Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

I'm not sure how I missed Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men when I was slogging through required reading in my High School and then Undergraduate years. But somehow, I'd never read this short gem of a novel. The plot is relatively straight forward. Lenny and George are ranch hands, traveling within California and going from ranch to ranch to work the land.

George is a small dark fellow with dreams of owning his own land and never having to work for anyone again. Lenny, is a large lumbering blonde man who is dim witted and essentially has the mind of a child. George looks out for Lenny and has a lot of compassion and love for Lenny that goes beyond simple companionship. Essentially, George has become Lenny's caretaker, his parent-figure. And he takes his duties seriously, even if he may resent it a little.

Lenny has a penchant for soft things he can pet. At the beginning of the story, we are shown that Lenny has pocketed a small mouse, but in the midst of his overzealous petting, Lenny has killed the mouse. It doesn't keep him from wanting to keep petting it however. George advises Lenny that when they buy their own land, he will get Lenny some rabbits, which will be larger and therefore, harder to kill.

Lenny obviously doesn't mean to kill the mouse, but he really has no concept of his own strength and he is sad that the mouse had to die, although there is a strange disconnect between Lenny's knowledge of the death, and his knowledge of his own actions which produced the death.

Lenny and George get hired on to a new ranch at the beginning of the story. The old ranch they had to leave when Lenny took a liking to a girl's red dress and wanted to pet it. Even after being told to let go, he got confused and grabbed tighter, leading the girl to run to the authorities, who then run Lenny (and by association, George) out of town.

Lenny is joyous to learn that the lead ranch hand on the property has a dog that has just given birth to a litter of puppies. The lead ranch hand, Slim, is appreciative of the care George has taken for Lenny and agrees to give Lenny one of the puppies. The new jobs are complicated by the son of the ranch owner, Curly, a small man with a Napoleon complex who decides Lenny is a good target to pick on, and his wife, who shows up at odd times ostensibly to "look for her husband" but really to flirt and talk with the men.

Steinbeck does a great job of overlaying all scene's with Curly's wife with an uneasiness bordering on foreboding. George tells us she is no good and will only lead to trouble. In the end she does, but not in the way we'd expect.

The unlikely friendship between Lenny and George is a bright spot in the book. It's easy to see how Slim would be warmed by it. Taking care of Lenny makes George more human. It gives him a reason to want a better life, to remain connected to himself and his humanity. This makes the ending that much more despairing. I won't write a spoiler here in case you are like me and one of the probably 25 people who have not read the book before. But if you have managed to miss it, you should pick it up and give it a chance. The writing itself is fantastic and the story really hits hard. It's no wonder it's withstood the test of time and is considered great American fiction.

5/5 Stars.