Of Mice and Men is a novel written by author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, this book tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two migrant farm workers who migrated, who moved from one place to another in California to seek new employment opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States.
Steinbeck based his novella on his own experience working with migrant farm workers as a teenager in the 1910s (before the arrival of Okies which he clearly explained in The Grapes of Wrath). The title is taken from Robert Burns's poem "To a Mouse", which reads: "The best scheme laid out for rat" men/Gang aft agley. "(The best scheme of rats and men/Often go awry.)
Although this is a book taught in many schools, Of Mice and Men has been the frequent target of censorship for vulgarity and what some perceive as rough and racist language; consequently, it appears on the American Library Association's list of The Hardest Books of the 21st Century.
Video Of Mice and Men
Plot
Two migrant field workers in California on their plantations during the Great Depression - George Milton, an intelligent but uneducated man, and Lennie Small, a big, strong but mentally handicapped man - were in Soledad on their way to another part of California. They hope one day to achieve the dream to settle in their own land. Lennie's part of the dream was just to take care of and raise a rabbit on a ranch, because she liked touching soft animals, even though she always killed them. This dream is one of Lennie's favorite stories, which George keeps telling us. They had escaped from Weed after Lennie touched a young woman's dress and did not release her, leading to a rape allegation. It soon became clear that the two were close and George was Lennie's protector, despite his humor.
After being hired on a farm, the couple is confronted by Curley - an aggressive Little Bos Boy with a Napoleonic complex who dislikes the bigger man, and starts targeting Lennie. Curley's flirty and provocative wife, to whom Lennie was immediately attracted, caused trouble too. Instead, the couple also met Candy, an old gardener with one hand and a loyal dog, and Slim, a smart and gentle dog whose dog has recently had a puppy. Slim gave a puppy to Lennie and Candy, whose loyal dog was successful and was defeated by Carlson's handmaid.
Regardless of the problem, their dreams jumped into reality when Candy offered to offer $ 350 with George and Lennie so they could buy a farm at the end of the month, in return for permission to stay with them. The trio was happy, but their joy was overshadowed when Curley attacked Lennie, who defended herself with a handy Curley hand while being tempted by George.
Nevertheless, George felt more relaxed, to the extent that he even left Lennie behind on the ranch while he went to town with the hands of other farms. Lennie wandered into the stable, and chatted with Crooks, the bitter but educated horse stable, who was exiled from the other workers racially. Candy finds them and they discuss their plans for farming with Crooks, who can not help but ask if she can hoe garden patches on the farm despite scorning her possibilities. Curley's wife made another appearance and teased the men, especially Lennie. However, a vengeful side is shown when he belittles them and threatens Crooks to get him hanged.
The next day, Lennie accidentally kills her puppy while caressing her. Curley's wife entered the barn and tried to talk to Lennie, admitting that she was lonely and how her dream of becoming a movie star was shattered, revealing her personality. After finding out about Lennie's habit, she offers to let him stroke her hair, but panics and starts yelling as she feels her strength. Lennie became frightened, and accidentally broke his neck afterwards and fled. When the other ranch's hand found the body, George realized that their dream was over. George rushed to find Lennie, hoping he would be at the meeting place they pointed to in case he got into trouble.
George met Lennie at the spot, their camping spot before they came to the ranch. The two sat together and George recounted the beloved story of the dream, knowing it was something they would never share. He then shot and killed Lennie, with Curley, Slim, and Carlson arriving seconds later. Only Slim is aware of what is happening, and gladly takes him away. Curley and Carlson noticed, unable to understand the men's quiet atmosphere.
Maps Of Mice and Men
Character
- George Milton : A quick response man who is Lennie's guardian and best friend. Her friendship with Lennie helped maintain her dream of a better future. She's tied to teasing Lennie since she was young. He is described by Steinbeck in the novel as "small and fast," every part of him being "defined," with small strong hands on his sleek arm. She has a dark face and "restless eyes" and "sharp, strong features" including "thin, skinny nose."
- Lennie Small : A mentally challenged, physically strong man who travels with George and is a steady partner. He dreamed of "living from fatta 'lan'" and able to tend to rabbits. Her passion for the gentle things conspired against her, especially since she did not know her own strength, and ultimately her failure. Steinbeck defines his appearance as George's "opponent", writing that he is "big man, shapeless face, with pale big eyes" and "broad shoulders and tilt." Lennie walked heavily, dragging her feet a little, "the bear's way of dragging her feet," adding that her arms are not swinging on her sides, but hanging loosely.
- Candy : An elderly gardener, Candy loses her hand in an accident and worries about her future at the ranch. Afraid that his age made him useless, he captured George's description of the farm that he and Lennie would offer, his life savings if he could join George and Lennie in owning the land.
