The Peripeteia

Of Mice and Men shows a perfect example of a peripeteia, or sudden change. During the story, the two main characters, George and Lennie, are desperate to earn money, in order to buy their dream home. And it seems like there’s a great chance that they will manage to scrap together the money the need, but then Lennie goes and mess it all up. When Lennie was alone in the barn with a puppy he just managed to kill, Curley´s wife walked into the barn. She sat down beside him and they talked for a while. Curley´s wife insisted that Lennie felt her hair, and Lennie just couldn’t resist, since it was so soft and beautiful.   

At that very moment, all the dreams that George and Lennie had, about having a free life, with their own house and farm, turned to smoke. It completely changed the outcome of the book. Now, Lennie had to run as a fugitive. He did as George had told him, and ran back to the clearing they had been in, in the beginning of the book. That’s where George found him.

Lennie´s big fingers fell to stroking her hair.(...) “Look out, now, you´ll muss it.” And then she cried angrily, “You stop it now, you´ll mess it all up.” She jerked her head sideways, and Lennie´s fingers closed on her hair and hung on. “Let go,” she cried. “You let go!” Lennie was in panic. His face was contorted. She screamed then, and Lennie´s other hand closed over her mouth and nose. “ Please don´t,” he begged. “Oh! Please don´t do that. George´ll be mad.”(…) she continued to struggle, and her eyes were wild with terror. He shook her then, and he was angry with her. “Don´t you go yelling,” he said, and shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.

(Of Mice and Men, 1937, Steinbeck, John, p. 102-103)

George knew that he had to kill Lennie. If he hadn´t killed him, Curley surely would have, but more painfully. It was a kind of “mercy-kill”, if there is a thing like that. Lennie was almost like a faithful dog to George. He was like old Candy´s dog. Old Candy just couldn´t get rid of him, even if he knew he was suffering. The best thing was probably to put him down, and the same thing with Lennie.

Lennie said. “I thought you was mad at me, George.” “No,” said George. “No, Lennie. I ain´t mad. I never been mad, an´ I ain´t now. That´s a thing I want ya to know.” The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices. Lennie begged, “Le´s do it now. Le´s get that place now.” “Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.” And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie´s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.

(Of Mice and Men, 1937, Steinbeck, John, p. 120)

This book really tells a harsh, but realistic ending. It is now fairytale, where everyone forgives each other and lives happily ever after. A similar book is “The Green Mile” by Stephen King. It´s about a man who’s sentenced to death. He is quite like Lennie, a big and mildly retarded guy. The death row supervisor gets to hear his story, and believes he is innocent, but can´t do anything about it. But after everything he has been through, it was best for him to die as well, no matter how harsh it might sound.

In the end, I think the message that the author is trying to present, is that sometimes it´s better for some people, if the simply died, even if I disagree with that statement. Everyone deserves a second chance, but in this case Lennie was already living on his second one. And he would have died anyway. If George hadn´t killed him, Curley would have. And if Curley hadn´t, Lennie would have ended up just like the death sentenced man in The Green Mile. So maybe, for once, it was better for him to die quickly and hopefully without pain.          

The Conflicts

There are many conflicts within this book. Every character seems to have their own conflict to fight, if not with others, with themselves, which reflects back on real life. Every person has some kind of battle to fight.

The first conflict that reveals itself is that within George, whether he should stay with Lennie or leave him behind, walking along the roads alone.“”God, you’re a lot of trouble,” said George. “I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail””(Of Mice and Men, 1937, Steinbeck, John, p.7)   

Yet George knows that it would be morally wrong to leave Lennie behind. He probably has all the right in the world to do so him, but he knows he would feel bad, since Lennie would most likely go get himself killed if he left him.    

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.”(Steinbeck, John, p. 12)

The biggest conflict in the book is still between Lennie and the ranch boss son, Curley, even though Lennie doesn’t appear to be fully aware of this conflict. Curley is quite a troublemaker, it seems. He has something against everyone on the ranch, and everyone has something against him, even his wife. She is always running around with the other guys, looking for a chance to run away from Curley and the stinking ranch. He keeps picking on Lennie, because he knows that if Lennie hits him, both George and Lennie would be caned in a blink of an eye, since Curley is the boss son, after all.

But one day Curley snapped on Lennie after Lennie laughed at a joke thrown at Curley.

Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat. (…)He slashed at Lennie with his left, and then smashed down his nose with a right. Lennie gave a cry of terror. Blood welled from his nose. (…) Then Curley attacked his stomach and cut off his wind. Slim jumped up. “The dirty little rat,” he cried, “I’ll get ‘um myself.” George put out his hand and grabbed Slim. “Wait a minute,” he shouted.(…) “Get ‘im, Lennie!” (…)Lennie took his hands away from his face and looked about for George, and Curley slashed at his eyes. The big face was covered with blood. George yelled again, “I said get him.” Curley’s fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand. George ran down the room. “Leggo of him, Lennie. Let go.” But Lennie watched in terror the flopping little man whom he held. Blood ran down Lennie’s face, one of his eyes was cut and closed. (Steinbeck, John, p. 51-52)

It turned out that Lennie actually broke pretty much every bone in Curley´s hand. If it hadn’t been for Slim and the other guys on the ranch, George and Lennie would certainly have lost their job. But Slim and the others managed to make sure that Curley kept his mouth shut.

This tells that whenever you get in to a conflict it’s good to always have friends with you. 

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.