Of Mice And Men Past And Present Analysis

There are countless adages and quotes that circle around the idea of “then and now” or the “past and the present”. A popular one, said by George Orwell, is “he who controls the past controls the future” (Orwell). Through this quote, it is being said that timeless messages from the past will impact the future. Similarly, this saying relates to the powerful idea that recollections from the past and modern allusions to these ideas come together as one through shared central ideas, in literature. It is also important that literary works from the past send timeless messages to impact future and present works, which will allude to these messages, only in a more modern way. This quote definitely shows that literature of the past is not outdated,

This is the case with John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella entitled, Of Mice and Men. In this classic work, Steinbeck addresses many themes and lessons that are withstanding the test of time. His messages about negative companionship in one’s life relate to society today, as well as other literary works and mediums being created in the present. The downsides to companionship and the effects negative companionship has in one’s life flawlessly exhibits the central idea of companionship as a curse in one’s life through songs like “Spring Day” by BTS; however John Steinbeck’s classic novella arguably contains the most timeless and newsworthy message through repetition and character dialogue between George and Lennie, as well as through the use of conflicts and tough decisions that George had to make for his

In BTS’s “Spring Day” it is definitely seen that, in the beginning, the singers were depressed from this companionship, as they use more dark metaphors to describe their feelings of loneliness and isolation. However, in the end the singers strongly sing, “I guess cherry blossoms are blooming…/If you wait just a little bit more/If you stay awake for just a few more nights/I’ll go to meet you/I’ll come to get you” (“Spring Day” lines 68, 72-75). In the end, it seems that although this negative, cursed companionship has taken its terrible tolls on the singers emotionally, they are still changed in the end to want to run back to the relationship, when this shouldn’t be the case, since the companionship was a curse in their lives. BTS is sending a less powerful message about companionship being a curse in one’s life than Steinbeck because the singers are seeing this cursed relationship as “good” in the end, which shouldn’t be the case. With Steinbeck, the resolution to Of Mice and Men really does showcase how the companionship was a curse. When George made the decision to kill Lennie to end the negative companionship that was poisoned with lies about their “ranch dream”, the lyrics “you know it all/You’re