Of Mice And Men Analysis

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Of Mice and Men
Analysis

The books original working title given by Steinbeck was Something That Happened, but after reading the poem “To a Mouse” by Scottish poet Robert Burns, Steinbeck changed his mind. The poem describes how the narrator accidentally plows through a mouse’s nest, and the sorrow he feels afterwards.
In the poem, the narrator reflects over the relationship between man and animal, deeply apologizing on the behalf of mankind for all the damages done to nature. The narrator identifies with the mouse as a fellow mortal, saying that both the thinking men and the unthinking animals will suffer in the end. The difference lies in the fact, that only the presence touches the mouse; man on the other hand, are able to look back in regret, or look to the future and fear.
Steinbeck took the title from the second last stanza: “The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go often askew”.

Of Mice and Men is Steinbeck’s first attempt to write both a novel and a play at the same time. He wanted to write a play that could be read as a novel, or a novel that could be performed as a play directly by its lines.
The language itself is very simple and straightforward, written to mirror his characters. Steinbeck writes simply as the men would speak, and lets the content of the book come through via the dialogue.
The sparse descriptions of the men and environment, gives room for personal interpretation of the characters based on their actions and relationships. In some way though, Steinbeck still manages to keep our sympathy for the two protagonists throughout the book, even when Lennie kills Curley’s wife or when George recalls his bullying of Lennie.

Set in the Great Depression during the 1930’s, the story takes place near Soledad in the Salinas Valley of northern California. Almost all of the novels characters are poor and desperate for work, and nobody
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