I recently finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and felt just about obligated to blog about it. I won’t go in depth on any major spoilers in this post, but if you do plan on reading this book in the future, I’d stop reading right about now.
For a book that’s only about 100 or so pages, you get a surprising lot out of it. It’s about the unlikely duo of George Milton and Lennie Small. George is portrayed as being small and intelligent, while Lennie is large and strong, but intellectually disabled. The story follows the journey of these two through the times of the Great Depression, and follows many themes of companionship, loneliness, and false hope.
Throughout the book, it becomes more and more evident how unlikely the duo of George and Lennie truly are, as many ranch men during that era survived alone, making loneliness extremely common. Lennie and George become practically inseparable, as Lennie is pretty much unable to survive without George due to his unspecified intellectual disability. Despite being incredibly strong, Lennie often doesn’t realize his strength due to his disability, resulting in many minor and major mishaps throughout the novella.
Something that the book often deals with is the concept that some people just cannot be destined to live their dream life, simply due to the circumstances they were born with. Many characters in the story have their own “American Dream,” one that they’ll never be able to achieve, despite all the struggle and work they might put in. The inherent limitations that are implanted into one’s existence can prevent them from living the utopia that they wish to live. I was incredibly intrigued when I first read about this interpretation of the novel, as human nature can often be a very interesting topic, especially when it ties into such an tragic story like this one.
Without revealing anything, I want to say that this book contains an incredibly emotional, and deeply upsetting ending. It’s not something I’m not used to, but it was certainly unexpected. Midway through the book I was asking myself “where could this possibly be going?” But now after reading, I realize that these segments were very purposeful in creating the themes that the book portrays, as we learn a lot about the backstories of certain characters, and how their life was impacted by the depression happening at that time.
For a book to get into reading, I don’t regret choosing Of Mice and Men at all. It had the perfect blend of storytelling and themes for me, and I hope I enjoy my next book just as much as this one. I’m hoping to get my hands on Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro soon…