Of Mice And Men: Four Major Themes

George travels with Lennie and helps him to survive although Lennie is more of a burden than a help. Before Aunt Clara dies, she places the trust of her only relative in the hands of George. George protects Lennie in many parts of the story by creating a reason for Leenie not to leave, such as; “ Somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself” (13). George often insults Lennie and “gives him hell” (87) but he doesn’t really mean it. Although he often talks about how much better off he could be without Lennie, George secretly relies on Lennie.

He is isolated from the other men because of the color of his skin. Soon, Crooks becomes fond of Lennie, and even though he claims to have seen countless men following empty dreams of buying their own land, he asks Lennie if he can go with them, because he wants to hoe in the garden. 4.) Two main conflicts: 1.) Lennie vs. Self- Lennie was in the middle of a constant battle with himself.

It is never Lennie’s fault. Slim and George also converse about Lennie’s faultless nature when they say, “’He ain’t mean,’ said Slim. ‘I can see Lenne ain’t a bit mean.’/’’Course he ain’t mean. But he gets in trouble alla time because he’s so…dumb’” (41). The murder of Curley’s wife is just another instance of Lennie’s stupidity getting the better of him.

Lennie isn’t all that smart and he worships George utterly, but sometimes George gets annoyed with Lennie’s stupidity and shouts at him, for example, in the first chapter when Lennie was annoying him about ketchup he shouts “God a’ mighty if I was alone I could live so easy”. Deep down George knows this isn’t true because he doesn’t want to be alone. Also, George cares about Lennie and tries to make sure nothing bad happens to him. Another Character that shows these themes is Crooks. He is isolated from the rest of the workers due to racist prejudice.

Candy and Crooks eagerly volunteer to join George and Lennie in their dream in hopes that they can contribute to the welfare of the group and act as one unit, one family. George already shows this kind of selflessness throughout the book in his looking out for Lennie, and, likewise, Lennie's looking out for George. These characters escape their primal, animalistic tendencies to fend for themselves and chose to help each other. Of Mice and Men presents many interesting connections between the animal natures and human natures of its characters. Though most characters display characteristics that could qualify them as bestial, only a few exhibit the drive to rise above this base level of existence and distinguish themselves from their animal nature.

Lennie wasn’t good for himself because he couldn’t survive on his own. He can’t stay out of trouble and without George he would have been dead a long time ago. He’s no good to others because he doesn’t now his own strength and can’t control himself. He had murdered a woman because of his curiosity and his self-uncontrollability. “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George I shouldn’t ought let no stranger shoot my dog.”(61) As Candy said he had the choice of saving his dog from himself and others.

Mr. Ewell was a lethal threat to the children, and had attacked them out of hatred from Atticus. Boo noticed the children's need of help and with good moral intentions, engaged Bob in combat. Mr. Tate comments on how "I [he] never heard tell that it's against the law for a citizen to do his utmost to prevent crime from being committed…" (chp 30). Sheriff Tate, who understands the law and is an enforcer of it agrees on how Boo handled the situation without breaking the law. Boo risked his life and even more of his bad reputation to save the children.

He would help Mayella with her chores, and the part of it that made him a mockingbird, is that he did not want anything in return. “ Were u paid for these services...No suh, not after she offered to give me a nickel the first time (191).” What makes Boo Radley a mockingbird is that he has never really never hurt anybody, he minds his own business while watching over his children. The Ewell family and many other people in Maycomb have sinned, distinctively Bob Ewell, because they took advantage and prejudged to innocent men; Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. People who help the mockingbirds also become victims of prejudice.

Slim is a man who shows a lot of emotions during the story. He shows us indifference to Curly and friendship towards Lennie, but when Lennie killed the woman, and George killed him, he's the only one who seems to know why he done that. Curly's wife shows us unhappiness with her marriage and with the way her life got into. Crooks has an important role in the story, showing us his feelings about prejudice and how he feels bad, because he is rejected by all.

Candy is an old, white, cripple. While Candy does not describe his dream he believes that because he is a cripple, his dream cannot come true as he says "Jus' as soon as I can't swamp out no bunk-houses they'll put me on the county." This quote is Candy comparing himself to his dog, who because it couldn't work no more, was shot to put it out of its misery, and Candy himself says "When t... ... middle of paper ... ...ppen without Lennie, as after Lennie goes on the run George says "I think I knowed we'd never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would." These two sentences usher in the suggestion that Lennie was the driving force behind the dream and without him, George does not have the will to complete the dream.