Significance Of George's Journey In Of Mice And Men By John Steinbeck

Through George’s journey in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck conveys that fate creates a quester’s path, no matter how much effort and willpower is put into getting to what the quester thinks is their final destination.
George has a place to go and a goal to reach, but he doesn’t end up where he wants to. English Literature Professor Thomas C. Foster’s explanation of a quest includes a quester, the quester having a place to go, and a goal they know they want to reach. George having a place to go is shown in the beginning of the book, when George and Lennie are on their way to the new ranch. Steinbeck tells us that George says, “‘Well-look, we’re gonna work on a ranch like the one we come from up north’” (6 Steinbeck). As seen in

George doesn’t even know that he’s on a quest so he never realized there was a reason as to why he has to leave Weed. George thinks that this reason acquire an area for farming and living with Lennie and Candy. That isn’t his reason though. He didn’t know that he wasn’t going to get that, otherwise he wouldn’t have planned that to be his destination. Instead, fate chose George’s path for him and wanted him to leave Weed and go through a series of events that would eventually lead him to make a decision and kill Lennie. Before they arrived to Salinas, Lennie touched a girl’s dress in Weed and couldn’t let go. He would have been charged, killed, and/or imprisoned for rape if it hadn’t been for George who took himself and Lennie to the irrigation ditch in time. The timing of them coming out of that ditch was also a product of fate; they could have been caught then and there, but fate probably changed the path that the search committee that was looking for George and Lennie took, or maybe it could have tired out the searchers quickly and they went back to their ranch early. Whatever the case, the two characters wouldn’t have been able to get away in time if fate hadn’t interfered and changed their path. Later, George didn’t know where he and Lennie would run to after hiding in the irrigation ditch and running into the woods; fate decided for them, taking them to the safe space that they found by the pool and the brush. Ultimately, George wouldn’t have had to kill Lennie if fate didn’t interfere in Weed and make Lennie not let go of the dress of “the girl in the red dress”. Fate went against George’s will and changed everything he had ever wanted. Thus, fate created this quester’s path no matter how hard he wanted to get what he