Of Mice And Men Survival Of The Fittest Essay

Survival of the fittest is a way of life that has been present for thousands of years, from the ancient dynasties to today. It is always present in literature, paintings, and more. This is one of the key components used in Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men follows the story of two men as they work on a ranch. Here, we meet the main characters Lennie, a large and childish man, and George, a small and intelligent man. They travel together from Weed to a ranch in the Salinas Valley. Lennie’s uncontrollable strength constantly gets them into trouble by the end of the novel. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses animal death to explore the prevalence of survival of the fittest, concluding that it is negative because of the death of

Carlson suggests killing Candy’s dog and replacing it with another. Candy reluctantly agrees and Carlson kills the old dog with his Luger. After Candy’s dog is killed, it is said, “A shot sounded in the distance”. The man looked quickly at the old man. Every head turned toward him” (Steinbeck 49). The old man in this case is Candy, hearing the death of his dog. Again, the dog cannot defend itself and is unable to fight back against Carlson. There is a chance that the old dog doesn’t even know what is happening, as it is both blind and deaf. The dog is innocent, does not know what is happening to it, and cannot fight back against Carlson. Lennie accidentally kills mice very often by trying to pet them. The novel notes, “‘I’d pet ‘em, and they pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they were dead—because they were so little” (Steinbeck 10). Connecting back to my thesis, the mouse is defenseless, unable to do anything against Lennie other than bit him. Lennie, whose strength is compared to a bear or horse, has complete control over the small mouse’s