Of Mice And Men Character Analysis

There are few authors as mysteriously interesting as John Steinbeck. There are even fewer that are, or rather were, as sober and ‘sane’ as John Steinbeck was. All in all, Steinbeck was an interesting man, and now is an interesting legend to psychoanalyze. When reading, then further analyzing the characters and plot of ‘Of Mice and Men’ the reader can find out much about Steinbeck’s mentality. He was such a private man that this adventure into his head is a fun, yet challenging one. The most obvious characters to use from ‘Of Mice and Men’ to psychoanalyze John Steinbeck are the main characters George and Lennie. As stated by Elysa Gardner in USA Today, 2014, section Life on page 2 in reference to Lennie “{T}he gentle, doomed giant in Of Mice
and Men.” She also mentions how Lennie is doomed for tragedy, for death. It makes one wonder what Steinbeck wants, but is too afraid to reach for because he thinks that it is doomed to be a tragic failure. It also makes one curious as to why exactly Steinbeck created George the way he did. Going back to Elysa Gardner, she states that George feels lonely and inadequate. Perhaps George is Steinbeck’s subconscious reaching out to a character that could be so like himself, and so Steinbeck created George as an almost mirror image of himself. As James Ryan tells his readers in his book ‘John Steinbeck’, Steinbeck spent his summers in high school working on ranches and farms in Salinas, California. Steinbeck would have drawn from his own experiences to write ‘Of Mice and Men’. Maybe Steinbeck too felt lonely and inadequate as did his character George. Now, Steinbeck, made it easy for the audience to find who he most identified with, but he also included much subtler hints about the workings of his mind.
Candy, Crooks, and even Candy’s dog represent something to Steinbeck. They represent emotions, hope, fear, bitterness, despair, and regret. They have no chance to improve their situations, and eventually will no longer even have what they do now. That is, until they hear about George and Lennie’s farm. Before that though, Carlson kills Candy’s dog. There’s the regret, Candy’s regret of not killing his dog instead of letting Carlson, a stranger, do it. It foreshadows Lennie’s death, and George’s reasoning for killing Lennie himself. It pains Candy greatly to no longer have his companion, but he has to keep moving, and so he does. With the hope of joining George and Lennie on their farm, a wonderfully innocent dream almost in reach, they move on. Then that almost tangible farm, that hope of something better, is snatched away with Lennie’s death. Without Lennie, the dream of the farm is no longer worth it to try to continue reaching for. There would be too many bad connotations for George, so he and the other two are just stuck for George was the only one who knew where the land was, and he would not bear thinking about it anymore. They will never have their own ranch for that was sealed when George put a bullet through Lennie’s head. Many emotions died with Lennie, and many more came into existence. Steinbeck put
reflections of his emotions into those characters, and into the plot. Of course, Steinbeck also put hints of his views on certain subjects. Slim, for instance, is the book’s representative for the good in society, and the good of the law. One blaring hint to this is when Candy does not want to put his dog down, to shoot him, but the dog is old and a cripple. Here’s what Slim says and Candy’s reaction:
‘”Carl’s right Candy. That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht sombody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple.”’
‘Candy looked helplessly at him, for Slim’s opinions were law.’
This exchange can be found on page 45 in “Of Mice and Men”. One way Slim is described in the book is of having calm, God-like eyes. Basically the aura that Slim gives off is of a trustworthy, and all round good guy. On page 40 in the book, George even trusts Slim, whom he barely knows, enough to make a confession of sorts. George tells Slim how badly he used to treat Lennie and what finally made him stop that. Now that may make it seem like Slim is more of a preacher persona, but honestly it is just one man trusting another because he feels that he can. George trusts Slim like people are supposed to be able to trust the law. On page 41 George trusts Slim to not judge to quickly, to be able to see the truth, so he tells Slim the truth about what happened in Weed. That could show that Steinbeck believed in the law system. It could show that Steinbeck felt that even if someone was in a bad situation, if they were truly innocent, the law would figure that out and the innocent would not be harmed. As Popp Carrington helps to analyze in his article ‘Studies in Short Fiction’, body language can tell those who pay attention very much. Slim’s body language portrays him as trustworthy, and as having a good head on his shoulders. Steinbeck had to have done that on purpose. How else could Slim be so steady in his character? It is true, unfortunately, that for every good there must be a bad. Curly’s family, his wife, his dad, and himself, they are the bad in society. Though they do not mean to be the antagonists, except perhaps the bullheaded Curly, their actions make them so. Curly’s dad is not shown much, but most, if not all, of the actions of every character in the book take into account how the boss would react if he found out. Curly’s dad is represented much the same as the federal government had been viewed since the United States of America became a country, though that attitude was changing in the late 20s and through to the 30s. Curly’s dad was never seen or heard from unless he absolutely had to be. He was neither necessarily good nor bad; he just worked with what he had. His son, on the other hand, was always looking for trouble. Curly probably did love his wife, but he did work on a ranch and could not give her the amount of attention she obviously felt like she needed, that she craved. Curly represented to Steinbeck the scum of society, with an immediate and irrational dislike of George and Lennie. Curly’s wife inadvertently played the bad woman. She knew she had the looks of a seductress, and big dreams to go with those looks. She never realized the harm she was creating with her bitterness and need of constant attention in a bid to ease that bitterness. Her persona is likely due to Steinbeck’s own experiences. As found out in reading Joseph R. Millichap’s ‘Research Guide to Biography and Criticism’, John Steinbeck had been divorced twice and married a third. Steinbeck’s opinion of women would have been affected by his previous wives. With his representation of Curly and Curly’s dad, his view of society at large can’t have been all that positive. Of course, the goal that George and Lennie were constantly striving for had to have meant something to John Steinbeck.
That goal never being reached surely means something a well. In fact, that goal, that dream, was snatched away with the penetrating quickness of a gunshot from a best friend. Perhaps he was hinting at his view of life in general. In “John Steinbeck: An Introduction and Interpretation” by Joseph Fontenrose, John Steinbeck’s writing had “{A}n awareness of and sympathy with the non-human, with the physical and biological environment in all its power and magnitude, dwarfing and absorbing humanity.” This could not ring any truer in “Of Mice and Men”. The environment, the farm they were working on after running from Weed and the dream farm that would always be just out of reach, definitely had that quality to it. As an author, Steinbeck was introverted for the sake of his books, and just because he valued his privacy. As found out in Joseph R. Millichap’s “Research Guide to Biography and Criticism”, “Despite his considerable success and popularity, Steinbeck remained a very private person who jealously guarded the details of his personal life. His artistic philosophy also favored privacy, as he believed his works of fiction should be judged on their intrinsic merit without connection to his life.” All of this would lead one to thinking that John Steinbeck loved the land, perhaps preferring it to people. Steinbeck was introverted, yet he spent a great deal of his
life in cities. This dream of George and Lennie’s along with them never reaching it could be linked to Steinbeck’s own introverted mentality, and him living in one city or another without lots of wilderness around. Still, no matter how much anyone psychoanalyzes John Steinbeck through any of his books, not just “Of Mice and Men”, today’s society will never have all the answers to all of the questions about this amazing author. Bits and pieces will be uncovered through hints left in his works, but most of Steinbeck will forever remain a mystery. Using “Of Mice and Men” to psychoanalyze author John Steinbeck was difficult in its seeming simplicity. This author is still a mystery, and until time travel is invented or something else equally extraordinary happens, he forever will be. Attempting to figure out John Steinbeck’s mentality, how he thought and why he thought the way he did, that is an incredible challenge.