Of Mice and Men

Semester 2, blog post 2

This blog post may contain spoilers. Reader discretion is advised. You have been warned...mwahahaha. >:D

Recently, I finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. (Borrowed a copy from someone after PARCC testing, not that it matters.) It was a good book, although the ending was really depressing.

Would you like a quick synopsis? Yes? Alrighty then, that would be my pleasure.

So, basically the book is about a guy named George and his friend Lennie. George is described as  "small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features," (1). Lennie is sort of the opposite of George, being a "huge giant of a man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders," (2).

What happens is, George and Lennie start work at a farm in California. They dream of making enough money to one day owning their own farm (Lennie dreams of owning rabbits as well, because he has an obsession with stroking soft things.) However, this is not to be, as Lennie is easily scared, and through a progression of events, accidentally kills the wife of the farm owner's son. Shocked and frightened, Lennie steals a gun and flees the scene.

When George and the other farm workers find out, they realize that Lennie is going to face severe consequences. So George, upon finding Lennie, soothingly comforts him, reminding him of their promise to start their own farm, with rabbits that Lennie could pet and care for. Then, George takes Lennie's gun and shoots him.

And that's pretty much how it ends. Much sad, eh? Although, when put under  deeper consideration, the ending was probably necessary for Steinbeck to contribute to the themes of friendship and mercy. George then takes Lennie's life out of mercy, for the consequences of what he had done would be more severe than death. The mercy that George shows Lennie is due to their friendship. George had always taken care of Lennie, and Lennie had always looked up to and loved George.

All in all, a pretty good book. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light but thought-provoking read.

In case you want to learn more, you can find Steinbeck's website here. You can also find a Wikipedia article on him here.

You have now reached the end of my ramblings. I hope I didn't bore you to death. And now I should probably thank you appropriately for reading. So thanks, I guess.