Theme Of Microcosm In Of Mice And Men

“Of Mice and Men” is the story of two men traveling for work, who when get to their destination are tested beyond their boundaries. The ranch in this book is a microcosm to America during the Great Depression. It’s almost as if they were facing their own depression but instead of money, what was lost was feelings. Throughout their time on the ranch, different themes approach the reader as they read about George and Lennie. This is what makes the ranch a microcosm. The ranch represents America during the Great Depression because of the friendship, authority, and strength that was tested. There is a recurring theme of friendship throughout the book that can be viewed by the examples of the relationship between George and Lennie, Candy and his

To convey this message, we see Steinbeck creating a character, Curley, who believes that having strength is the only way to get through life, “ ‘ Curley’s like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy. You seen little guys like that, ain’t you? Always scrappy?’ “ (Steinbeck 26). During the Great Depression the mind set was pretty much the same for everyone going through the tough time, strength was the only way to win. Meaning that having the strength to push forward would allow people to overcome what was going on. An example is Curley’s physical features and condition played a big role to why he needed to feel as though he was the strongest of them all, “A thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair. He wore a work glove on his left hand, and, like the boss, he wore high-heeled boots” (Steinbeck 25). This relates back to the first quote as well, because both portray that he picks a fight with everyone who is bigger than him. George is the character have more strength than anyone else when he kills his bestfriend. This theme of strength is reinforced when Steinbeck creates a plot twist of George being forced to kill his Lennie, “And George raised the gun and steadied it , and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger” (Steinbeck 106). At first George was slightly reluctant to pull the trigger on his friend, which does make sense. But in the end he gathered his strength and steadied his hand and did it; representing the sacrifices people had to make to survive during the Great Depression. Even though it was hard, it had to be done. This aspect played an important role