John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that all of the characters in "Of Mice and Men" seem to have been reared in violence; some are violent by nature, while others simply accept violent by saying sadistic behavior is part of the "normal" life of a drifter or a migrant farm worker. The paper comments that the presence of violence and sadism can easily be sensed in the actions and reactions of Lennie Small, the lumbering giant with the mind of a child. The author points out that Steinbeck himself was quite familiar with the trials and tribulations associated with being an outsider and a common laborer, much like George and Lennie in "Of Mice and Men".

From the Paper:

"In the scene where George and Lennie are on their way to the ranch to buck barley, the conversation turns to their last job in the little town of Weed, where Lennie had been attracted to a girl's red dress. After grabbing at her clothes, Lennie became so frightened by her screaming that George was forced to hit him over to head to make him let go of her. Following this incident, the duo ends up being chased by a mob out to lynch them for Lennie's treatment of the girl which in the eyes of the lynch mob was akin to attempted rape. In essence, this scene illustrates Steinbeck's power as a writer with his ability to bring into extraordinary scenes of social conflict the psychological forcefulness of Lennie's infantile reactions to the girl's red dress. But the violence of Lennie towards the girl pales in comparison to the violent reactions of the mob who are obviously either unaware of Lennie's child-like mind or simply see the situation as an opportunity to express their inner anger towards "a subhuman creature, unable to distinguish between right and wrong."

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