Investigating Themes in Of Mice and Men

Investigating Themes in Of Mice and Men

Choose one of the following questions that interests you most to respond to in this week’s blog post:

1.)  What different forms of power exist in Of Mice and Men?  What kind of power does Lennie have?  What kind of power does George have?  What kinds of power or powerlessness do other characters possess? 

2.)  What kind of relationship do George and Lennie have?  Is their relationship a friendship?  How does this relationship express Steinbeck’s position on the individual versus the community?

3.)  Is the American Dream a real possibility in the story?  If yes, what characters, symbols, events, or other details from the story confirm that the American Dream is within reach?  If not, what characters, symbols, events, or other details from the story represent the American Dream as out of reach? 


Check out the info History.com has to offer about the American 1930s!  Who had power in the 1930s?  Who did not?  What kinds of power existed then?  What important relationships were formed in the 1930s?  Was the American Dream still alive in the 1930s? 

     Well, for starters the power in Mice and Men is all over the book. It is filled with it. The power that Lennie has is none, because he is dumb and does not know how to function in society. Lennie also does not know how to handle his emotions  based on the way he acted when the mouse died. George, even though smaller then Lennie, is smarter, and has the last word in every argument. He is the leader of the pack, so to speak He has power over Lennie.

    George and Lennie have a non-well established relationship because of the way Lennie is treated by George and even though they bond in certain ways and manage to stay together, they dont share the same love a brother with a brother would have.

     The American dream is possible in the story, but extremely unlikely for anyone except stock brokers and textile manufacturing CEO's back in the 1930's. George and Lennie dont seem like the two brothers who would stereotypicaly strike it rich coming from  poor and malnourished neighborhood to caviar and tea for lunch everyday. If they were to, which is kind of like saying cacti grow in the ocean, they would be the next Beverly Hill's Hillbillys. They would have no idea what to do with the money and would be out of place in a rich and aristocratic society like that.