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Which to choose?  Friendship or Isolation...

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Which to choose?  Friendship or Isolation...

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In this novella, George and Lennie represent THE ideal male friendship.  They don’t talk about how they feel about each other or why they should stay loyal – they just stand by each other, and that’s that.

In contrast, everyone else is isolated from one another.  Everyone seems to get along quite well together by talking about how isolated they are, even though the men on the ranch are constantly together and chatting.

Although they are always together, George and Lennie are isolated from the rest of the world. Friendship is a negative relationship in the novella; every time any character gets close to any other, something goes wrong.

Friendship:

LENNIE exclaimed, "But I wouldn’t eat none, George. I’d leave it all for you. You could cover your beans

with it and I wouldn’t touch none of it." (p.13 in pdf)

Isolation:

LENNIE whined, "If you don’ want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time." (p. 14 in pdf)

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The American Dream:  a reality or an illusion?

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The American Dream:  a reality or an illusion?

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Of Mice and Men captures the feel of rural America during the Depression. Different outlooks are presented:
--the never-will-be starlet trying to make it to Hollywood,
--the isolated black man born and raised in California,
--a ranch full of men that like to go to whorehouses, play pool, and drink away their earnings
--men that are constantly bouncing from job to job just shy of making ends meet.

The America of Of Mice and Men is populated with dreamers who are constantly struggling to achieve their dreams.

This novella argues that there is no single America. Rather, there are many different groups

(women, blacks, farm workers, farm owners), each with their own unique struggle.

Quote:

GEORGE complained, "…If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I’d have my own little place, an’ I’d be bringin’ in my own crops, ‘stead of doin’ all the work and not getting what comes up outa the ground."
(p. 40 in pdf)

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Of Mice and Men deals with many of America’s age-old, hot-button issues, including sexism, racism, ageism, and discrimination against those with disabilities. Most importantly, this prejudice isn’t ever explicitly noted or fought against – those who are discriminated against accept the prejudice against them as a way of life.

Prejudice is a fact of life on the ranch because it was a fact of life everywhere in America at

that time.

Crooks said darkly, "Guys don’t come into a colored man’s room very much." (p. 76 in pdf)

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George said, "I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ,
somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself. No, you
stay with me. Your Aunt Clara wouldn’t like you running off by
yourself, even if she is dead."
(p.14 in pdf)

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"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place....With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us."
(p.15 in pdf)

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"If we can get jus' a few dollars in the poke we'll shove off and go up the American River and pan gold. We can make maybe a couple of dollars a day there, and we might hit a pocket."
(p.34 in pdf)

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"'Well,' said George, 'we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof...'"
(p.16 in pdf)

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"We could live offa the fatta the lan'."
(p.59 in pdf)

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"I could build a smoke house like the one gran'pa had..."
(p.58 in pdf)

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"An' we'd keep a few pigeons to go flyin' around the win'mill like they done when I was a kid."
(p.60 in pdf)

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"An' why? Because...because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why."
(p.15 in pdf)

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"'Ain't many guys travel around together,' he mused. 'I don't know why. Maybe ever'body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.'"
(p.36 in pdf)

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"Made me seem God damn smart alongside of him."
(p.41 in pdf)

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"Well, you ain't bein' kind to him keepin' him alive."
(p.46 in pdf)

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"Carl's right, Candy. That dog ain't no good to himself. I wisht somebody'd shoot me if I got old an' a cripple."
(p.46 in pdf)

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"I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."
(p.63 in pdf)

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"'A guy needs somebody-to be near him.' He whined, 'A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.'"
(p.73 in pdf)

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Crooks said sharply, "You got no right to come in my room. This
here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me."
Lennie gulped and his smile grew more fawning. "I ain't doing
nothing," he said. "Just come to look at my puppy. And I seen your
light," he explained.
"Well, I got a right to have a light. You go on get outta my room. I
ain't wanted in the bunk house, and you ain't wanted in my room."
"Why ain't you wanted?" Lennie asked.
"'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play
because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, you all of you
stink to me."

