Of Mice and Men Topics and Themes
The American Dream George Lennie Candy Crooks Curley’s Wife What is the American Dream? Write down what you believe to be the dream of each of the characters. A popular theme in modern American literature is known as The American Dream. This dream involves a longing for several of the following: wealth, independence, land, good looks, popularity or fame self-determination. For George, the dream is to be able to have a place of his own and be his own boss. He doesn't want to work hard or make a lot of money, just enough to be free to run his own life. For Lennie, the dream is to have a piece of responsibility, the rabbits he will tend, and a sense of self-worth. Candy is looking for security in his old age and a feeling of belonging somewhere. Crooks is looking for the self-respect he felt his father had when he was a landowner. Curley's wife is looking "to make something of herself," to have nice clothes, and to have to have pictures taken of her. What about Slim and Curley? Have they already achieved their dreams? Slim is the top dog among the ranch hands. Curley has a pretty wife. Have they succeeded?
Loneliness Causes Cures? Poverty Discrimination Dissatisfaction Is loneliness the human condition or is it a specifically American condition? Is this the price of Westward expansion? Of Capitalist exploitation? Why are these men separated from their families? Did not the original settlers of California live the way that George and Lennie wish to live; why is this way of life now impossible in America? What if the novel were set in the suburbs? Cut off from nature, husbands enslaved to corporations and banks, separated from ancestral roots, bored housewives seek escape. Kinda lacks a tragic dimension.
The Common Man Why does Steinbeck set his allegory among the poor? Are these truths class-bound, gender-bound, or are they universal truths? What unique truths do these men have to teach the world?
The Search for the Holy Grail Holy Grail = Jesus’s goblet from the Last Supper. Finding the Grail will cause all sins to be forgiven. Steinbeck’s first and favorite book: St. Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur George and Lennie's search for a place to live off the fat of the land is a kind of search for the Grail. The bond between G and L is similar to the brotherhood of the Knights. Only those who are pure of heart may seek the grail. George, Lennie, Crooks, Candy
Sir Galahad Galahad was the only knight pure enough to find and touch the Grail, but once he touched it, he died. Frequently in literature a woman stands between the quester and the Grail. Galahad is famous for his purity which, in Monty Python’s rendition of the story, satirizes this purity as sexual immaturity. Lennie represents the defeat of the Galahad myth. Like Lennie, Galahad is seduced by beautiful nuns in a convent, yet manages to escape with his purity intact and to win the Grail. Lennie defeats the temptress who would keep him from the grail, but he cannot achieve the grail because he is blocked by other men (all fallen and corrupted by sin) who lack faith in his purity. Mallory: Galahad says, “My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure.“