Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

 

How did I ever let so much time go by before reading this masterpiece?  John Steinbeck in a few short pages has written a classic story of two migrant workers and the American Dream as well as exploring the concept of friendship and what we owe each other.

George and Lennie have been together on the road.  They grew up together and George knows that Lennie, while a huge man who can outwork anyone, is simple and childlike and needs help and direction.  They ride the rails, stopping to work on ranches and farms.  They usually don't stay long enough to get a stake ahead as Lennie tends to do things out of ignorance for the consequences of his actions that get them both in trouble.

The two men have a dream.  They want to save up enough to buy a small farm that George knows about.  They will have a few cows, some chickens and just enough crops to feed them and have a bit to sell for things they can't make or grow themselves.  They will have rabbits and Lennie wants nothing more than to take care of the rabbits.  

But this ranch may not be the place to make their dreams come true.  The other ranch hands seem pretty much okay and they understand Lennie's limitations.  But the son of the owner is a mean man, a little man who has married a beauty who only wants to be discovered and make it in the movies.  Barring that, she wants male attention and will do anything to get it.

Steinbeck wrote about the underside of the American Dream.  He wrote of men like George and Lennie, migrant workers whose only comfort was the friendship they found in each other.  He wrote of how getting old in an America that only values money is heartbreaking and cruel.  He wrote of what we all owe each other and how kindness is the only gift some people can give.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.