(p.69 in pdf)

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Crooks laughed again. "A guy can talk to you an' be sure you
won't go blabbin'. Couple of weeks an' them pups'll be all right.
George knows what he's about. Jus' talks, an' you don't
understand nothing." He leaned forward excitedly. "This is just a
nigger talkin', an' a busted-back nigger. So it don't mean nothing,
see?
(p.71 in pdf)

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"Yeah?" said Crooks. "An' where's George now? In town in a
whore house. That's where your money's goin'. Jesus, I seen it
happen too many times. I seen too many guys with land in their
head. They never get none under their hand."
(p.76 in pdf)

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"Awright," she said contemptuously. "Awright, cover 'im up if ya
wanta. Whatta I care? You bindle bums think you're so damn
good. Whatta ya think I am, a kid? I tell ya I could of went with
shows. Not jus' one, neither. An' a guy tol' me he could put me in
pitchers. . . :' She was breathless with indignation. "Sat'iday night.
Ever'body out doin' som'pin'. Ever'body! An' what am I doin'?
Standin' here talkin' to a bunch of bindle stiffs-a nigger an' a dumdum
and a lousy of sheep-n' Orin' it because they ain't nobody
else."
(p.79 in pdf)

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She turned on him in scorn. "Listen, Nigger," she said. "You know
what I can do to you if you open. your trap?"
Crooks stared hopelessly at her, and then he sat down on his
bunk and drew into himself.
She closed on him. "You know what I could do?"
Crooks seemed to grow smaller, and he pressed? himself against
the wall. "Yes, ma'am."
"Well, you keep your place then, Nigger. I could get you strung up
on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."
Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality,
no ego-nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, "Yes,
ma'am," and his voice was toneless.
(p.81 in pdf)

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" "I get lonely," she said. "You can talk to people, but I can't talk to
nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to
anybody?" "
(p.86 in pdf)

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"Her face grew angry. "Wha's the matter with me?" she cried.
"Ain't I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am,
anyways? You're a nice guy. I don't know why I can't talk to you. I ain't doin' no harm to you." "
(p.87-88 in pdf)

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"Lennie stroked the pup back and forth. "We gonna have a little
place-an' rabbits," he explained."
(p.88 in pdf)

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" "We gonna have a little place," Lennie explained patiently. "We
gonna have a house an' a garden and a place for alfalfa, an' that
alfalfa is for the rabbits, an' I take a sack and get it all fulla alfalfa
and then I take it to the rabbits." "
(p.89 in pdf)

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"And when she spoke, it was in Lennie's voice. "I tol' you an' tol'
you," she said. "I tol' you, `Min' George because he's such a nice
fella an' good to you.' But you don't never take no care. You do bad things." "
(p.100 in pdf)

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"Aunt Clara was gone, and from out of Lennie's head there came a gigantic rabbit. It sat on its haunches in front of him, and it
waggled its ears and crinkled its nose at him. And it spoke in
Lennie's voice too.

"Tend rabbits," it said scornfully. "You crazy bastard. You ain't fit
to lick the boots of no rabbit. You'd forget 'em and let 'em go
hungry. That's what you'd do. An' then what would George think?"

"I would not forget," Lennie said loudly.

"The hell you wouldn'," said the rabbit. "You ain't worth a greased
jack-pin to ram you into hell. Christ knows George done ever'thing he could to jack you outa the sewer, but it don't do no good. If you think George gonna let you tend rabbits, you're even crazier'n usual. He ain't. He's gonna bear hell outa you with a stick, that's what he's gonna do." "
(p.100-101 in pdf)

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" "We'll have a cow," said George. "An' we'll have maybe a pig an'
chickens . . . . an' down the flat we'll have a . . . . little piece alfalfa-"

"For the rabbits," Lennie shouted.

"For the rabbits," George repeated.

"And I get to tend the rabbits."

"An' you get to tend the rabbits."
Lennie giggled with happiness.

"An' live on the fatta the lan'."

"Yes." Lennie turned his head.

"No, Lennie. Look down there acrost the river, like you can
almost see the place."

Lennie obeyed him. George looked down at the gun.

There were crashing footsteps in the brush now. George turned
and looked toward them.

"Go on, George. When we gonna do it?" "
(p.105 in pdf)

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"Slim said, "You hadda, George. I swear you had-da. Come on with
me." He led George into the entrance of the trail and up toward the highway."
(p.107 in pdf)