Of Mice and Men: The Desire for the Unattainable American Dream

            In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the characters are seen to live a tough existence and most of them dream of having a different life.  In her younger years Curely’s wife had dreams of becoming a movie star as she recounts “He says he was gonna put me in the movies.  Says I was a natural” (page 100), Curley’s wife confesses her desires to Lennie.  The dream of the main characters, George and Lennie is to one day own a farm which would enable them to sustain themselves and protect them from the world.  The appeal of their vision is contagious and Crooks, despite his bitter personality, fantasizes about hoeing a patch of garden on Lennie’s farm one day.   Candy desperately latches on to the fantasy of George’s dream of owning land for himself when George is telling Lennie about the land that they are going to own.  Candy listening in is deeply caught up by the idea and is visibly impressed “Old Candy turned slowly over.  His eyes were wide open.  He watched George carefully” (page 63).  Unfortunately, even before the beginning of this story, the chances of their dreams coming to fruition are slim to none as seen with Curley’s wife who settles for an unhappy marriage and gives up her dream of fame and fortune on the big screen. What makes all these dreams a true American Dream is that each has the desired end result of pure unstained happiness.  Each character in the novel can see in their mind what their American Dream looks like; they can envision themselves living that reality.  The journey in the novel reveals to George the impossibility of the dream as he gradually comes to that realization.  Sadly this proves that the cynical character Crooks is right: paradise is unattainable, we will never reach complete freedom, contentment and safety in this world.  This is a sad and harsh reality revealed by John Steinbeck through the novel.

By Lindsay MacLean

Of Mice and Men: The Predatory Nature Of Men

           The story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck unfortunately teaches us one of the cruel lessons of us as human beings and that is that we are by nature predatory beings.    Every character in the book, including George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks and Curely’s wife, admit to the feeling of isolation and sadness.  For example when Crooks tells his sorrows about being lonely and black “There wasn’t another coloured family for miles around. And now there ain’t a coloured man on this ranch.  If I say something why it’s just a nigger saying it”.  All of the characters desperately want a friend but as many do, they settle for the ear of a stranger.  An example of this is seen when Curely’s wife admits to the three characters; Candy, Crooks and Lennie that she is unhappy with her marriage.  It is also seen when Crooks confesses to Lennie that life is no good without companions to turn to in times of need.  Every character in the book is helpless due to their isolation and loneliness and it is this common frailty that draws them together. Despite their shared vulnerability, they are seen even in their greatest time of need, to destroy those who are weaker than them. This is a tendency we have; to tear others down to make ourselves feel better.  The strongest example of this harsh tendency is when Crooks criticizes Lennie’s dream of the farm and his dependence on his friend George.  Despite having just admitted his vulnerabilities as a black man with a crooked back who desperately longs for companionship; Crooks zeros in on Lennie’s own weaknesses.  Using this scene, Steinbeck reveals a very real truth about human nature and that is that oppression doesn’t only come from the strong and the powerful but also from the weak.   Crooks appears at his strongest when he finds Lennie’s weaknesses and practically makes him cry over his greatest fear of something happening to his best friend George.  The predatory nature of humans is also seen when Curley’s wife has revealed her own weakness with her poor choices in betraying her marriage and then she chooses to change it around to a power position by threatening Crooks with lynching.  Steinbeck is ultimately suggesting that the most visible kind of strength – the oppression of others – is itself born of weakness.

By Lindsay MacLean

Of Mice and Men: Brotherhood and the Perfect Male Alliance

           In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, the two main characters George and Lennie are best friends.  Although much different from each other as Lennie is mentally handicapped, they share a real bond with each other.  As stated many times throughout the book their friendship is different. “If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn.  But not us.  But not us! An’why? Because… because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you and that’s why”.  We all have that desire for the ideal friendship; one with mutual support and encouragement and a sharing of experiences and feelings.   This is one of the reasons that the tragic end of George and Lennie’s friendship has such a profound impact on our human nature as we feel it as the loss of a dream bigger than them.  They held the hope for the reader of a perfect friendship for life.  George and Lennie shared a common dream of owning a farm on which they plan to live out their days together. It is a place and a reality that no one ever reaches and has a somewhat majestic quality.  After only hearing a few sentences of description of their dream, Candy is completely drawn in by the magic.  It’s the American dream to live and feel like brothers and despite seeing many fail around them it is still something that every man in the novel Of Mice and Men strives for.  This is why the men in the novel desire to come together in a way that would allow them to be like brothers to one another: they all want to live with one another’s best interest at heart, to protect each other and to know that someone else will be there to protect them.  Given the harsh and lonely conditions of the day in which these men live, it comes as no surprise that they would place a very high value on the ideal friendship.  However, as the story evolves we see at the conclusion that the world is too harsh and predatory to sustain these relationships.  Lennie and George who have come the closest to achieving this ideal relationship are harshly separated in a tragic ending.  With the tragedy a very rare friendship vanishes.

