Steinbeck presents many themes in of mice and men , the most shown theme is the theme of ‘friendship’ “I was only foolin’ , George.I don’t want no ketchup , I wouldn’t eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me.” “If it was here, you could have some.” “But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it”. This shows that Lennie values George and actually cares about him as he says if there was ketchup he would leave it for George. When George says if it was here you could have some , that also shows that Goerge shows a more of a father charcter towards Lennie and its like Goerge puts the food on the table for Lennie. This theme of friendship also links into the theme of dreams, “ I remember about the rabbits, George”.” The hell with the rabbits. That’s all you can every remember is them rabbits” This is the first mention we have of the dream. Even from the introduction, it seems Lennie is more excited than George about the prospect. George’s easy dismissal of "them rabbits" makes it seem as though he thinks the whole thing is silly. This will get more complex as we realize that George might be as excited about the dream as Lennie; it seems he is just more cautious about that excitement, given that he’s more world-weary than his companion. It also shows of lennie’s dreams . Rabbits. Lennie always talks about rabbits but George knows that they may not reach their dreams so Lennie shouldn’t always think and worry about it explaining why he says “ the hell with the rabbits”
The biggest link to dreams is when George and Lennie start to talk about their main dream that they both want “ An’ live off the fatta the lan’” “ We’ll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens and when it rains in the winter, we’ll just say the hell with goin’ to work and we’ll build up a fire in the stove” this is a very powerful message that Steinbeck presents , it shows that no matter what class you are no matter how you look or no matter who you are , everyone can have a dream , and everyone can reach there dream no matter how big or small it is. Even though during the great depression , dreams wasn’t the most commen thing, but it didn’t stop goerge and Lennie wanting a dream.
Hard ship is also a huge theme, Upon reading the novel entitled “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck, a reader will most often notice three themes. These themes are enduring hardship to achieve the American dream, hope and happiness, and the contrast of loneliness and friendship. Included in this essay will be an analysis of these three themes along with direct quotation and some short paraphrasing.
The Great Depression was a difficult time for all Americans. The economy was in a terrible state and many were forced to work just to meet the basic needs- food and shelter. Because of this, people moved around a lot looking for work. This is exactly what George Milton and Lennie Small faced in Of Mice and Men. The two men couldn’t be more different but they traveled from ranch to ranch earning enough to make it through the week. Their dream, however, was to one day have their own farm but George knew all too well that this was the dream of many and only came true. a handful of times. As Crooks explains on page 32, “I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” This type of tragedy is present throughout the novel and shows how hardship was inescapable during this time.
Hope is all they have. In the novel, George and Lennie one day hope to own their own farm with crops, animals, and a house. In the beginning, George knows it’s a farfetched dream but it develops into a possibility as Candy’s money and help is added into the mix. This hope drives George and Lennie to work and focused. It’s used as a bribe to keep Lennie out of trouble. Without this hope, they would fall apart.
The themes loneliness George's loneliness is fairly understandable- he has been given the responsibility to look after a man who for all his good intentions may as well be a child. Although George deep down begrudgingly appreciates having a friend to travel with, he gets angry when Lennie's ignorance gets them in trouble and ruins any chances George may have of making friends of his own intellectual level. However, despite all this he cares about Lennie- he is to George the younger brother he loves to hate.
As far as Lennie is concerned, he has George, whom he worships, and he has his dream of their own piece of land to keep him going on. In reality though, he must get lonely- after all he is often shunned by George and made to feel stupid in conversations- that is if he is ever allowed to take part in one. Maybe this is why he loves the idea of tending rabbits when they have their own place- despite his obvious surface desire (he likes "soft things", thus the dress incident in Weed) they may represent a mirror parallel of all the bad things about George. From a rabbit he would receive unconditional love and no orders of what to do and what not to. He is lonely because he feels that the creatures he could connect most with are ones that can't connect with him. Stenibeck uses loneliness in this novel to give out the message that in the 1930s during the great depression times were really hard , no one cared about anyone , everyone was lonely all people wanted to do is provide food and shelter for themselves at the end of the day and not worry about their ‘friend’ or ‘partner’.
The theme death and voilnce is quite commen in the novel and in the times of 1930s, “ where we goin, George?”. “ the little man jerked down the brim of his hat and scowled over at Lennie “so you forgot that awready, did you? I gotta tell you again, do i? Jesus Christ, you’re a crazy bastard”. “I forgot” Lennie said softly this shows that George is really aggressive towards Lennie as he swares using “ crazy bastard” and its also a very violent way of speaking also when George says “Well , that was a lie. An’ im damn glad it was. If I was a relative of yours I’d shoot myself” this is a very arrogant and harsh quote as it states if I was related to someone who was ‘dumb’ and ‘slow’ I would actually kill my self , Steinbeck does this by showing in the 1930s violence and death wasn’t a problem , the police wouldn’t do anything and you could get away with murder so violence to them was nothing it gives a impression of that the violent attitude used in the novel as used just as normal remarks that people used against each other in the 1930s.
