Naturalistic Themes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Nature is widely regarded as something beautiful—and yet authors John Steinbeck and Robert Burns portray it to be cruel and senseless. Burns’ poem “To a Mouse” clearly reflects naturalistic themes in Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. Both writings promote a strong sense of nature and society being indifferent to individuals’ struggles and lives. Society is insensitive to special needs because all the ranch workers (the ‘society’ in this case) pay no heed to Lennie’s state of mind. Everyone, including George, calls him dumb or ‘cuckoo’ for being the way he is. “‘It jus’ seems kinda funny a cuckoo like him and a smart little guy like you travelin’ together.’ ‘He ain’t no cuckoo,’ said George. ‘He’s dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy’ (Steinbeck 39). Rather than being understanding or accommodating towards Lennie’s situation, they cannot see past his physical appearance. For example, as Lennie is musing about his dream with George, Curley misinterprets his smile as malicious and attacks him, not taking into consideration Lennie’s mental capacity, even when he demonstrates he is unable to fight back. “Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier. ‘What the hell you laughin’ at?’ Lennie looked blankly at him. ‘Huh?’...Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat” (Steinbeck 63). No one on the

In Burns’ all of the hardship that the mouse faces is entirely out of its control. “Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!/ Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!/ An naething, now, to big a new ane” (Burns 19-21). Theoretically speaking, the mouse does everything right, building its own shelter at the right time, but the coulter, which the mouse has zero control over, destroys everything in a perfect example of how individuals’ lives are governed by forces beyond control, no matter how hard they may try to prevent