FREE ESSAY ON OF MICE AND MEN

OF MICE AND MEN

Justin Clay
Period 1&2
Am. Lit.
Of Mice and Men 
The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about two ranch hands, George and
Lennie. George is a small, smart-witted man, while Lennie is a large, mentally-
handicapped man. They are trying to raise enough money to buy their own ranch, by working
as ranch hands. During the setting of the story, they are at a ranch whose owner's name
is Curley. It is in this setting that the novel reveals that the main theme is death and
loss. 
Lennie accidentally killing all of his pets establishes that the theme of this novel is
death and loss. These pets consist of mice, dogs, kittens, etc. Lennie loves to feel and
pet animals, but he does not know his own strength. He kills them without really noticing
what he has done, until George tells him that he did something wrong. After being
scolded, Lennie is very remorseful about what he did. Once, after being yelled at Lennie
says, "I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead- because they were so little
(13)." Lennie's remorse is probably more for upsetting George than it is for actually
killing the animal. 
Another way that death and loss is evidenced by this novel is when Lennie killed Curley's
wife. When Lennie is in the barn (after killing his new puppy) Curley's wife came into
the barn and came on to Lennie. Lennie not knowing what was happening let her lull him
into touching her hair. To Lennie it was like petting any other animal. Curley's wife
became flustered when Lennie became scared and would not let go of her hair. She started
to scream and Lennie tried to cup her mouth, which concluded in him killing her. Lennie
was truly remorseful after this action. Soon after killing her Lennie can be heard saying
to himself, "I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing (121)." 
The final confirmation of the death and loss theme occurred to George, not Lennie. After
going to the place where George had told him to go if anything went wrong, Lennie lays
and waits in the brush for George to come get him. What Lennie wasn't expecting was
George to come with a posse of ranch hands with him. The ranch hands were not quite
there, when George shot Lennie in the back of the head to save him the pain the posse
would do to him. After he shot him "the brush seemed filled with cries (140)", which
symbolizes the loss of George after shooting Lennie. This was a truly great loss for him
since Lennie was his best friend. 
Of Mice and Men is a very sad and depressing story that contains many deaths of many
living creatures. Many people had a loss from these deaths, especially George. He had to
shoot his best friend. This can possibly be the greatest loss of all, because without
friends, where would we be?