Of Mice and Men - The differences between the book and the film.

By Ollie Wright

This essay will tell you the differences between the film and the novel, with reasons.

I have read the book and watched the film ‘Of Mice and Men’. The novel starts with Lennie and George walking towards a ranch a few miles south of Soledad in America.

Lennie is described as large man of simple intelligence: “ He walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.” George, however, is just the opposite, clever and alert: “The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features.” George promised to take care of Lennie when his Aunt Clara died.

The film starts with a young woman in her twenties in a red dress that is ripped; she is crying. This gives the viewer the impression that she has been attacked and possibly raped. Lennie and George are hiding in a water-filled ditch. Weed ranch men on horseback, with guns, appear to be hunting them. The director of the film has started with this scene because it feels sinister and makes you want to know what happens to Lennie and George.

In the book, there is a discussion between George and Lennie about the bus journey “Jes a little stretch down the road. I bet it was more than four miles,” whereas in the film, we actually see George and Lennie catch a bus and are dropped off about four miles from the ranch. The bus driver told them that it was only a few yards. This scene is added in the film because it makes the film more interesting and appealing. It also shows what has happened to them before going to the ranch.

Once they arrived in Soledad, they met with ranch owner, their new boss, who had expected them the evening before. In the novel the boss goes down to see them in the bunk house, “Lennie was just finishing making his bed. The wooden latch raised again and the door opened. A little stocky man stood in the open doorway”. This differs to the film where George and Lennie are taken to see the boss in his office. The director has done this to show authority and who is in charge. This also makes it exciting, as it is another location that ...

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In the novel, Slim compliments about Lennie on his strength: “ There ain’t nobody can keep up with him. God awmighty I never seen such a strong guy,” whilst in the film we see ranch men working. This gives the audience more knowledge of what the men are paid to do. We see the machinery used at the time and it gives us a wider idea of work. It shows Lennie working; he is lifting a bag on his own, with no trouble, whilst two other men are lifting a bag between them with great difficulty. This scene is added to inject humour and to make the film much more interesting. It also made the viewer sympathetic towards Lennie because labouring was the only thing he was good at.

In the film and novel, Lennie took a pup, which was has been given to him by Slim, into the bunk house. Lennie was told off by George and sent to take it back to the barn. In the film we see Lennie pretending to bring in second pup. This makes Lennie much more intelligent compared to the novel where he doesn’t seem bright enough to play such a trick.

In both the film and the novel, Candy’s faithful old dog is shot by Carlson, but Candy’s emotions are portrayed completely differently. In the novel, Candy just looks at the ceiling and doesn’t react to anything around him, “Only Candy continued to stare at the ceiling,” but in the film we see and hear Candy crying openly. I believe Garry Sinise makes us empathetic towards Candy and this shows how George could feel if he lost Lennie as Candy's dog was his only friend.

There were a number of additional scenes in the film, such as: the men at work, the incident at Weed and scenes that bring George closer to Curley’s wife. Garry Sinise has done this to make Curley’s wife less of a tart and makes us feel warmer towards her. The film has missed out the scene where Crooks, Lennie, Candy and Curley’s wife are altogether in the barn and Curley’s wife says that she could get Crooks hung by the click of her fingers. Garry Sinise has removed the scene to stop the film appearing racist and put Curley’s wife in a better light. Unlike in the novel where she is described as “Jailbait”.

In the novel and film, Lennie is in the barn mourning his dead puppy when Curley’s wife approaches him. The puppy, like the mice, which he had had before as pets, was dead; this was due to his heavy handedness. Curley‘s wife flirted with him and invited him to touch her hair, which was silky. He liked soft things ( a treasure of his was a piece of velvet that Aunt Clara gave him): “I like to pet things with my fingers sof’ things.” Curley’s wife tries to struggle away from Lennie, he panics and accidentally kills her. In the film, after Lennie runs away because he killed Curley wife his hat is found next to the body. This is added so that the ranch men have more proof that Lennie was the person who killed Curley’s wife. There is no hat in the novel, just the body discovered by Candy, who was looking for Lennie in the barn. “Oh Lennie! You in here?” Lennie is missing. When they examine the body they find her neck broken and assume Lennie must have killed her. Slim says: “Her necks bust. Lennie coulda did that.”

In the final chapter, Lennie is found standing in the river where the novel starts. The dream that Lennie has about the giant rabbit and Aunt Clara is completely missed out. I believe this works in the novel, because it shows the reader the way Lennie handles his emotional distress: “Well he’s sick of you said the rabbit He’s gonna beat hell outta you an’ then go away an’ leave you” This is Lennie’s greatest fear, being alone. It would ruin the film, as it uses music and visual effects to create tension and this, in my opinion, would be broken by a giant rabbit.

In the novel, the ranch hands find George standing over Lennie’s body after shooting him. George has done this out of love for Lennie and made his departure painless as possible. As George is going to shoot him he tells Lennie their dream about owning their private ranch. He had to kill him first to stop the ranch men slaughtering him: “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied.” In the novel, when the ranch men find George they congratulate him on killing Lennie. This is missed out in the film, I believe that director did this so the ranch hands wouldn’t appear unsympathetic towards the George. It could be that the director was trying to show that most people aren’t consciously cruel, only ignorant.

In the concluding scene, of the film, George is shown in a railway carriage remembering Lennie. This is effective because it makes you grieve with him, about Lennie’s death. This scene doesn’t appear in the book.

After studying “Of Mice and Men”, I found the ending was unexpected and it surprised me that George killed Lennie. Of the two versions, I preferred the film because of the visual impact and the music, which the novel could not portray. I feel this added tension and impact.