OF MICE AND MEN (1937) is a simplistic and straight forward novella written by John Steinbeck, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1939), TORTILLA FLAT (1935), EAST OF EDEN (1952), CANNERY ROW (1945), and a number of other popular novels. His worth as a writer comes from his compassion for society’s stepping stool, the economically deprived, as well as his simple prose style that manages to convey human emotion and heavy symbolism despite its brevity. His novels were usually written with vivid descriptions of wildlife and nature, a primitive country vernacular spoken among America’s Third estate, and a deep sympathy for his characters inherent in every word he ever wrote.
OF MICE AND MEN was the work that would be Steinbeck’s biggest commercial success until the publication of THE GRAPES OF WRATH three years later. To this day, it is his most well-known and beloved work. The story concerns a lovable oaf named Lenny Small, and his short friend, George Milton. George serves as a gauge for Lenny’s temper because if the imbecilic giant were to ever become angry, he would be out of control. George also makes sure that Lenny stays out of harm’s way, a job he wishes upon someone else than himself many times within the novella’s 107 pages. Because of Lenny’s intense curiosity of the world around him, his fetish for petting “soft things,” and his immense strength, it is apparent from the very beginning that this story will end in tragedy. Another clue can be spotted in the origin of the story’s title. It is derived from a Robert Burns poem that states, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” So saying that the plot is linear and obvious is simply an exercise in futility. Of course, the story’s plot never once takes unexpected leaps and bounds from the Burns stanza that it derives its title from. This is to be expected and, if one wishes to enjoy the work, accepted.
Characters fade in and out of sight in the novella, including an ill-tempered runt named Curley, a senile old chap who goes by the name of Candy, and Slim, a smooth-talking farmhand. Another character is the alienated Negro named Crooks who is forced to sleep far away from the other men. In his character, we see the essential isolation from society present in the relationship between George and Lenny made apparent. The character of Crooks is a symbolic helping hand that guides the reader through the text and helps with comprehension of the underlining symbolism inherent in the fellowship of George and Lenny. Because of this useful function, the character of Crooks is an important part of the story, although he is given barely given a chapter’s worth of room to speak his piece. Another character that sheds some light on the friendship is Curley’s wife, who is the born victim in this story.
The obvious antagonist in the novella is Curley from his very first appearance. He storms in on Lenny and George barely a second after they arrive at the ranch, demands to know where his wife is, and gives George a dubious looking over. Curley horrendous attitude, hatred of tall people, and quick temper are the obvious clues to his inevitable role as the bad guy in Lenny and George’s story. Steinbeck utilized this character and others to better speed along his progress in writing the work. One author who took a page out of Steinbeck’s book is Stephen King. In THE GREEN MILE, King creates a slow-witted but kind giant figure enwrapped in tragedy named John Coffey and a mean-spirited loudmouth named Percy Wetmore. The work was an experiment for King, and a kind of revert to the Victorian days in which Charles Dickens published monthly serial installments of GREAT EXPECTATIONS and other works. Each new addition written by Dickens in those days were so eagerly anticipated that often times when the ships with the serial installments in their cargo hold pulled in to port, they swamped by prospective buyers. Recently, nation-wide suspense in between serials or sequels has been seen with the HARRY POTTER novels, which have made their writer J.K. Rowling a billionaire. King probably wanted to bring back that age old excitement for literature, and for his noble efforts, he was rewarded with THE GREEN MILE’S six serial installments selling out in short order as readers eagerly gobbled the novel up.
Because of its brevity and narrow focus on one set path, the simplicity of OF MICE AND MEN can easily be considered a virtue. In my honest opinion, it is both a positive and negative quality of the novella. I personally am used to Steinbeck writing longer novels that are more fleshed out and on no particular set path or train of thought. In this way, the majority of Steinbeck’s works resemble those of Jack Kerouac, Beat Generation novelist who wrote the popular ON THE ROAD. However, Steinbeck’s trademark of the literary trade has always been his sympathy and his simplicity, and OF MICE AND MEN’S linearity perfectly suits this style. It may not allow enough time for characters to be properly wrote in order to induce emotions from the readers, but the shortened form certainly appreciates the prose of Steinbeck more than any other medium, including full-length novel. I am certain the work was difficult for Steinbeck to write. Like Stephen King and his serial novel, Steinbeck was seemingly caught in a literary bind, so he simplified his story and made it from beginning to end an inevitable set of circumstances. King himself relied on the OF MICE AND MEN formula because he was writing something wholly different from his other macabre works. As an author, King was exploring a new territory of uncharted land in his literary career, and that is why he chose to take the simplicity of OF MICE AND MEN to note.
OF MICE AND MEN is a work that is radically different from a large number of so-called classics, namely because of its brevity and universal appeal. It utilizes simplicity and linearity for the sake of writing a good, not great, novel. Despite any fault one might find, OF MICE AND MEN is nevertheless a decent offering from one of America’s most respected authors of the twentieth century.