Of Mice and Men - Book Report

Of Mice and Men

The novel I read, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, is a fatalistic, and tragedy fiction.

The setting of the novel takes place in a cattle farm in South of Soledad, California. It happens during the 1930's Depression-era in America, a period of low general economic activity marked especially by rising levels of unemployment. This setting contributes to the story because it shows people were poor and they had to work hard and might have to travel around to find job. And they were dreaming a better future in their life. Life was tough then and there were conflicts between the characters and sometimes they resort to violence.

"This ol' dog jus' suffers hisself all the time. If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head." This sentence creates a intense feeling for me. It indicates that the dog is useless and too old to keep. It cannot do anything good and it must be gotten rid of. At the end of the novel, the protagonist was killed because he never did anything right and he always caused problems for the others. So, the sentence fittingly relates to the fate of the protagonist and it is a symbol of tragedy.

The ending of the novel was quite surprising, because I did not expect it end that way. The ending was tragic but also romantic. The protagonist, George had to shoot his best friend, Leenie, in order put him out of his misery. And while doing so, George comforted Leenie by telling him that he would never abandon him and that they were going to raise a beautiful animal farm together.