By Lindsay MacLean

Symbolization: Adam and Eve, The Tree of Knowledge

Daniel Keyes, the author of the book Flower’s for Algernon, uses the story of Adam and Eve as a symbol of Charlie`s journey. The story of Adam and Eve is mentioned by Fanny from the bakery and  nurse Hilda early in the book when she says ``And she said mabey they got no rite to make me smart because if god wantid me to be smart he would have made me born that way. And what about Adam and Eve and the sin with the tree of nowlege and the eating the appel and the fall.`` Although Charlie doesn`t have the mental capacity to understand, Daniel Keyes is foreshadowing the fall of Charlie from great knowledge. Adam and Eve are also alluded to again when Charlie is reading John Milton`s novel   Paradise Lost. The story bears symbolic resemblance to Charlie`s journey from retard to genius. In the story of Adam and Eve, they eat from the tree of knowledge, which in turn costs them their innocence and also results in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.  In the same way that the forbidden fruit brings knowledge to Adam and Eve, Charlie`s operation gives him the intelligence to understand the world in a way he never did before. In the biblical account of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lose their innocence and acquire knowledge upon eating the fruit.  This is very much like the transformation of Charlie with the operation that brings him intelligence but also a loss of innocence. Charlie loses his sexual virginity and undergoes  behavioural and emotional changes as he becomes increasingly bitter and cold. Hilda and Fanny when she says ``If you`d read your Bible, Charlie, you`d know that it`s not meant for a man to know more than was given to him to know by the Lord in the first place. The fruit of that tree was forbidden to man,`` is  implying that Charlie, like Adam and Eve, has defied God`s will by becoming more intelligent. Charlie`s discovery that artificial intelligence does not last implies that God or nature abhors unnatural intelligence. However, the author merely put the idea into the readers head and he allows us to make our own decisions about whether Charlie deserved the fate of mental regression.

Lindsay MacLean

Flower for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Theme: The Persistence of the Past in the Present

In the book Flowers for Algernon the author Daniel Keyes reveals the theme of persistence of one’s past in their present life.  This is a challenging endeavour and idea to follow throughout the book but I believe with persistence Keyes was able to accomplish the task. The main character Charlie Gordon is a mentally handicapped man who agrees to go through with an experimental procedure, called “operashun”, to potentially increase his intelligence. As the young 33 year old man recovers from surgery, he slowly recovers childhood memories, which shows significant evidence that our past experiences are embedded in our understanding of the present. Charlie’s past always resurfaces in key points in the present, taking the form of old Charlie literally watching over him. An example of this is when Charlie wants to make love to Alice.  The old Charlie makes him panic and feel ashamed, even if Charlie can’t remember why it is shameful. Charlie later learns that he is unable to be with women because of something his mother said to him as a child – “He’s got no business thinking that way about girls. A friend of his sister’s comes to the house and he starts acting like that! I’ll teach him so he never forgets. Do you hear? If you ever touch a girl, I’ll put you away in a cage like an animal, for the rest of your life. Do you hear me?” Charlie cannot move forward with his emotional life once he becomes a genius until he deals with the traumas of his childhood. Similarly Charlie’s mother Rose is also controlled by the past. Even when Charlie has survived the surgery and is of full or greater intelligence than the average human, Rose still resents Charlie’s lack of normalcy. As a child Rose felt Charlie was the cause of her family’s troubles.  She eventually feels he must leave to allow for his sister Norma to live a normal life –“I don’t care. He goes tonight. I can’t stand to look at him anymore… I’m not going to have her life destroyed.” Lines of her tormenting Charlie’s childhood haunt almost every page of the book. Charlie goes to visit Rose’s years after his life changing surgery and Rose’s resentment toward the boy is still very evident. This is illustrated by Rose’s attempt to stab Charlie with a knife; just as it did for Charlie, past emotions influenced her actions in the present. It is very clear Rose cannot separate past memories of the retarded Charlie from the now and present genius Charlie. This is a tragic reminder to us as the reader of the past’s persuasive influence on the present. This theme is universal in our everyday life as we judge people based on a past experience and once we’ve decided who they are there is no going back. This book has made it clear to me that our experiences in life definitely shape the person we are today.

By Lindsay MacLean 

Flower for Algernon by Daniel Keyes: Mistreatment of the Mentally Disabled

In the book Flowers for Algernon by author Daniel Keyes a major theme has to do with the mistreatment of the mentally disabled. By Keyes creating a fictional situation of augmenting the intelligence of someone with diminished intelligence he was able to portray society’s mistreatment of the handicapped from an interesting prospective. Charlie Gordon the main character in the book was born with an unusually low IQ of 68, thus rendering him mentally disabled in our society. Charlie agrees to go through with an experimental procedure, called “operashun”, to potentially increase his intelligence. As Charlie grows more intelligent effectively he is transformed from a mentally retarded man to a genius; he realizes that people have always based their feeling towards him on their feeling of superiority. For example his co-workers at the bakery had always treated him as a ‘friend’ in his mind – “It had been all right as long as they could laugh at me and appear clever at my expense, but now they were feeling inferior to the morn. I began to see that my astonishing growth had made them shrink and emphasized their inadequacies.” Everyone had treated him as intellectually inferior, in some cases with outright cruelty; where others tried to be kind but ultimately had been condescending in their charity. An example of outright cruelty were the pranks  played on Charlie when he worked at the Bakery or the cruel jokes made about him – “Sometimes somebody will say hey lookit Frank, Jo or even Gimpy. He really pulled a Charlie Gordon that time. I don’t really know why they say it but they always laff and I laff too.” Overall the book has definitely caught my attention in this area, of behaviour towards the mentally handicapped, in my life.  It has led to some awareness of the way in which I have perhaps looked down on those with disabilities instead of looking at what they have to offer to the world. Everyone has a different job in this life and who am I to say that I am superior to a classmate or the homeless man walking down the street. Perhaps I should dedicate the time to getting to know these extraordinary people on our community. But first I feel in the step in the right direction would be to learn to treat these people with the dignity and respect they deserve. 

By Lindsay MacLean