Search For Companionship In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men is a book by John Steinbeck that takes place in the 1930s at a ranch in Soledad, Alabama. The 1930s was a tough time because of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. There were many migrant workers and people searching for companions. Migrant workers are people who travel from place to place trying to earn money. In the book, George and Lennie travel together to ranches, Lennie is mentally disabled with gigantism. He doesn 't know how to control his actions and his grip strength crushes things uncontrollably. In the 1930s, people with disabilities were not treated equally and they were often taken advantage of. For example, Curley, the owner of the ranch 's son often takes advantage of Lennie and tries to pick fights with Lennie and Lennie doesn 't know how to respond. Lennie and George strive to try to reach the American Dream, they want to own their own farm and Lennie wants to tend the rabbits. In this book, there is lots of prejudice towards minorities because of the time they were in. Crooks,

One of the big themes in Of Mice and Men is the search for companionship and Thomas Scarseth makes an accurate point about friendship. He stated, "Friendship. Love. That too is what Of Mice and Men is all about. Lennie and George, disparate types, are, against all good reason, friends. They share a good dream. They love one another. They are too limited, too inarticulate, to know how to say it, but they do show it—or rather Steinbeck shows it to us readers." Thomas means that even though Lennie and George are very different from each other they still have the greatest friendship. The end proves their friendship, when George kills Lennie at the end. George knew the consequences of Lennie killing Curley 's wife, so he put Lennie in a happy mindset and killed him. George 's killing of Lenny was a merciful shooting and he didn 't have any motive for it. This shows their respect for each other because George showed him respect by killing him happy