The Environment

The environment is described very thoroughly whenever the main characters, George and Lennie, reach a new location. For example, the whole first page and half of second only described the environment. And when they reach the ranch they were looking for, almost a whole page was used to describe the bunk-house. After that thorough description, you get almost none.  Doing this makes it quite easy to forget what the environment actually looked like, since you get almost no reminder.

The first place George and Lennie visit is the water pool. The description of the place gives a very calm feeling.

A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees—willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool.(Of mice and men, 1937, Steinbeck, John, p.2)

You can really paint a picture of this beautiful landscape in your mind. The mood of the place is quite bright, even though the sun is setting over the hills.

The second place the two men reach, the bunk-house, is much more neutral. I don´t know why, but I don´t get any specific feelings about this place. It´s just like any old “barrack” typed house. Maybe that is the feeling the author wants to give this place: no feeling at all. The mood of the place is at least not as bright, playful and calm as the earlier scene.

The bunk house was a long, rectangular building. Inside, the walls were whitewashed and the floor unpainted. In three walls there were small, square windows, and in the fourth, a solid door with a wooden latch. Against the walls were eight bunks, five of them made up with blankets and the other three showing their burlap ticking. Over each bunk there was nailed an apple box with the opening forward so that it made two shelves for the personal belongings of the occupant of the bunk. And these shelves were loaded with little articles, soap and talcum powder, razors and those Western magazines ranch men love to read and scoff at and secretly believe. And there were medicines on the shelves, and little vials, combs; and from nails on the box sides, a few neckties. Near one wall there was a black cast-iron stove, its stovepipe going straight up through the ceiling. In the middle of the room stood a big square table littered with playing cards, and around it were grouped boxes for the players to sit on. (Of mice and men, 1937, Steinbeck, John, p.15)

Even though George and Lennie comes to this sometimes beautiful places, the never seem to be really at home. At least that’s the feeling I get. Maybe it´s because they´ve been on the move so much during their life, they´ve worked up an habit never to making themselves at home, since they will probably be on the move again within a short period of time. It seems as if neither of them will ever feel at home until they´ve come up with enough money to buy their dream house George so often talks about. Maybe hen they will finally have a home.      

The Characters

In Of Mice and Men there are two main characters, Lennie and George. They have been together for a long time, probably since they were kids. And even though they are not related, there bound seems to be thicker then blood.

George is the person that´s followed the most. He is described as “[…] small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features”(Of Mice and Men,1937 , Steinbeck, John, p.3). He seems to be a nice guy at heart, but he tends to hid it. It´s like he doesn’t really trust anybody. It could be that he doesn’t want to get to personally involved with anybody the meet on the roads, since he believes Lennie´s going to do something stupid, that force them to move on. Maybe George should have left Lennie a long time ago, but he just can´t leave him. George is the only one left Lennie´s in life, and George thinks he would regret it later.

Lennie is like a little brother to George. Lennie is the opposite of George: “[…]a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders” (Of Mice and Men, 1937, Steinbeck, John, p.3). He doesn’t seem to be the brightest guy either, but he is strong. He was left with George when “Aunt Clara” died, but if she was Lennie´s or George´s aunt is hard to understand.

Lennie seems to have a certain obsession to mice. He like to pet them, and early in the book his caught by George with having a dead mouse in his pocket. “I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along” (Of Mice and Men, 1937, Steinbeck, John, p.6) he explained to George. He also tends to compare everything with Mice, which is a strange habit.

It was his obsession to mice that forced them to leave the last town. He tried to pet a girls dress, but the girl believed he tried to rape her. That is why they had to run. Lennie seems to do similar things a lot, forcing the two men to run. But as long as they stick together, they´ll make it through.                

The Exposition

The book ”Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck tells the story about two men, trying to make an honest living, moving from ranch to ranch. The two main characters are George, who is small and quick, and Lennie, who is big and lumpy. In the beginning, the men are found trying to reach a certain ranch, but are forced to camp for the night by a water pool, after having been somewhat mislead. It becomes clear that the two men are running from something. Apparently, Lennie, not being the brightest guy, did some bad things in the village they just came from. As George explained:

Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress—jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse—Well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in a irrigation ditch all day with guys lookin’ for us.

(Of Mice and Men, 1937. John Steinbeck, p. 10)

It also seems that the men have been running a lot. Lennie seem to make a lot of mistakes, forcing the two men to move on to the next town. George more or less has to take care of Lennie, after his aunt died. Now Lennie don’t have anyone else in the world, except for George.  

A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees—willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool.

(Of Mice and Men, 1937. John Steinbeck, p. 2)

That’s how the book starts. The environmental description tells about a beautiful and inviting place, which is probably a good way to start. It really makes my long to be at that place. But it doesn’t tell much about the story. The whole first page is in fact only about the environment. Not before the second page the first interaction whit the characters happen, which gives the story a somewhat boring start.

Of mice and men is quite a strange title. Maybe it’s because of Lennie obsession with mice, or maybe is it a way for the author to equalize the men whit mice, in other word nobody really cares for them. But they will still all ways have each other.