OMAM Theme In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

OMAM Theme Essay The story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a very touching story, and is meant to show the reality of society. The story is about 2 men, George and Lennie, who travel together to find a job. It’s difficult for them to keep a job because Lennie has the mind of a child and causes trouble. In the beginning of the story, George and Lennie had a job in Weed; however, Lennie touched a girl's dress-he likes to touch soft things- which scares her and causes a manhunt for George and Lennie. They ran away and found another ranch job in Salinas, but that didn't end well either. Lennie touched a girl's hair, which scared her and caused her to scream, so Lennie accidently broke her neck. He then ran away, but the ranch workers and
George knew Lennie killed her. The ranch workers wanted to find Lennie and make him suffer, but George didn't want Lennie to suffer. In the end, George shoots Lennie in the back of the head. Overall, the theme of the story is that friendships can be a burden: George has to take care of Lennie, George takes the blame for Lennie, and Lennie causes them to lose their jobs. George wants freedom, but is incapable of this because of Lennie, which proves that relationships can sometimes be a burden. Due to Lennie's mental disability, George has to take care of him. Because George has to take care of Lennie, he can’t have the life that he wants. He says, ¨I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of. Get a gallon of whisky, or set in a poolroom and play cards or shoot pool.¨ (pg. 11) George wishes he had the freedom to do all those things, but with Lennie he is unable to do so. This is a burden for George, and holds him back from his full capability. He has to take Lennie with him everywhere he goes and provide him with food and shelter, which is overall less food and shelter for himself. George has to give up his freedom for Lennie, which is definitely a burden. In addition, he also has to take the blame for Lennie whenever he causes trouble. Lennie's disability makes him childlike, which means he doesn't realizing he’s doing something wrong when he does it. George feels responsible for Lennie, so he always takes the blame for him or tries to cover it up. For example, George says, ¨You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out. You crazy son-of-a-bitch. You keep me in hot water all the time.¨ (pg. 11) This shows that George feels like he is in charge of Lennie and has to take care of all the problems Lennie creates. Consequently, Lennie becomes a burden for George. Furthermore, Lennie’s behavior causes both George and Lennie to have problems keeping a job.
As a consequence of being with Lennie, George can never keep a job.
Lennie doesn’t try to cause problems, but he gets scared easily and doesn’t know what to do. George explains: “Well, that girl rabbits in an’ tells the law she been raped. The guys in Weed start a party out to lynch Lennie.” (pg. 42) George was talking about when Lennie touched a girl’s dress in Weed and scared the girl, so they had to run away from their job so they wouldn’t get killed. Incidents like that happened a lot according to George, and he gets very angry at Lennie because of this. It is a burden for George to lose every job he gets because of Lennie.
In conclusion, relationships can sometimes be a burden. For George, Lennie was a burden for a few reasons: George has to take care of Lennie, George takes the blame for problems Lennie creates, and Lennie causes them to lose their jobs. By using the theme of relationships being a burden, Steinbeck is trying to show the reality of relationships and that they aren’t always perfect, and that feelings aren’t always mutual between both people in a relationship. Moreover, lots of relationships in life can be a burden, but the connection and friendship between the people in the relationship can be worth the
burden.