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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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``I could live so easy and maybe have a girl''.
-George
(p.9 of pdf document)

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``I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn't have you on my tail''.
-George
(p.9 of pdf document)

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``God a'mighty, if I was alone i could live so easy.''
-George
(p. 12 of pdf document)

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``I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble. No mess' all,  and when the end of the month come i coul' take my fifty bucks and go into town and get what' ever i want. Why, I could stay in a cat house night. I could eat any place i want, hotel or an place, and order any damn thing  I could think of. An' i could do all that every damn month. Get a gallon of whiskey, or set in a pool room and play cards or shoot pool.''
-George
(p.12 of pdf document)

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``When i think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts.  I never get no peace.''
-George
(p.13 of pdf document)

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``Well. I could. I could go off in the hills there. Some place I'd find a cave.''
-Lennie
(p.14 of pdf document)

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``If you don' want me I can go off in the hills an' find a cave. I can go away any time.''
-Lennie
(p.14 of pdf document)

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``I want you to stay with me, Lennie.''
-George
(p.14 of pdf document)

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``With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us.''
-George
(p.15 of pdf document)

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``But not us! An' why? Because... because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.''
-Lennie
(p.15 of pdf document)

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``Someday- we're gonna get the jack together  and we're going to have a little house and a couple of acres an' a cow and some pigs and-... 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.''
-George
(p.16 of pdf document)

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``Sure. Ya see the stable buck's a n*****.''
``N*****, huh.''
-George and old man
(p.20-21 of pdf document)

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``I wasn't kicked in the head with no horse, was I, George?''
``Be a damn good thing if you was. save ever'body a hell of a lot of trouble.''
-Lennie and George
(p. 25 of pdf document)

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``Let the big gay talk.''
-Curley
(p.26 of pdf document)

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``Jesus, what a tramp, he said. So that's what Curley picks for a wife.''
-George
(p.33 of pdf document)

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``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''.
-George
(p.40 of pdf document)

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``Course Lennie's a God damn nuisance most of the time. But you get used to goin' around with a guy an' you can't get rid of him.''
-George
(p.42 of pdf document)

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``Well,  it's ten acres. Got a little win'mill. Got a little shack on it, an' a chicken run. Got a kitchen, orchard, cherries, apples, peaches, 'cots, nuts,  got a few berries. They's a place for alfafa and plenty water to flood it.''
-George
(p.58 of pdf document)

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``We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunt house.''
-George
(p.59 of pdf document)

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``Sure, we'd have a little house an' a room to ourself. Little fat iron stove, an' in the winter we'd keep a fire goin' in it. It ain't enough land so we'd have to work too hard. Maybe six, seven hours a dy. We wouldn't have to buck no barley eleven hours a day. An' when we put in a crop, why, we'd be there to take the crop up. We'd  know what come of our planting.''
-George
(p.59 of pdf document)

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``Why'n't you tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs?''
-Slim
(p.63 of pdf document)

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``I ain't wanted in the bunk house,...''
-Crooks
(p.69 of pdf document)

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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.''
-Crooks
(p.69 of pdf document)

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``Well, you keep your place then, N*****. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny.''
-Curley's wife
(p.81 of pdf document)

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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 of pdf document)

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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. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake, and the first thing you know they're poundin' their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to.”
(p.15 of pdf document)

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"I had enough," he said coldly. "You got no rights comin' in a colored man's room. You got no rights messing around in here at all. Now you jus' get out, an' get out quick. If you don't, I'm gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more."
(p.80 of pdf document)

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| ‘’A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ask no questions.’’
(p.25 of pdf document)

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A guy needs somebody―to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.”
(p.73 of pdf document)

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“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. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.”
(p.75 of pdf document)

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“We could live offa the fatta the lan'.”
(p.59 of pdf document)

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"It ain't no lie. We're gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan'.”
(p.70 of pdf document)

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an’ 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’.
(p.74 of pdf document)

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“They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' 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.”
(p.74 of pdf document)

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“They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.”
(p.61 of pdf document)

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“This is just a n***** talkin', an' a busted-back n*****. So it don't mean nothing, see?
(p.71 of pdf document)

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‘’His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, ..’’
(p.68 of pdf document)

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‘’Good boy! That’s fine, Lennie… Oh, I ain’t saying he is bright..’’
(p.16 of pdf document)

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‘’Carl’s right, Candy. That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I go old an, a cripple.’’
(p.46 of pdf document)

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``Around the last stall came a shepherd b****, lean and long, with heavy, hanging dugs.
(p.92 of pdf document)

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Candy said, ‘’I ain’t much good with on’y one hand. I lost my hand right here on this ranch. … I got hurt four years ago. … Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunkhouses they’ll put me on the county. … When they can me here I wisht somedy’d shoot me. I won’t have no place to go, an, I  can’t get no more jobs.’’
(p.61 of pdf document)

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``You God damn tramp, You done it, di'nt you? I s'pose your glad. Ever'body knowed you'd mess things up. You wasn't no good. You ain't no good now you lousy tart.''
(p.95 of pdf document)