Of Mice And Men :: essays research papers

&9The same gun is used in the same manner to kill two beings, a smelly, old dog and a man named Lennie, in the novel "Of Mice And Men." This story deals with love and death while displaying an e realday scenario about friends and isolation. The symbols in this book cook up the basic elements of human love.&9Some of the characters in this novel, such as Lennie, Crooks, and Curleys wife, epitomize loneliness. Lennie, bearing his retardation, has trouble fitting in with the current workers at the ranch. Even though all the ranch hands praise Lennie for his hard work, they leave him out of nightly activities such as horseshoes. George, Lennies traveling buddy, is overbold and fits right in with all of the employees of the ranch, adding to Lennies isolation. The black stable hand, Crooks, sleeps alone in a tiny room in the stable and is disliked by everyone except for Lennie. Since he is black, segregation is the ultimate reason why no one tries to like or befriend Crooks. Lenn ie, who, as an innocent person, has no bigotry in him, visits Crooks one night when everyone else is in town. Even thought Crooks does not show it, he enjoys Lennies company, and it seems that he and Lennie form a small friendly relationship that would had developed more has the book been longer. Another soul not included with the ranch clique, Curleys wife, whose name is not mentioned in the book, is new to the ranch as well. She married Curley just weeks before Lennie and George arrived. The ranch hands do not accept this lonely soul into their social group because she is new. However, the ranch hands to a fault do not accept Curleys wife because she obviously is so lonely that the altogether way she can get attention is by flirting. The only one who does not dismiss her when she flirts is Lennie who is obviously trying to make a friend with another lonely person. These lonely individuals make this novel into a very sad story of real life situations of when people really do not "fit in."&9The idea of obtaining a little farm with animals and crops elevated by George and Lennie, and later joined by Candy, an old man, shows how dreams may cause a man to do anything to fulfill that dream. Lennie is the most enthusiastic and determined to sop up the small farm and the all-important things -- the rabbits.