Remake of Remake of Theme-Tracker for Of Mice and Men by Maya Stoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib Let's pool our knowledge about the 4 main themes in this novella en-us 2020-09-22 13:31:34 UTC 2025-11-17 22:53:04 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Bigthunderstorm.png Racism, sexism, ageism mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768043220 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)
]]> 2020-09-22 13:31:34 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768043220 The American Dream: a reality or an illusion? mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768043223 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)
 
]]> 2020-09-22 13:31:34 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768043223 Which to choose? Friendship or Isolation... mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768043227 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)
]]> 2020-09-22 13:31:34 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768043227 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768104848 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.40 in pdf)]]> 2020-09-22 13:43:30 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/768104848 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839035532  “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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:29:47 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839035532 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839037075  “We could live offa the fatta the lan'.”  (p.59)]]> 2020-10-18 17:31:16 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839037075 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839041440 "It ain't no lie. We're gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan'.” (p.70)]]> 2020-10-18 17:36:12 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839041440 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839042263 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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:37:04 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839042263 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839042819 “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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:37:41 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839042819 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839044487 “They fell into a silence. They looked at one another, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.”
(p.61)]]> 2020-10-18 17:39:27 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839044487 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839049607 "Coulda been in the movies, an' had nice clothes-all them nice 
clothes like they wear. An' I coulda sat in them big hotels, an' had
pitchers took of me. When they had them previews I coulda went
to them, an' spoke in the radio, an' it wouldn'ta cost me a cent
because I was in the pitcher. An' all them nice clothes like they
wear. Because this guy says I was a natural." (p.88-89)]]> 2020-10-18 17:43:04 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839049607 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839054184 “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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:47:24 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839054184 mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839055786 “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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:48:44 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839055786 Friendship mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839059075 “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's
 why.”
(p.15)]]> 2020-10-18 17:51:26 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839059075 Isolation mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839060138 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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:52:09 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839060138 Isolation mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839060779 “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)


]]> 2020-10-18 17:52:50 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839060779 Isolation mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839061969 '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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:54:04 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839061969 Friendship mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839062618 '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.”
(p.42)
]]> 2020-10-18 17:54:46 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839062618 Isolation mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839063817 ‘’A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ast no questions.’’ (p.25)]]> 2020-10-18 17:56:04 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839063817 Friendship mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839065499 "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)]]> 2020-10-18 17:57:57 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839065499 Friendship mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839067521 "Well, I never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy. I just like to know what your interest is." (p.23)]]> 2020-10-18 18:00:15 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839067521 Isolation mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839068544 "I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely." (p.86)]]> 2020-10-18 18:01:08 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839068544 Isolation mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839071373 “A guy needs somebody—to be near him.” He whined, “A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.”
(p.73)]]> 2020-10-18 18:04:24 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839071373 Isolation mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839074405 A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically. (p.98)]]> 2020-10-18 18:07:43 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839074405 Racism mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839080879 "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." (80)]]> 2020-10-18 18:14:30 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839080879 Racism mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839081703 “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)

]]> 2020-10-18 18:15:23 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839081703 Racism + Disability mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839082318 “This is just a nigger talkin', an' a busted-back nigger. So it don't mean nothing, see? 
(p.71)]]> 2020-10-18 18:16:01 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839082318 Disability mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839083022 ‘’His body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, ..’’
(p.68)]]> 2020-10-18 18:16:40 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839083022 Ageism+Mental disability mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839083547 ‘’Good boy! That’s fine, Lennie… Oh, I ain’t saying he is bright..’’
(p.16)

]]> 2020-10-18 18:17:12 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839083547 Disability mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839084413 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)]]> 2020-10-18 18:18:13 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839084413 Ageism mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839085936 ‘’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)


]]> 2020-10-18 18:19:42 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839085936 Ageism mayastoica https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839089011 "I'd make a will an' leave my share to you guys in case I kick off, 'cause I ain't got no relatives or nothing…
(p.61)]]> 2020-10-18 18:22:57 UTC https://padlet.com/mayastoica/hiqnbu4uvcs708ib/wish/839089011