Of Mice and Men
Uploaded by getogurl88 on Mar 05, 2007
Many books have titles that are meaningful. The titles can be made of from the character, the theme, or the events that occurred. Of Mice and Men is an appropriate title for Steinbecks’s book because the characters are mice and men, the plot moves from mice to men, and the theme applies to unfulfilled dreams of mice and men.
The title is appropriate because the characters demonstrate traits of mice and men. Lennie is one of the biggest mice in the book. He depended on George who had to always take care of him. Lennie was a quiet guy that only talked when George told him to. “Lennie twisted his neck and looked over his shoulder. Huh? What you want, George.” “I told you you couldn’t bring that pup in here.” “What pup, George? I ain’t got no pup. George went quickly to him, grabbed him by the shoulder and rolled him over. He reached down and picked the tiny puppy from where Lennie had been concealing it against his stomach.” (Pg. 40) Lennie didn’t have any of his own rights; he always had to follow by George’s rules. Also, another mouse in this story is Candy. Candy was a quiet person that tried to mind his own business. One specific incident that seemed like he was a mouse was when Carlson wanted to shoot Candy’s dog, and he couldn’t stop him. He had that dog since he was very young, and when Carlson wanted to shoot it Candy could not say anything about it. “Candy looked about unhappily. No, he said softly. No, I couldn’t do that. I had ‘im to long.” “He don’t have no fun, Carlson insisted. And he stinks to beat hell. Tell you what. I’ll shoot him for you. The it won’t be you that does it.” “Candy threw his leg off his bunk. He scratched the white stubble whiskers on his cheek nervously. I’m so used to him, he said softly. I had him from a pup.” (Pg. 42) Carlson shot the dog anyways, but Candy had to let him go, and didn’t speak up to anyone. On the other hand, there are few men in this story too. One of...