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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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“We could live offa the fatta the lan'.” -Lennie (p. 59 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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“Well, we ain't got any,” George exploded. “Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble....An' whatta I got,” George went on furiously. “I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. An' that ain't the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.” (p. 12 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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“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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“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothing to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can't tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn't drunk. I don't know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an' then it would be all right. But I jus' don't know.” (p. 74 in pdf)

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“Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” (p. 86 in pdf)

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“No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know.” (p. 106 in pdf)

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“S'pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing." Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. "We'd just go to her," George said. "We wouldn't ask nobody if we could. Jus' say, 'We'll go to her,' an' we would. Jus' milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an' go to her.” (p. 62 in pdf)

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“I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads [. . .] every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” (p. 74 in pdf)

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“I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.” (p. 94 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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“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin' books or thinkin' or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin', an' he got nothing to tell him what's so an' what ain't so. Maybe if he sees somethin', he don't know whether it's right or not. He can't turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can't tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn't drunk. I don't know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an' then it would be all right. But I jus' don't know.” (p. 74 in pdf)

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“Why can't I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” (p. 86 in pdf)

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"'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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"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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"They'll can me purty soon. Jus' as soon as I can't swamp out no bunk houses they'll put me on the county.  (p. 61 in pdf)

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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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"George won't do nothing like that. I've knew George since-1 forget when-and he ain't never raised his ban' to me with a stick. He's nice to me. He ain't gonna be mean." (p. 101 in pdf)