Regrettably, such a remarkable novella is often remembered by the quotation of a line from its narrative, when the novel as a whole is such a vital piece of literature. I first read John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, when I was in my first year of secondary school at an all-boys’ private school in Brisbane in 1982. And notwithstanding the author’s erudition in exploring a plot with many delicate themes, the only lasting impression the superb novel made among the year group was that one line: tell me about the rabbits. Perhaps it was the folly of youth, for we were only twelve, yet I revisited the novella during my adult years, and whereas once I was blind, now I can see.

In my best endeavours, for brevity, I will summarise the plot. Nevertheless, because John Steinbeck explores numerous themes in the book’s plot, some level of detail is needed to flesh them out. The novella commences with two migrant workers, George and Lennie, who have been let off a bus miles away from the California farm where they are due to start work. George is a small, dark man with “sharp, strong features.” Lennie, his companion, is his opposite, a giant of a man with a “shapeless” face. Overcome with thirst, the two stop in a clearing by a pool and decide to camp for the night. As the two converse, it becomes clear that Lennie is neurodivergent and is deeply devoted to George and dependent upon him for protection and guidance. He and Lennie share a dream of buying their own piece of land, farming it, and, much to Lennie’s delight, keeping rabbits. Eventually, they begin working at a farm and meet several characters, including Candy, an old handyman, Slim, a skilled mule driver who holds great sway over the farm, Crooks, who is a bitter and lonely African American stable hand, and the boss’s mean-spirited son, Curley. Subsequently, George and Lennie are alone in the bunkhouse when Curley’s wife appears and flirts with them. Lennie thinks she is “purty,” but George, sensing the trouble that could emerge with this woman and her husband, warns Lennie to stay away from her. The next day, George reveals to Slim how Lennie has often caused them trouble, including being forced to flee their last job because Lennie tried to touch a woman’s dress and was accused of rape. While Slim is working in the barn, Curley, who is frenziedly searching for his wife, heads to the barn to accost Slim. Meanwhile, Candy overhears George and Lennie discussing their plans to buy land, and he offers his life’s savings if they will let him live there too. The three make a pact to keep their plan secret from everyone else. However, Crooks becomes aware of their plan and says he would like to join them so he can sow the fields. Slim returns to the bunkhouse, berating Curley for his suspicions. Curley, searching for an easy target for his anger, finds Lennie and picks a fight with him. Lennie crushes Curley’s hand in the altercation. Slim warns Curley that if he tries to get George and Lennie fired, he will be the laughingstock of the farm. However, Lennie is repeatedly tormented by the other characters throughout the novella, notwithstanding this display of immense physical power.

The next night, most of the men go to the local brothel. Lennie is left with Crooks and Candy. Curley’s wife flirts with them, refusing to leave until the other men come home.  The following day, Lennie accidentally kills a puppy in the barn. Curley’s wife enters and consoles him. She admits that life with Curley is a disappointment. Lennie tells her that he loves petting soft things, and she offers to let him feel her hair. When he grabs too tightly, she cries out. In his attempt to silence her, he accidentally breaks her neck. Lennie flees back to a pool of the Salinas River that George had designated as a meeting place should either of them get into trouble. As the men back at the ranch discover what has happened and gather together a lynch party, George joins Lennie. Much to Lennie’s surprise, George is not mad at him for doing “a bad thing.” George begins to tell Lennie the story of the farm they will have together. As he describes the rabbits that Lennie will tend, the sound of the approaching lynch party grows louder. George shoots his friend in the back of the head. When the other men arrive, George explains to them that Lennie had the gun, and George wrestled it away from him and shot him. Only Slim understands what has really happened, that George has killed his friend out of mercy. Slim consolingly leads him away, and the other men, completely puzzled, watch them leave.

Several themes emerge from the novella’s plot. John Steinbeck explores the predatory nature of human existence, as best illustrated by the other workers tormenting Lennie, and records a profound human truth: oppression does not come only from the strong. The author also explores the theme of fraternity and idealised friendships. The men join in solidarity, becoming like brothers. They want to live with one another’s best interests in mind, to protect each other, and to know that there is someone in the world dedicated to protecting them. Given the harsh, lonely conditions under which these men live, it should come as no surprise that they idealise friendships between men in such a way. Still, the world is too harsh and predatory a place to sustain such relationships- Lennie and George, who come closest to achieving this ideal of brotherhood, tragically separate. A rare friendship vanishes, but the rest of the world, represented by Curley and Carlson, who watch George stumble away with grief from his friend’s dead body, fails to acknowledge or appreciate it. The author also explores the theme of the impossibility of the American. Most of the characters in Of Mice and Men admit, at one point or another, to dreaming of a different life. Curley’s wife confesses her dream of becoming a movie star. Candy latches on desperately to George’s vision of owning a couple of acres. Before the story’s action begins, circumstances have robbed most of the characters of these wishes. George and Lennie’s dream of owning a farm, which would enable them to sustain themselves and, most importantly, offer them protection from an inhospitable world, represents a prototypically American ideal. Their journey, which awakens George to the impossibility of this dream, sadly proves that the bitter Crooks is right: such paradises of freedom, contentment, and safety are not to be found in this world. John Steinbeck also explores the theme of fallenness, drawing on the biblical story of the Fall in which Adam and Eve sin in the Garden of Eden. 

Of Mice and Men argues that the social and economic world in which its characters live is fundamentally flawed. The novella opens with an Eden-like pool, presented as a natural paradise. People visit, but they do not own the land, and they share its resources amongst themselves, like the giant sycamore whose low branch is “worn smooth by men who have sat on it.” The purity of this world in the opening scene proves to be unsustainable as the story continues. On the ranch, George and Lennie hold on to their idyllic dream of shared farm ownership, and this dream is compared to paradise when Crooks scoffs, “Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’.” George and Lennie’s dream is of a place where “nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ’em.” These paradises, real and imaginary, contrast with the ranch, owned by Curley’s father and a place of fear and isolation, where the workers are hurt and robbed. This contrast indicates that landownership is like Satan’s treachery in the biblical story: it is the act that destroys innocence and paradise. The author explores the theme of freedom versus captivity, illustrated by the fact that working-class people possess little meaningful freedom and are often held captive by their circumstances. Both George and Lennie feel that the ranch “ain’t no good place,” but they have to stay because they “can’t help it”; they are victims of a society that idealises the American Dream but offers few opportunities to achieve it. Finally, John Steinbeck explores fear, as every character in Of Mice and Men lives in fear. As the novella opens, George and Lennie have just fled from an attempted lynching in Weed, and when they arrive at the ranch, Lennie intuits that it “ain’t no good place” and wants to leave. Of Mice and Men suggests that fear is an inextricable part of life for oppressed people, and that this fear extends even to their oppressors. Curley fears losing status so much because he knows his status isn’t earned but is instead conferred by his position as the boss’s son. Fear is the price he pays for his ownership of the land, and this same fear trickles down to everyone who works the land.

Revisiting Of Mice and Men during my adulthood was a satisfying experience for several reasons. Firstly, while some of the novella’s themes were clear to me as a child, I gained a thorough understanding of John Steinbeck’s brilliant use of symbolism and imagery. Secondly, I realised that the author’s social commentary arising from the themes was timeless in its applicability to any stage of human existence. Finally, it explained to me why John Steinbeck’s writing was controversial in some quarters of American society, as it revealed the unspoken truth that the American Dream was inaccessible to most of the American public. This dangling carrot moved further and further away as the approaching masses tried to grasp it, so much for the land of the free.