in this
Salina valley saga
- Nobel Prize in Literature (1962)
- married 3 times; 2 sons
- themes: fate, injustice - applied to downtrodden (потиснат,
угнетен, потъпкан) and ordinary, humble protagonists = the
everyman); sympathy to workers’ plight

Of Mice and Men

- a novella (107 pages)
- a tragedy, written as a play
- based on Steinbeck’s own experiences working alongside migrant
farm workers as a teenager
- the title is taken from Robert Burn’s poem To a Mouse, which reads:
“The best laid schemes of mice and men
often go awry”
(awry = obliquely, crookedly, askew – накриво, погрешно, косо)

- the book has been a frequent target of censors for vulgarity and
offensive, racist language

Plot:
The story is set during the Great Depression and follows two displaced
(съкратени от работа) ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie
Small, as they travel from place to place in search of job opportunities.
George is small and quick-witted, while Lennie is large and mentally
disabled but possesses immense physical strength. The novella еxplores
themes of friendship, loneliness, dreams, and the harsh realities of life
during that time. The narrative unfolds as George and Lennie try to
make a better life for themselves, facing challenges and setbacks
(пречка, несполука) along the way. The title, "Of Mice and Men," is
drawn from a poem by Robert Burns and reflects the fragility of dreams
and the unpredictable nature of life. The story is poignant
(трогателен, мъчителен) and tragic, addressing societal issues and
the complexities of human relationships.
Main characters:
George Milton: a quick-witted, intelligent but uneducated man; short-tempered
(сприхав, избухлив) but a loving and devoted friend. He never strays from his
primary purpose of protecting Lennie. Unlike Lennie, George changes as the story
progresses. The reader learns that when he admits that he once abused Lennie
for his own amusement. From this incident George learnt the moral lesson that it
is wrong to take advantage of the weak. By shooting Lennie George spares his
friend’s merciless death that would be delivered by Curley’s lynch mob.
Lennie Small: a bulky strong man but mentally disabled. Because of this, he
completely depends on George – his friend and travelling companion – for
guidance and protection. Gentle and kind, Lennie, nevertheless, does not
understand his own strength. His love of petting soft things leads to disaster. He
undergoes no significant changes/no growth throughout the story. He is blindly
devoted to George and their vision of the farm and possesses incredible physical
strength. Lennie’s simplicity is central to Steinbeck’s conception of the novella.
Since the tragedy depends on the outcome seeming to be inevitable
(неизбежен), the reader must know from the start that Lennie is doomed and
must be sympathetic to him. He earns the reader’s sympathy because of his utter
(пълен, абсолютен) helplessness in the face of the events that unfold. He is
totally defenseless. He cannot avoid the dangers presented by Curley, his wife
and the world at large (като цяло). His innocence raises him to a standard of
pure goodness that is more literary than realistic. But his innocence only seems to
ensure his inevitable destruction.
Candy: an old worker, left with only one hand as the result of an accident, worries
that the boss will soon declare him useless and demand that he leave the ranch.
His old dog - once an impressive sheep herder but now a toothless, foul-smelling
and brittle with age – supports Candy’s fears. Past accomplishments matter little,
as Carlson makes clear when he insists that Candy let him shoot the dog out of its
misery. Candy’s dog serves as a reminder of the fate that awaits anyone who
outlives his usefulness. The dream that he could live with George and Lеnnie on
their dream farm distracts Candy from this harsh reality.
Curley’s wife: women are treated with contempt (презрение) throughout the
course of the book. They are depicted as troublemakers who bring ruin on men
and drive them mad. Curley’s wife, who walks the ranch as a temptress, seems to
be a prime example of this destructive tendency.
Crooks: a lively, sharp-witted, black stable hand, who takes his name from his
crooked back. Like most of the characters he admits that he is extremely lonely.
Like Curley’s wife, he turns his vulnerability into a weapon to attack those who
are even weaker. He evokes sympathy in the reader as the origins of his cruel
behaviour are made evident.
Curley: the boss’s son; his primary character trait (черта, белег) is insecurity; he
wears high-heeled boots to make up for his short stature (ръст) and remind the
workers for his wealth and status; he is constantly anxious about maintaining his
dominance over the workers and often picks fights with men twice his size. This
suggests that land-owning class might be more vulnerable than one might
believe.
Slim: a figure of natural authority. He commands the respect of the other men
through his professional skill and his strength of character. He correctly sees that
Lennie is not mean and he is the only man to ignore the racist prohibition against
entering Crook’s room. He is the only one to rightly understand that George kills
Lennie out of mercy and comforts (утешава) George in his resulting misery. The
contrast between Slim and Curley serves to suggest that the economic power of
Curley is artificial; according to the natural order – that of the competence
hierarchy - Slim is supposed to rank highest.
Carlson (a key side character): His actions foreshadow (предвещавам,
загатвам предварително за) later actions of the main character George. He is
one of the workers on the ranch. Loneliness has made him mean, bitter, coarse,
ugly man who thinks only about himself;
Themes:
Loneliness – nearly all characters admit to having a profound (огромен, дълбок)
sense of loneliness and isolation.
Fraternity/brotherhood – the men desire to come together in a way that would
allow them to be like brothers to one another, to protect one another. Idealized
friendship between men.
The impossibility of the American dream – everybody dreams of a different life;
paradise of freedom and safety are not to be found in this world
Fallenness – our world is flawed; the characters dream is compared to paradise –
where nobody will hurt or steal from them. It’s contrasted with the ranch, which
is a place of fear and isolation, where the workers get hurt and robbed.
Freedom vs captivity – working-class people possess little freedom and are held
captive by their circumstances. Everybody is compelled to do sth that they don’t
want. George decides to kill Lennie not because this is his free will’s choice but
because of the cruel circumstances of life.
Fear – as Slim says: everybody in the world is scared of each other.
Main message:
The pursuit of the American Dream is full of challenges and often thwarted
(осуетен, възпрепятстван) by the harsh realities of life during the Great
Depression.
Literary device:
foreshadowing - use of clues to provide insights as to what happens later in the
story
Vocabulary from the extract:
to sniff – душа, мириша
to stink – воня, смърдя
to pat – потупвам, милвам, галя
to squirm – въртя се, гърча се, извивам се
to quiver – треперя
stride – крачка
a bunk – койка, легло (в каюта)
an orchard – овощна градина
to be stiff – вцепенен/твърд/схванат съм
to herd sheep – паса овце
a shack – барака, колиба
alfalfa – люцерна
a (pig/sheep) pen – кочина, кошара
to can (sth) – консервирам, затвярам в буркан