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A review by shreyas1599
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
4.0
A wonderfully crafted novel about an unlikely friendship and all the joys and sorrows that accompany it.
George and Lennie are so different but both have a common goal to live in a place for their own. George is level-headed, practical and over protective of Lennie although only conveys it to Lennie in the form of harsh words, regrets his choice of words and immediately takes a different child like tone with Lennie.
Lennie is a child trapped in an adult’s body with humongous strength, a combination which makes him dangerous and misunderstood many a time. There’s no way the reader can blame any of “rough” stuff he does. All of it is done with a child-like innocence and Lennie is not blessed with the ability to comprehend his actions. It’s tough to not sympathise with him. George completely understands Lennie.
The book also touches a lot about how people just want to find someone to talk to and nothing more. There’s no hidden agenda in most cases.
The ending was a hard pill to swallow. George doesn’t want Lennie to be hunted and gunned down like a wild animal and provides Lennie with a painless after life to which he enters in a state of happiness about their future of owning their own farm.
I’m not quite sure how to interpret the title of the story. I can only surmise that Lennie is the mouse with his childlike innocence (which must be protected at all costs but there comes a time when it becomes a nuisance and there’s no other option but to kill that innocence in the face of reality) and men is all the other characters of the story who are cognisant about the realities of life.
George and Lennie are so different but both have a common goal to live in a place for their own. George is level-headed, practical and over protective of Lennie although only conveys it to Lennie in the form of harsh words, regrets his choice of words and immediately takes a different child like tone with Lennie.
Lennie is a child trapped in an adult’s body with humongous strength, a combination which makes him dangerous and misunderstood many a time. There’s no way the reader can blame any of “rough” stuff he does. All of it is done with a child-like innocence and Lennie is not blessed with the ability to comprehend his actions. It’s tough to not sympathise with him. George completely understands Lennie.
The book also touches a lot about how people just want to find someone to talk to and nothing more. There’s no hidden agenda in most cases.
The ending was a hard pill to swallow. George doesn’t want Lennie to be hunted and gunned down like a wild animal and provides Lennie with a painless after life to which he enters in a state of happiness about their future of owning their own farm.
I’m not quite sure how to interpret the title of the story. I can only surmise that Lennie is the mouse with his childlike innocence (which must be protected at all costs but there comes a time when it becomes a nuisance and there’s no other option but to kill that innocence in the face of reality) and men is all the other characters of the story who are cognisant about the realities of life.