Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck

 


Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck


Unlike most people my age, for some reason I never had to read Of Mice and Men back in school - which is a shame because it’s an excellent book. Brief as it may be, the story is powerful, the characters are just dimensional enough to drive it, the themes penetrate every inch of the text, and the writing is beautiful. Steinbeck creates honesty in the dialogue, poetry in the descriptions, and a tastefulness in even the more crass and violent aspects of the novella.


I see Of Mice and Men as an exploration of belonging - or more accurately, a lack of belonging, in a world at odds with its denizens. Candy is disabled in a world of physical labor. Crooks is black in a world of oppressive white men. And Lennie is brutally strong and painfully simple in a world so delicate and complex. Their situations are depressingly beyond their control, yet Steinbeck shines a ray of hope through community. He presents the idea that we can all find company where we do belong, in a place where we otherwise don’t. There are Georges and Slims out there, whose understanding and dependability rise above the callousness of our reality.


Steibeck’s unfortunate secondary “resolution” of killing in compassion, however, is something I can’t stand by. I personally see it, in most circumstances, as the abuse of a right that belongs only to God. Unless, of course, you interpret the novella through a lens where George is an (imperfect) stand-in for God, and we, in our destructive ignorance, are Lennie. In spite of all the harm we cause, God will love us unconditionally, forgive us unconditionally, protect us from a world where we don’t belong, and ultimately, when it’s time, take us away to one where we do. A world where we can live off the land and tend our rabbits, and we don’t have to inflict or endure any more harm.


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