Key themes
- The dream that sustains and the reality that destroys it
- Loneliness as the condition of the itinerant worker
- Mercy, violence and what we owe those we love
About this book
Two migrant labourers and a fragile dream of a place of their own; a short, heartbreaking American tragedy.
Published in 1937, Of Mice and Men was almost immediately adapted for the stage and has been one of the most-assigned texts in American schools for over 80 years. Steinbeck drew on his own experience as an itinerant worker.
Discussion questions
- George and Lennie's dream of the farm — owning land, being their own bosses — is their reason to keep going. How does Steinbeck present this dream — as attainable, as necessary illusion, or as something else?
- Lennie is gentle and loving but repeatedly causes harm. How does Steinbeck ask us to hold both his innocence and the destruction he causes?
- Curley's wife is never given a name. What does this denial of identity say about her status in the novel's world — and how does the novel treat her?
- The ending forces George to make an impossible choice. Is his final act one of love, of mercy, of self-preservation — or all three?
- The novel is very short and reads almost like a play. What does this formal compression allow Steinbeck to achieve — and what does it cost?
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Of Mice and Men appears on the following curriculum reading lists.
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