John Steinbeck - of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men

Many of the characters in 'Of Mice and Men' have fears write about:-

Different kinds of fears

The causes and effects of their fear

How the writer shows their fear

One of the main fears in 'Of Mice and Men' is the fear that both George and Lennie have of being alone. George and Lennie both look after each other in different ways to stop them selves from them becoming alone. This is a very nice thing for each of them to do especially because of what their job consisted of: finding work, working, moving on to another ranch. This was a job for very lonely people who usually like to work alone and not really make real friends but George and Lennie are the best of friends. Their relationship is rather odd though because George is a lot brighter than Lennie, who acts like a child and has the mental ability of a child but lenis is very strong. You could say that George looked after Lennie for some company and for protection and Lennie looked after George so that George was protected and so that they would both not become lonely. George is only really looking after Lennie because Lennie's Aunt Clara told him to. But, even so, they are the best of friends and seem to have been for a very long time. We do not know but they could be more than friends even though this is not told.

Due to both Lennie and George not wanting to be lonely they move from ranch to ranch together and look after each other. George has to look after most of Lennie's possessions though, due to Lennie not being very smart and having a tendency of losing things all the time. George also has to take the blame with Lennie because if he did not both him and Lennie could get split up, which means they would become lonely, which is what they fear. George at the end of the book though cannot take the blame for what Lennie does, this being killing Curley's wife, an innocent woman. The only thing that George can do, as an act of love, is to kill Lennie when he is at his happiest in the back of the head. George does this because he fears that his best and closest friend will be killed in a terrific attack from the other men on the ranch. George has to do this even thought he is facing his fear and making all his dreams shatter. This dream being that one day George and Lennie will own their own house and garden and work for themselves. Also, Lennie will be able to tend rabbits. This dream has been thought out by both Lennie and George so that they have something to work up to even though making the dream seem totally impossible because they are not earning enough money to get what the house that they want with all the things included like the rabbits and a garden. This is quite a sad fear because George has to face up to it and the two characters will now never get their dream and get away from their fear.

Another fear that one of the characters have is of Candy becoming retired and therefore homeless. Candy is worried about losing his job because he is old and does not hold any power because he is crippled and disabled so no-one listens to him. Also Candy does not want to become alone just like Lennie and George. At the beginning of the book Candy has a dog, which he cares for very much. But due to the dog being old, disabled and smelly it has to be shot. This is what Candy feared the most of because he was just like the dog and if the dog had to go, then what was going to happen to him? The only way that Candy could not become homeless is for him to have a back up plan, George and Lennie's dream. Candy overhears Lennie talking about his dream with George and Candy asks if he can join them because he has a sufficient amount of money that could go towards buying the house that George and Lennie had seen. Steinbeck makes you feel very sorry for Candy in of mice and men because he is old and weak and cannot stand up for himself, also if he does lose his job he will not be able to get another because he is too old so if he did lose his job he would only have the small amount of money he has kept aside to live on.

Yet another fear that one of the characters has, that comes true, is Curley's fear of becoming alone as well. He has a wife, who he does not really respect and is just using her for when he wants sex, he has the protection that he has a wife so he has someone to go back to. But, when Lennie kills her he loses all protection and feels lost. The only thing he feels he can do is kill Lennie to let out all his anger. Steinbeck makes Curley look like the baddy even though he is the victim in the attack and is the person who has lost some one who he did care for but did not show he felt for her.

John Steinbeck actually makes you feel sorry for every character in the book because they all have separate fears that all end up being the same, this being that they do not want to be out of work and all they want is to get along nicely and earn some money so they can go out on Saturday night to the whore house and spend most of their money, then the money they have left over they can play horse shoes on the Sunday and gamble all their money away. The book is full about Fear and the main story line is about the fear of George and Lennie Splitting up and become alone like everyone else, which is exactly what happens. Steinbeck has written this book with a large amount of feeling so that the fears of each character is multiplied and is very noticeable.

How does Steinbeck present Crooks in this passage? What is the importance of Crooks in the novel as a whole?

In this passage Steinbeck presents Crooks as a lonely black man with no power, usually, but when Lennie joins him in his cabin crooks feels wanted and as if he is a bit better than Lennie because Lennie isn't very bright and Crooks can use this to his advantage by telling him things because Lennie will not remember anyway. Crooks also puts Lennie down, even scaring him a little bit because he has the chance to. Crooks says 'S'pose