Of mice and men; John Steinbeck

"OF MICE AND MEN" is more than just the tragedy of Lennie.
Of Mice and Men is more than just the tragedy of Lennie. It has shown the
sadness and suffering of individuals in a disinterested world.
The death of Lennie at the end of “Of Mice and Men” seems, at first, to be the
most tragic event in the novel, especially for the people directly concerned,
such as George and Lennie themselves. However, in actual fact, the novel is
full of sad people suffering in a world where no one really cares about them.
The men who worked on the ranches, the itinerant workers were sad and
lonely people. As George says ¡°Guys like us, who work on ranches, were the
loneliest people in this world. They had no families and no homes. They
moved from place to place to find work. Some had dreams of owning land, but
only a few dreams came true. They tried to save up money, but spent every
thing on Saturdays. They were back to nothing on Monday again. Most of the
ranch hands were totally alone; they had no one to take care of them. George
and Lennie were different. They got each other, and they took care to each
other. Even though Lennie died, at least while he was alive, he had someone
who cared about him.
For a while, Candy was not so lonely because he had his dog. He had his dog
since it was a pup, they companied each other until Candy’s dog was killed.
Candy was old and disabled, he know if he could not work anymore, he would
be sacked. He would be put on the county on his own. For a while, he had
hoped again. He could go with George and Lennie and live on their own farm,
where there would be love and care. But when Curley’s wife died, his dream
was gone. He knew he was going to face the fact, where as soon as he could
not out no bunkhouse, he would be put on the county on his own. Candy was a
sad and old man whose life was made more tragic by the death of his old dog
and Curley’s wife.
Crooks too, he was another lonely person. Unlike Candy, he was lonely
because he was the only black person on the ranch. He was separated from
everyone else on the ranch. He was sad and lonely as you can tell from his
words with Lennie. “Maybe you can see now. You got George”. You knew he
was going to come back. Suppose you did not have anybody. Suppose you
were black. How would you like that? During the 1930s, racism was great in
America. A large amount of black guys like Crook was treated this way. They
were isolated and sad. Crook was the butt of everyone’s anger and jokes. He
did not dare to retaliate because he was black. He was a sad and lonely person
in a world which does not care.
Crooks was isolated because of his colour. Curley’s wife was lonely because
she was the only woman on the ranch. She was not only lonely, but she was
also sad. Her reasons of her sadness were she hates Curly, whom she married
to a fortnight ago. She hates Curley because of his jealousy and because she
was not allowed to talk to other ranch hands. She had no one to talk to because
she made a lot of troubles. Every one hated her. No one mourned when she
died. People thought she was no good living. And “You god damn tramp,”
says Candy. People did not like her, and she was sad and lonely. Curley’s wife
constantly searches for people to talk to, but no one liked her.
George and Lennie were lucky compared to others. They had each other.
Despite Lennie’s death, the real tragic figures were Crooks, Curley’s wife,
Candy and other itinerant workers.
ARNOVIS PINEDA HERNANDEZ
7th SEMESTER- B
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
PROGRAM
CORDOBA UNIVERSITY.