Of Mice And Men Cain And Abel Analysis

While to some John Steinbeck's, Of Mice and Men, is dismissed as some of his lesser work, the story actually has a lot of meaning. One of these is the relevance to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. At first glance the stories have some similarities, but once you delve into details of both stories your are able to see that they are even more the same. According to William Goldhurst, Of Mice and Men suggests that the drama of Cain and Abel is everywhere in the fable of George and Lennie. He believes that it was done in order to provide it’s mythic vehicle. I agree, but would add that not many people realize the connection between the two stories. Whether is was Steinbeck's intent or not it certainly is there. In the event of George and Lennie,

In the Bible, Cain says, “I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” Many have read this passage to mean that he was jealous of Abel, and killed him because of that. If you put this in to context of, Of Mice and Men, does this quote actually show that he has slowly been wore down by Abel and now is at his wit’s end and doesn’t know what to do anymore. Was Abel gentleness in fact a weakness and Cain was protecting him, just like George killing Lennie to protect him from the world? In order to understand what Cain did means that we need to accept that now are killings are pure evil. He may have did it to protect Abel’s innocence. Just because one is innocent and gentle doesn’t mean that they don’t unintentionally cause harm. This is shown in the opening scene of, Of Mice and Men, when George catches Lennie with a dead mouse in his hand, Lennie innocently protests, “What mouse, George? I ain’t got no mouse.” George replies, “You gonna give me that mouse or do I have to sock you?”(8) Lennie is indeed innocent and unknowing, while George’s violence is being shown, even though it’s him trying to be responsible. He can see what’s happening with Lennie’s behavior and is trying to protect them both. While Lennie is innocent, he is really causing a lot of harm. This particular fact about the innocent man, however, allows us to identify closely with the George and why he would kill an