Animal Symbolism In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

America was hit with times of struggle during the Great Depression, an era of economic decline that lasted from 1929-1939. Because of the Depression, many people dealt with little pay, unemployment, hunger, and even the loss of their homes. At this time, people worked as migrant workers, traveling from farm to farm, enduring hard labor to get the little pay they could to survive. Of Mice and Men is a 1937 novella written by John Steinbeck. It follows two migrant workers, George and Lennie, during the Great Depression. Because Lennie is mentally disabled, he relies on George as a parental figure, despite them being of similar ages, so they travel together around California working at ranches. The novella is about George and Lennie’s time working at a ranch in Salinas, California as they try to work towards their dream of owning a farm and living off the land. Throughout the book, Steinbeck uses different animals to represent certain themes and characters. Animal symbolism is prevalent through the usage of rabbits to symbolize hopes and freedom, Candy’s dog to

On page 15, George and Lennie are talking about the land they want to live off of when George says, “When we get the coupla acres I can let you tend the rabbits all right.” Previously, Lennie had killed multiple mice whilst petting them, so he wanted an animal that was less fragile: rabbits. Lennie hopes to be able to raise rabbits on the farm he and George dream of. Although Lennie does not fully grasp what owning their own land means, because to him, he gets to have fun tending rabbits, it eventually becomes a symbol of his and George’s dream. The rabbits are also a symbol of freedom. George and Lennie are going from ranch to ranch, working for other men. If they realize their dream of owning a piece of land to farm on, they can finally stop working for others which would give them