Discuss the hopes of the characters and consider the implication for the book as a whole and in particular, where do you think Slim fits into the story?
"OF MICE AND MEN"
JOHN STEINBECK
Discuss the hopes of the characters and consider the implication
for the book as a whole and in particular, where do you think
Slim fits into the story?
In the book we come across a group of characters based in barn where most are working on to gain money for a great purpose that some believe they will achieve at the end. The two main characters are George and Lennie who we start the story off with. We see them on their way to the ranch to be workers. The main characters in this book, all of who have ambitions are shown below,
* George - American Dream along with Lennie and Candy to get their own land.
* Lennie - American Dream
* Candy - American Dream
* Curley - Boxer
* Curley's wife - Actress
* Crooks - He wants to live equally with right and respect among the white characters and have someone to be and talk with.
* Slim - He has no real ambition, unlike the others, but he is seen as the fearless worker offering advice, comfort, and quiet words of wisdom. He's the decision-maker when it comes to conflicts and problems.
As you can see from the above descriptions it is clear that in the story most of the characters have some sort of ambition apart from Slim who I think plays a different role in this story which I will explain later. Many of them are aiming to succeed with the "American Dream", this is an ambition to live independently in their own patch of land in their own farm and house, but not all is straight forward as many of the characters at first fail to realise, a mistake that lead them to a sad ending.
The main characters George and Lennie make up the base of the story. It follows their struggle to achieve their dream, a dream they underestimate very badly. I think it is important to outline the characters and their hopes and relationships to understand the implications of the story.
George and Lennie have the most significant relationship. From the beginning the author presents Lennie and George as two partners who have weaknesses and strengths, but in general George is seen as a hero, a small, quick man with well-defined features. George dreams of one day saving enough money to buy his own place and be his own boss, living off of the land. The problem to his objective is his mentally handicapped companion, Lennie, with whom he has travelled and worked since Lennie's Aunt Clara, whom George knew, died. The majority of George's times and energy is devoted to looking after Lennie as leader and in many ways a brother to him, but Lennie's blunders prevent George from working towards his dream, or even living the life of a normal rancher. George's conflict arises in Lennie, George in many cases seems to want to desperately let go of Lennie yet his long relationship with him sets him back and causes a confusing mixture of emotions ranging from hope, pride, love and patience to anger and sadness. For example in many out bursts of anger George says what he would do,
"Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want"
I think this quote in many ways show a more sad side to George's hopes and life without Lennie. I think it is better to ask whether if George would really be any better off without Lennie, I think that ...
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"Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want"
I think this quote in many ways show a more sad side to George's hopes and life without Lennie. I think it is better to ask whether if George would really be any better off without Lennie, I think that from what he says if Lennie was got rid of George may just start spending all his money on visits to the Whore House, and eventually collapse any chance of succeeding. I think George is a very strange character because, it is clear through out the book that Lennie is a great obstacle for him, yet he always fails to let go of Lennie on many occasions, for example at the beginning they have an argument and Lennie says that he could go away to the hills and live in the caves and not bother George anymore, but George says,
"I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody'd shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself."
George and Lenny are not unique for wanting a place and a life of their own, but they are unique in that they have each other. Their companionship contrasts the loneliness that surrounds them, the loneliness of the homeless ranch worker, the loneliness of the outcast black man (Crooks), the loneliness of the denied woman (Curley's wife), the loneliness of the old, helpless cripple man (Candy), and it arouses curiosity in the characters that they encounter like slim who is amazed that they both travel together. This eventually leads to their friendship, which as I described with George has to be put under question. Lennie sure sees George as a friend, but George really may just see Lennie as a burden, as he says to Slim he has become so use to having Lennie around that he "can't get rid of him".
A burden that he can't get rid of, and one that leads to sadness and collapse of the whole plan at the end.
As I said before another problem of George is the whorehouses he frequently visits. Its Ironic that he struggles so much to describe to Lennie and Candy the future land they will be living on and then telling Lennie off for doing bad things, while he wastes his money on the whore houses. This again is a foretelling of the miserable future for them ahead, as Crooks says,
"Yeah?' said Crooks. 'An' where's George now? In town in a whorehouse. That's where your money's going'. Jesus, I seen it happens too many times. I seen too many guys with land in their head. They never get none under their hand."
