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Connor Blandini

Mrs. Bonin

American Studies

12/21/16

 

Of Mice and Men Essay

 

The story Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, tells a story about friendship and lifestyle between the characters Lennie and George. Of Mice and Men begins with the arrival of Lennie and George in Soledad, California, where they venture to seek opportunities as migrant workers in the farming community. Before their arrival in Soledad, however, Lennie and George lived and worked in Weed, California, but fled after the authorities there accused Lennie of attempted rape.  Physically, Lennie and George differ a lot. George is small scrawny man that is outsized by most. Lennie is big tall man who catches people’s eye when he is around.  What makes the two of them unique is that Lennie lacks intelligence which George has. Lennie and George have a dream that someday they both would run a farm together of their own.  This dream was soon put to halt when Lennie gets in some trouble at his new job.  Lennie has a tendency to pet things, and he uncontrollably kills them.  Lennie did this with a puppy at his farm he was working on.  The boss’s son, Curley has a wife that lives on the farm.  She saw Lennie depressed and she said he can pet her hair, when he is doing this he ends up killing her by accident when he gets startled.  He runs away and the whole farm comes to the scene and George knows right away this is Lennie’s work.  Curley wants Lennie to receive vengeance for the death of his wife.  George goes out to find Lennie, he finds him and shoots him, he does so because he did not want to see what Curley would do to him and he felt he should be the one to.  Lennie and George show that goals for life have changed since the 1930s, because people today set vastly different goals then Lennie and George had in mind.

George and Lennie had different goals for life.  This comes along with the lifestyle they lived back in the 1930s and the struggles.  In the novel George told the boss  “ he is my cousin” ( Steinbeck, 22).  This described how George had to lie that Lennie was his cousin to get him in with the new job.  If George did not lie then Lennie would be kicked to roads and onto the next farm that needs work.  They didnt want Lennie because acted “dumb” in front of the boss, and he did not want someone like that working for him.  George risked his job at this new farm to help get Lennie a job.  This proves how judgemental it was and how difficult it was to get a job in the 1930s.  Ever work they would do, would be criticized.  Their lives was constant moving and finding a job.  They had nobody to rely on besides themselves, they had to look out for themselves. George said in the novel, “ yea he had your gun” ( Steinbeck, 107).  At this moment George killed Lennie and lied to the people at the farm that he had a gun and was fighting back.  He felt that he had to be the one to kill Lennie.  This shows how things done in the 1930s were not monitored.  If someone was murdered they would have to go through the law, not deal with it themselves and shoot each other.  Life in the 1930s has changed since then, because today people have a higher standard towards their goals then george and Lennie did.

My life today is much better than those back in the 1930s.  I have many opportunities to go down many different paths with my career.  I am in an environment where I can get a good high school education.  I am also blessed to have my parents financial support along with me, people in the 1930s did not have the same opportunities that I have today.  My biggest goal is to play baseball at a Division 1 level with a scholarship. Some things that I have done in my past is go down to Florida to showcase my talents to many college coaches.  Lennie and George had to do practically the same when being interviewed by the boss. My goals vary from George and Lennie’s because they are limited to certain options, they do not have as many opportunities and paths as me, due to how the times are so different.  There biggest goal was to have a farm to themselves.  My life today can be whatever I work hard to be, due to the immense amount of support and guidance I get.  Although George and Lennie’s goal is vastly different from mine, they are also similar.

Lennie and George goals and life are similar and different from mine, but in the end will make us both happy.  George and Lennie jump from job to job making money trying to find the best fit.  They want what’s best for them in the end, not what comes around first or the easy way out.  This is similar to me looking for colleges I would like to attend, I want to find the perfect fit for me.  I do not want to take the easy way out and go to a college that will change the rest of my life.  Like Lennie and George I want to work hard and perform my best.  Lennie and George differ from me because they are practically held to only have dreams and goals about farms.  They are because that’s all they are accustomed to and it’s the only things they have been exposed to. For me, I am grateful to have the opportunity to be exposed to many differnt carrers and choice to lead the rest of my life on and not just be held down to one thing that I have to do.  Not many people have a goal like Lennie and George, but Gatsby’s story does relate.

Lennie and George’s  goals and mindset relates to The Great Gatsby because of the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. This connects with The Great Gatsby because Jay Gatsby was going through his own kind of struggles at the time, and all he wanted was to have Daisy.  This relates because both of them just wanted to live a normal life and happy one, Gatsby’s just differs because he wants Daisy, and Lennie and George just want to have a farm to themselves.  “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams — not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (Fitzgerald, 101).  Gatsby thought about Daisy so much, he thought there was no one better in his own mind. His visions of her were seem nearly impossible to live up to.

George shows that standards for life have changed since the 1930s, because people today set high standards then Lennie and George had in mind.  George and Lennie’s life was hard and and at time brutal, but that’s the way they had to live.  I am grateful to have more opportunities than George and Lennie do, due to many luxuries that I have.   Although George and Lennie’s goals may be very different for yours, in the end they all do the same, and make whomever it is happy.

 

Work Cited

 

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.

 

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.