Of Mice and Men and Tears

 

    This book was an excellent and quick read. Everyone has heard of John Steinbeck's book "Of Mice and Men," but not everyone has had the chance to read it. I had overheard people talking about the book and saying that they had to read it when they were in high school. That was not one of our assigned readings, but I decided to try it out. 

  I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from the book and I had no clue what it was about before I started reading it. The book begins with two men, George and Lennie, talking about their dream of owning a piece of land. Right off the bat, the language that Lennie uses alludes to the fact that he has a mental disability. George "takes care of him" and they are searching for work together. Once they reach their assigned position, they meet other members in their bunkhouse. Slim, the "manager," Candy, an older worker, Crooks, the stableman, and Curly, the boss' son. 

   Curly's wife is typically seen trying to talk to all of the workers and actively avoiding her husband. When she catches Lennie alone, she tries to cause trouble, but Lennie doesn't know any better. He accidentally is too aggressive with her and kills her. As the men try to hunt Lennie down, George finds him first and shoots him to spare him from a far worse future. Before he does this, George reminds Lennie of their dream to own a farm where Lennie can tend to the rabbits. 

  The final scene was very emotional and left readers with conflicted feelings. It was beautiful to see the bond between the two men and how much George cared for Lennie. Although it was sad that George killed his best friend, it had to be done. Lennie was not able to consciously control himself and would continue to unintentionally hurt others. George was able to give Lennie some peace and friendship during his final moments. This ending was foreshadowed when the men had to put Candy's old dog down. The dog was in too much pain to keep living and he wasn't able to do much. Although it pained Candy, it was for the best. Both Lennie and the dog lived a good life but could do nothing about their circumstances. 

   I think this is a great book for everyone to read. Not only because it is a classic, but also because of the perspective on humans. Many different people were represented in the novel and it was interesting to see how they all interacted when they weren't being closely examined. It was a beautiful and painful story.

Rating: 4/5 Stars