"of Mice and Men" Book Report

"Of Mice and Men" was written by John Steinbeck and is a

fictional book. "Of Mice and Men" is a book, set on the Californian

Grain Farms in the 1930's, about two life long friends named George

and Lennie. The book generally is about all of the migrant workers, all

with their own dreams. The main characters George and Lennie go

from farm to farm, trying to work up a stake and save enough to buy

their own farm one day. On their latest job they go to work on a farm

after having to run away from their old town Weed. In their new farm,

they meet many people including Curley, a little boxer guy who hates

big guys like Lennie, and Curley's wife, who messes everything up in

the end. Lennie and George have many grand adventures on the farm,

but one day while George is out playing horseshoes, Lennie

accidentally kills Curley's wife. Lennie runs away but when the guys

come back to find Curley's wife dead, George is forced to kill his friend.

George is a typical migrant worker. He's not particularly strong,

but he's smart and good at his job. The difference between him and

the rest of the workers is that he has someone to call a friend. Lennie

is the opposite of George in every physical way. He's much taller and

better built, and consequently an amazing worker. Unfortunately for

him and George he is not very intelligent. George enjoys going to

brothels, getting drunk and generally wasting his money. Lennie

adores animals and he likes to pet them. He forgets how strong he is

and usually kills them. They both share the dream of one day owning

their own farm. George wants freedom to work how he wants, and

Lennie wants to tend the rabbits.

The theme in this novel that is prominent throughout the novel

is friendship, mainly the friendship that occurs between the two main

characters, George and Lennie. This friendship was such a strong

friendship because of the trust that existed between the pair. They

also shared the same dream, The American Dream. This friendship is

considered to be "odd" in the novel as is demonstrated in the quote,

"Not many guys travel around together."

The death of Lennie at the end of "Of Mice and Men" seems, at

first, to be the most tragic event in the novel, especially for the people

directly concerned, such as George and Lennie himself. However, in

actual fact, the novel is full of sad people suffering in a world where no

one really cares about them. The men who worked on the ranches, the

traveling workers were sad and lonely people. As George says "Guys

like us, who work on ranches, are the loneliest people in this world."

They had no families and no homes. They moved from place to place

to find work. Some had dreams of owning land, but only a few dreams

came