Of Mice And Men By Steinbeck Report Essay, Research Paper

The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about two ranch hands, George

and Lennie. George is a small, smart-witted man, while Lennie is a large,

mentally- handicapped man. They are trying to raise enough money to buy their

own ranch, by working as ranch hands. During the setting of the story, they are

at a ranch whose owner?s name is Curley. It is in this setting that the novel

reveals that the main theme is death and loss. Lennie accidentally killing all

of his pets establishes that the theme of this novel is death and loss. These

pets consist of mice, dogs, kittens, etc. Lennie loves to feel and pet animals,

but he does not know his own strength. He kills them without really noticing

what he has done, until George tells him that he did something wrong. After

being scolded, Lennie is very remorseful about what he did. Once, after being

yelled at Lennie says, ?I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead-

because they were so little (13).? Lennie?s remorse is probably more for

upsetting George than it is for actually killing the animal. Another way that

death and loss is evidenced by this novel is when Lennie killed Curley?s wife.

When Lennie is in the barn (after killing his new puppy) Curley?s wife came

into the barn and came on to Lennie. Lennie not knowing what was happening let

her lull him into touching her hair. To Lennie it was like petting any other

animal. Curley?s wife became flustered when Lennie became scared and would not

let go of her hair. She started to scream and Lennie tried to cup her mouth,

which concluded in him killing her. Lennie was truly remorseful after this

action. Soon after killing her Lennie can be heard saying to himself, ?I done

a bad thing. I done another bad thing (121).? The final confirmation of the

death and loss theme occurred to George, not Lennie. After going to the place

where George had told him to go if anything went wrong, Lennie lays and waits in

the brush for George to come get him. What Lennie wasn?t expecting was George

to come with a posse of ranch hands with him. The ranch hands were not quite

there, when George shot Lennie in the back of the head to save him the pain the

posse would do to him. After he shot him ?the brush seemed filled with cries

(140)?, which symbolizes the loss of George after shooting Lennie. This was a

truly great loss for him since Lennie was his best friend. Of Mice and Men is a

very sad and depressing story that contains many deaths of many living

creatures. Many people had a loss from these deaths, especially George. He had

to shoot his best friend. This can possibly be the greatest loss of all, because

without friends, where would we be?