“Of Mice and Men” is a very good book. It is really sad, but I think Steinbeck is very creative with this book. If you’re looking for a good one it’s here. It is about George and Lennie who are two men in the 1930’s who don’t have very much money or a home. Lennie has special needs and George looks after him and makes many sacrifices for Lennie, he gives up a lot, so he obviously loves Lennie. When Lennie finds himself in a sticky situation, he and George have to go far off and look for a way of living, and they find one.
They live and work on a ranch. Many people single others out for their differences, and Steinbeck was writing a very true example of this treatment. Crooks was black, Curley was a jerk, Candy was handicapped, and Curley’s wife was a woman, but the thing nobody knows except George and Slim is that Lennie has special needs. Curley’s lonesome wife finds Lennie in the barn one day and Lennie knows to stay away from her, because things have been said about how she flirts. The reader knows she only wants someone to talk to, but the men in the story see it differently and don’t want her causing trouble, after all, her husband Curly is the boss’s son. They get carried away and they get into talking and Lennie tells her about his and George’s dream and about tending the rabbits they would one day own. Then he tells her he likes rabbits because they feel nice and not knowing Lennie she lets him feel her soft, pretty, hair and when Lennie can’t help himself trouble approaches and it is up to George to make the most difficult decision of his life.
Steinbeck gave us a very honest example of the real world by writing “Of Mice and Men”. None of us could have explained it better. People do treat others badly because of their differences and I think John Steinbeck did a great job showing us what we need to change. I think his purpose was to change the perspective everyone has about people who aren’t the same as them. It also shows that George and Lennie have hope. They really believed they would get that land and although Lennie had special needs, George wasn’t cruel to him. Lennie was his best friend and George was Lennie’s best friend. I think Steinbeck really pulls people in with this book it is also very true as to how everyone reacts with different people. It is a fictional story, but it is very true. I think it deserves five stars.