- Slim : A "jerkline skinner," the main driver of the mule team and the "farm prince". Slim is highly respected by many characters and is the only character who treats Curley with respect. Her insight, intuition, goodness, and natural authority drew the other farms hands toward her, and she was significantly the only character to fully understand the ties between George and Lennie.
- Curley : The Boss Son, a youthful, fierce character, was once a semi-professional boxer. He is described by others, with some irony, as "useful", in part because he likes to keep gloves filled with vaseline in his left hand. He was very jealous and protective of his wife and soon developed displeasure with Lennie. At one point, Curley loses his temper after he sees Lennie appear to be laughing at him, and ends up with his very broken hand after Lennie fights against him.
- Curley's Wife : A beautiful young woman who is not trusted by her husband. The other character simply calls himself "the Curley wife". Steinbeck explains that he's "not a person, he's a symbol, he has no function, except to be a foil - and a danger to Lennie." The fun of Curley's wife with her own beauty finally helped to speed up his death: He let Lennie stroke his hair as a seemingly innocuous lust, only to anger Lennie when she yelled at him to stop him 'frowning'. Lennie tries to stop her screaming and finally, and accidentally, kills her by breaking her neck.
- Criminals : Criminals, hand-stabbed black, get his name from his crooked back. Proud, bitter, and cynical, he is isolated from others because of his skin color. Despite this, Crooks became fond of Lennie, and although he claims to have seen many men after a blank dream to buy their own land, he asks Lennie if he can go with them and dig in the garden.
- Candy Dogs : The blind dogs are described as "old", "smelly", and "lame", and killed by Carlson.
- Carlson : Hand ranch "thick bodied", he killed the dog Candy with little sympathy.
- Boss : Curley's father, the farm supervisor. The farm is owned by a "big land company" according to Candy.
- Whit : Young farm hand.
Themes
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Steinbeck emphasized dreams throughout the book. George wanted independence, became his own boss, had a homestead, and the most important thing was to be "somebody." Lennie aspires to George in his independent homestead, and extinguishes his fixation on soft objects. Candy aspires to reaffirm her lost responsibility for the death of her dog, and for security for her old age - at George's home. Crooks aspires to a small guesthouse where he can express his self-esteem, security, and most importantly, acceptance. Curley's wife dreams of being an actress, to satisfy her desire for lost fame when she marries Curley, and ends her loneliness.
Loneliness is an important factor in the life of some characters. Candy is lonely after her dog disappears. Curley's wife is lonely because her husband is not her expected friend - she deals with her loneliness by teasing men at the ranch, which causes Curley to increase her cruelty and jealousy. George and Lennie's friendship is the result of loneliness. Crooks declared the theme plainly as "A man goes crazy if he does not have anyone, do not make a difference who he is, he's long with you." The author further reinforces this theme through the subtle method of placing the story near the town of Soledad, which means "solitude" in Spanish.
Regardless of the necessity of friendship, Steinbeck emphasizes how loneliness is sustained through obstacles that are formed from inhuman acting with each other. The loneliness of Curley's wife was enforced by Curley's jealousy, which caused all the farming hands to avoid it. The result of Crooks barrier is banned from the bunkhouse by holding it to the cage; However, the bitterness was partially broken, due to Lennie's ignorance.
Steinbeck's character is often helpless, due to intellectual, economic, and social circumstances. Lennie has the greatest physical strength of any character, which must therefore build respect because he works as a farm hand. However, his intellectual disability weakens this and produces his helplessness. The powerlessness of the economy is formed because many farm hands are victims of the Great Depression. Because George, Candy, and Crooks have a positive and action-oriented character, they want to buy a house, but because of the Depression, they can not make enough money. Lennie is the only one who basically can not take care of himself, but other characters will do this in the better state they are looking for. Since they could not do it, the real danger of Lennie's mental defect came to the surface.
Regarding human interaction, the crime of oppression and harassment is the theme depicted through Curley's wife and Curley. Curley uses his aggressive nature and superior position in an attempt to control his father's farm. He constantly reprimands farmers and accuses some people of playing with his wife. The Napoleon Curley complex is evidenced by the threat of farmers' hands for very small incidents. Curley's wife, on the other hand, is not physically but verbally manipulative. She uses her sex appeal to get attention, tease with farm hands. According to Penguin Teacher's Guide for Of Mice and Men, Curley and Curley's wives represent crime in that it both oppresses and misuses migrants in different ways.
The fate most felt as a character aspiration was shattered when George could not protect Lennie (which is a real danger). Steinbeck presents this as "something that happens" or when his friend creates "non-teleological thinking" or "thinking," postulating non-judgmental views.
