Of mice and men

"Of mice and men"

I have read a book called "Of mice and men". The book, which actually is a short story, is written by John Steinbeck and was published in 1937. John wrote the book on his own experiences as a homeless man, who had to work all the time to earn money for food. The title is copied from Robert Burns' poem "To a mouse".

The language is written in old southern catchwords and sometimes it can be hard to understand. But they must've considered that before they published it for the schools. In the back of the book there is a translation list that helps you with the most words you don't understand. The description of the people and the environment isn't so good. But again, they must have thought about it before, because in the beginning of the book, there's a list of almost every person who appears in the story. Some of the people that appear the most are:

George Milton: This man is one of the leading characters in the story. He dreams of a better life and looks after Lenny, who is the next person.

Lenny Small: He is the other leading character. Lenny is a mentally disabled man, who is "strong as a bull" and travels along with George.

Curley's wife: A young pretty woman who is mistrusted by her husband, Curley. Curley is the boss' son and he thinks that he owns the place. In the story the girl is not a person, she is a symbol. And she is also a danger to Lennie.  

Candy: A ranch worker who lost a hand. He wishes to join George and Lenny in their dreams of buying a home and settle down. His dearest thing is his dog.

And the last one isn't a person, it's an animal.

Candy's dog: This animal is old and Candy had him since he was a puppy. The dog's life is shaping the fate of Lenny.

The story is about George Milton and Lennie Small who were two ranch workers during the worldwide economic downturn, the "Great Depression". On their first job Lennie start to touch a girls dress just to know what it feels like, he doesn't understand any better. The girl thinks that he wants to rape her and she runs of screaming to the other men standing on the field working. George grabs Lennie and they go on the run. The men grabs there horses and dogs to find them and kill them. But they couldn't find anyone and rode back to the farm. George grabs Lennie again and they keep going day and night to find another job, far away from their last. The men find a ranch where they get a job, but everything not easy because the ranch owners' son, Curley, doesn't like big guys. And that's just what Lennie is, a big man.

This book is, what I think, a symbol of how lonely life can be. Everyone's lonely and they always dream of having it better and wanting someone to notice them and maybe help them. A slave in the

book says "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." The slave is lonely and he does have a point in what he said. When you are alone it doesn't matter who you're around, when or if they talk to you. Perhaps that is the only thing that's really described in the book, loneliness, and of course a friendships meaning in a tough situation.

My feelings for the book is very strong, it really spoke to me. George couldn't always be around to watch over Lennie and it was disturbing. When Lennie got into trouble I felt that; "What if George was there, maybe that wouldn't have happened" or "What would George do in this situation if he was around?" It is a very good story, with a lot of excitement and reality-shape...