Of Mice and Men Essay example -- English Literature

Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck’s novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ is one of those books which make you believe everything that takes place between the covers. Books like these always remain as classics, because of their very informative and believable stories. John Steinbeck especially excels in this, and therefore is the reason I have chosen this book to describe. ‘Of Mice and Men’, the title of the novel, originates from the poem ‘To a Mouse’, by Robert Burns. It means that no matter what you plan to do in the future, something will always go wrong. It comes from the line ‘†¦the best laid schemes o’ Mice and Men, Gang aft agley’. The title of the book was originally ‘Something that Happened’, as the story is about what actually happened, not what should or could happen (at least to John Steinbeck). This is always at the back of the readers mind. During 1919 until 1926 (while Steinbeck was at college), he took up a few manual, and unskilled jobs, one being where he became a farm labourer on ranches between King City, and Santa Clara in Northern California. These experiences seem to have helped Steinbeck create the setting for his novel (‘Of Mice and Men’). He uses two main settings throughout the story; Curley’s father’s ranch, and rural California. Most of the story is set in and around the ranch, which allowed Steinbeck to contain all of the important events in one place. Steinbeck has written the novel in third-person, which allows him to tell the reader each characters point of view. He describes the setting around the characters in such a way that when the characters are doing or saying something, you can literally picture it in your head. He has also made all the characters in the novel talk America... ... the ranch. He wants to be able to enter the bunkhouse, or play cards with the other men. In conclusion, I believe that this book provides a very powerful impact to the reader, the main reason being because it shows how real life actually was in America at that time. It tells of how coloured people were treated differently, how women were looked upon as second class, and also how cruel real life can actually be. If say, the ending of the story was altered, where Lennie lived, and everyone lived happily ever after, you would not be able to appreciate it as much. The reason being, that life doesn’t always have a happy ending. Things never turn out the way you want them to. No matter how hard you try, events occur which can alter your hopes and your dreams. This book shows the message very loud and clear, and certainly provided a powerful impact to myself.