Development
Of Mice and Men is Steinbeck's first attempt at writing in a novel-play form called "play novels" by a single critic. Structured in three innings of two chapters each, this is meant to be a novel and script for a drama. The length is only 30,000 words. Steinbeck wants to write a novel that can be played from the lines, or a game that can be read like a novel.
Steinbeck originally titled it Something Happened (referring to the book event as "something that happened" because no one can really blame for the tragedy revealed in the story). However, he changed the title after reading Robert Burns poem To a Mouse. Poetry Burns tells about the regret that the narrator felt for destroying the house of a mouse while plowing his field.
Steinbeck wrote this book and The Grapes of Wrath in what is now Monte Sereno, California. The initial draft of Of Mice and Men was eaten by the Steinbeck dog, named Max.
Reception
Achieving the greatest positive response of his works up to that point, Steinbeck's novel was chosen as an option of the Book of the Month Club before it was published. The praise for the work came from many famous critics, including Maxine Garrard ( Enquirer-Sun ), Christopher Morley, and Harry Thornton Moore ( New Republic ). New York Times critic Ralph Thompson describes this novel as "a great little book, for all his last melodrama."
Novella has been banned from US public and school libraries or curricula for allegedly "promoting euthanasia", "forgiving racial insults", being "anti-business", obscene, and generally containing "vulgar" and "crude language". Many restrictions and restrictions have been lifted and are still required to read in many American, Australian, Irish, British, New Zealand and Canadian secondary schools. As a result of frequent censorship targets, Of Mice and Men appear on the American Library Association's list of <21> Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century (number 4). In the UK, it was listed at number 52 of the "best novel the nation loved" on a BBC survey in 2003, The Big Read. Of Mice and Men has been challenged 54 times since its publication in 1936. However, scholars like Thomas Scarseth have struggled to protect the book by citing literary value. According to Scarseth "in the true great literature, the suffering of Life is transmuted into the beauty of Art". This book was studied in the English Literature of the GCSE, but it was removed because it was not English.
Adaptations
Stage
The first stage production was written by Steinbeck, produced by Sam H. Harris and directed by George S. Kaufman. Opened on November 23, 1937, at the Music Box Theater on Broadway. Running for 207 shows, it stars Wallace Ford as George and Broderick Crawford as Lennie. Crooks's role is performed by Leigh Whipper, the first member of the Association of African-American Association Actor. Whipper repeats this role in the 1939 film version.
Production was selected as the Best Play in 1938 by the New York Drama Critic Circle.
In 1939 production was moved to Los Angeles, still with Wallace Ford in George's role, but with Lon Chaney, Jr., taking on Lennie's role. Chaney's performance in his role resulted in casting in the film.
The drama was revived in the 1974 Broadway production at Brooks Atkinson Theater, starring Kevin Conway as George and James Earl Jones as Lennie. Renowned stage actress Pamela Blair plays Curley's Wife in this production.
In 1970 Carlisle Floyd wrote an opera based on this novel. One departure between Steinbeck's book and Floyd's opera was that the opera featured The Ballad Singer, a character not found in the book.
A new version of the drama opened on Broadway at The Longacre Theater on March 19, 2014 for a limited 18-week show, starring James Franco, Chris O'Dowd, Leighton Meester and Jim Norton.
Movies
The first adaptation was in 1939, two years after the publication of the novel, and starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie, with Burgess Meredith as George, and directed by Lewis Milestone. It was nominated for four Academy Awards.
The TV version, produced by David Susskind in 1968, starred George Segal as George, Nicol Williamson as Lennie, Will Geer as Candy, Moses Gunn as Crooks, and Don Gordon and Joey Heatherton as Curley and his wife.
An Iranian film 1972, Topoli, directed by Reza Mirlohi was adapted from and dedicated to John Steinbeck and his story.
In 1981 a TV movie version was made, starring Randy Quaid as Lennie, and Robert Blake as George, and directed by Reza Badiyi.
Another theatrical version of the film was made in 1992, directed by Gary Sinise, who was nominated for the Palme d'Or in Cannes. Sinise also plays George in the film, and Lennie's role is played by John Malkovich. For this adaptation, the two men changed their role from the 1980 production of the Steppenwolf Theater Company.
The 1992 Malayalam Film Soorya Manasam directed by Viji Thampi is also based on the novel.
Radio
Of Mice and Men was adapted by Donna Franceschild as a radio drama directed by Kirsty Williams starring David Tennant which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on March 7, 2010.
References
Note
Bibliography
External links
- First edition photo of Of Mice and Men
- 1953 Best playback radio adaptation of the playback version of the Internet Archive
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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