Lennie plays a more unknowingly destructive character in the story yet seen by the reader as an innocent man with good intentions. He is like an opposite of George both physically and mentally. He is mentally handicapped with child like behaviour and ideas, yet he has enormous strength, a combination that proves fatal as we go into the story. Lennie through out the story uses George as his fuel for getting him out of trouble and hope for his childish interpretation of the American dream, a bizarre one, where he sees himself stroking and taking care of rabbits, again another example of is stupid ness. As in many cases he has killed animals by stroking them, a mouse, a pet dog and even a human at the end. The important part that Lennie plays is the conflicts and broken dreams he causes. Candy, the old one-handed swamper who is the first to join their plans is one character that seems to be at the end of the line after his dog being killed, and therefore has only one more option, that is to join George and Lennie's dream. As with all the others when Lennie kills Curley's wife he is angered by the fact that all hopes are over for him. The same goes for Curley's wife, the neglected woman in the story who wants to escape from the loneliness of her husband and talk to the other men, who find it awkward. She dreams of being and actress and in many ways she already has fallen into the deep dark hole like the others will because she was denied to be an actress when she was small by her mother and married off to Curley and to a life of loneliness. While on her pursuit to find someone to talk to she makes a step too far towards Lennie's attention and lets him touch her soft hair, and while doing so a panic occurs between them and Lennie breaks her neck and again breaks another dream. The same goes for Curley who wants to be a boxer, but after a fight with Lennie, he has one of his hands broken along with his dream of being ever a boxer. Lennie and George I think were in a sort of circle that led nowhere but sadness, even George told Lennie to return to the place where they started if anything went wrong, and that's where they did end up right at the end of the story.
Crooks who is like Candy is another who has no hope of a good future, the difference is that apart from him having a bent spine he is disabled by his black colour in his racist surroundings. Crooks is bitter, indignant, angry, and ultimately frustrated by his helplessness as a black man. Wise and observant, Crooks listens to Lennie's talk of the dream of the farm with scepticism. Although tempted by Candy, Lennie, and George's plan to buy their own place, Crooks is constantly reminded (in this case by Curley's wife) that he is inferior to whites and, out of pride, he refuses to take part in their future farm.
For example while Curley's wife was in Crook's room, after he told her to get out, and that she had no rights to speak like that, she says,
"'Listen, Nigger,' she said. 'You know what I can do if you open your Trap'"
This clearly left Crooks helpless, as he knew in this racist culture that he could get falsely accused. From all this we can see all those who have no real hope of succeeding, but the only character left is Slim.
Slim as I said before is the tall skinner that is described as something of a living legend:
"He moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen."
He was capable of killing a fly on the wheeler's butt with a bull whip without touching the mule. He seemed to have the power to control people and conflicts.
"His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought."
The more important factor arises about the story is when we find out that he unlike the others doesn't have any real ambition; he has nowhere to go and no American Dream. I think that Slim even with his wisdom and perfect like characteristics still, has nothing to call his own and will, by every indication, remain a migrant worker until his death. Slim differs from the others in the fact that he does not seem to want something outside of what he has, he is not fooled by a dream, and he has not laid any plans like the others. I personally think that Slim still has ideas and a dream inside but one that he has control over unlike the others. Slim just seems to have somehow reached the sad conclusion that dreams rarely work in a world full of obstacles. I think that his role is that of like an example. All the others are seen as the failures and because the theme of this book is sadness and despair he is shown as not a Hero but someone who has made the right decisions.
Coming to a conclusion of what are the implications of this story I think there are many factors being involved within the story to make up its theme. For example there are like many types of hidden descriptions of certain people, things and events. I found it strange that there were many people with some sort of 'cripple' that prevented them from their inmost desires. Many characters were bizarrely crippled, like Crooks (his spine), Candy (his arm), and Curley (his broken hand).
Candy's dog also played a big part. Although it is now an old and dirty tired out dog, it kept Candy alive of his sheep herding days. Yet it was just another burden to him, like Lennie was to George. For example, Carlson says to Candy about the dog,
"Got no teeth, he's all stiff with rheumatism. He ain't no good to you, Candy. An' he ain't no good to himself. Why'n't you shoot him, Candy?"
Candy has no option but to sacrifice his dog for the good of others. I think this clearly is like a metaphor of the situation that George is in with Lennie, and indeed that is the fate of things to come for Lennie. Like the dog, Lennie is just another burden. Its also a strange coincidence that while Carlson shoots the dog, Lennie is the only other man outside of the bunk house, a sign I think of events to come where Lennie himself will also be shot.
I think the author uses the game of solitaire effectively as another metaphor. In the story George seems to play solitaire very frequently with the others. Solitaire is a game that only requires one person to play it also means in many ways loneliness. The fact that George plays solitaire himself and not with Lennie (because he thinks he's mentally incapable) in my personal view foretells the future for George, a future of Loneliness. After getting rid of Lennie as his burden he adopts the burden of a life of loneliness like many others have in the story.
The dead mouse and dog are again indications of the fate to become of George and Lennie. Lennie touches the animals and kills them even though he never meant to hurt them and he loves them they still die. This is very similar to what happens to the dreams of Lennie and George, even though they never meant to cause trouble and conflicts, they still suffer by the death of lennie and a broken dream for George and Candy. I think this also brings about the whole idea and implications of the story and the title. I think men are just like the mice, even men are destined for the same fate, no matter what your intentions are, even if they are love, when in a world like George and Lennie were in, a fate of loneliness, pain and most of all broken dreams are to behold you.
By Sayfur Rahman 10B
