Steinbeck has written the novel in third-person, which allows him to tell the reader each characters point of view. He describes the setting around the characters in such a way that when the characters are doing or saying something, you can literally picture it in your head. He has also made all the characters in the novel talk American dialect (the dialect of the travelling worker). I think this also helps to create a more realistic picture of the characters and story to the reader, as it makes you believe that people from that era spoke like that.
All of the characters from ‘Of Mice and Men’ play an important role to the way the story unfolds. George and Lennie are the two most important characters in this novel. They are migrant workers from America, and also the best of friends. George is the smaller of the two, who travels and cares for Lennie. Even though he sometimes thinks of how his life would be so much better without having his responsibilities, he is still devoted to his companion. Lennie on the other hand, is the taller of the two, but also the dumbest, due to his mental disability. He completely depends on George for his survival, guidance and protection. What Lennie doesn’t understand though is his own strength. He also has a fetish for soft things, such as petting small animals; women’s dresses etc., which always leads him to disaster.
You can easily tell from the beginning of the book, where the reader is first introduced to Lennie that something bad is going to happen to him. Because of his disabilities, and how helpless he is, you can be very sympathetic with him. During the novel, he doesn’t manage to avoid the dangers created by Curley, Curley’s wife, or the world. Because he acts very innocently, you can tell that he doesn’t do things on purpose, but by accident. I think Lennie never knows what he is really doing, and cannot tell the difference between something being good or bad. Because of the things Lennie does, George ends up usually having to stick up for him, and help him when he needs it. George is the only character in the novel who fully understands that Lennie never means to do anything he shouldn’t.
Curley’s wife, yet not being as main a character as Lennie, should still be shown some sympathy. She is never given a name in the novel, as the image of women during the time that ‘Of Mice and Men’ was set wasn’t very good. Women were seen as second class citizens, and were not treated as kindly as men were. She is depicted as someone who makes trouble in the ranch, who drives the men insane, and also a tramp, tart and bitch. It becomes clear though that later in the novel when she confronts Crooks, Lennie and Candy in the stable, that she is not happy with her life. She admits to Lennie that she had a dream of becoming a movie star, but that it never happened. At this point, I felt the same kind of sympathy for her, as for with Lennie. Because her life never turned out to be what she wanted it to, it was the reason she was unhappy.
Other characters which also play a role in the story are Curley, the boss’s son, who is very possessive of his wife, and confident in himself. Candy, the oldest man at the ranch, who feels his age is making him useless, so relies on George’s description of the farm he and Lennie will have as hope of a place he can retire to.
Relating back to how women were made out to be during the time of ‘Of Mice and Men’, black people were also treated badly, and wrongly. Crooks, the only coloured person at the ranch is extremely lonely. He has his own room, separate from all the other ranch men’s rooms. When Lennie visits his room by accident, because he saw a light, Crooks reaction reveals how lonely he is. He tells Lennie to go away at first, but eventually invites him in for company. All that Crooks (in the novel) wants is to be treated as an equal with the other men at the ranch. He wants to be able to enter the bunkhouse, or play cards with the other men.
In conclusion, I believe that this book provides a very powerful impact to the reader, the main reason being because it shows how real life actually was in America at that time. It tells of how coloured people were treated differently, how women were looked upon as second class, and also how cruel real life can actually be. If say, the ending of the story was altered, where Lennie lived, and everyone lived happily ever after, you would not be able to appreciate it as much. The reason being, that life doesn’t always have a happy ending. Things never turn out the way you want them to. No matter how hard you try, events occur which can alter your hopes and your dreams. This book shows the message very loud and clear, and certainly provided a powerful impact to myself.
