Addison Leuthner
Mrs. Thiemann
Enriched English 10
17 February 2023
Why schools should teach Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a novel about two migrant workers working during the dust bowl. George and Lennie are best friends and have to go through very tough challenges and hardships as they travel from town to town for work. Although they go through all these challenges and hardships they learn life lessons along the way. These life lessons teach them about the value of emotional bonds, dreams, and close friendships. Of Mice and Men uses emotional bonds to teach life lessons in many significant ways. Candy is one of the other migrant workers George and Lennie work with he is very old, rundown, and not up to the “standards” that migrant workers should have been back then. When his dog is killed for being “no good to you and no good to himself” (Steinbeck 44), Candy starts to talk about his own life and connect to the dog's life. He realizes that when people and animals are no good anymore they tend to get pushed away and not needed anymore. This shows that emotional bonds create connections between situations happening in the novel and what these people are
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Lennie was born with an intellectual disability, which means that Lennie has a more difficult time dealing with his emotions than others. One Way Lennie copes with his emotions is he has George tell him about their “American Dream.” This “American Dream” consists of a peaceful place where George and Lennie will go and live once they are done working. Hearing about this utopian-type place where everything would be okay calms Lennie down and takes his mind off of what he is feeling. “George's voice became deeper he repeated the words rhythmically as though he said them many times before” (Steinbeck 13). These dreams in the story are what keep Lennie and George hopeful that one day they will end up living their “American