Of Mice And Men Written Response Essay

Chapter Five Constructed Response John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” was inspired by Robert Burn’s poem “To a Mouse.” This means his novel has a similar meaning to Burn’s poem: animals have no dreams, but still experience melancholic feelings along with the human dreamers. The title “Of Mice and Men” is also a quote straight out of “To a Mouse.” Steinbeck’s “mouse” can be represented by his character Lennie. Lennie is given animal-like traits. Some examples on page 3 are how Lennie is “like a horse,” and has “big paws.” George also says he’ll “put you [Lennie] in a cage” on page 11. Lennie is often forgetful of his past like how mice only focus on the present. On page 9, George tells Lennie “Lady huh? Don’t even remember who that lady was. That was your own aunt Clara.” The only difference between Lennie and the mouse is that Lennie does have a dream. He focuses on getting the “dream ranch” with George. The men in “Of Mice and Men” relate to the men in “To a Mouse.” Men have a past, a present, and a future, but most of all they have a fear of their futures.

The mouse planned on building it’s house and staying for the winter, but man destroyed it’s house. Now, the mouse will focus on rebuilding his house. Lennie, George, and Candy planned on having their “dream ranch,” but Lennie screwed it up. Candy was the most upset. He blamed Curley’s wife, and yelled at her dead body saying “Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up.” Overall, these men, excluding Lennie, were left with nothing to look forward to. Lennie did not know he messed up the dream house plan, and even at the end, didn’t have a past. This is represented by his desire for the dream house, and forgetfulness of the past on page 106. He says, “Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.” Lennie focused on the dream house rather than what he just did, like the mouse focused on rebuilding his house rather than how it was just