Investigating Themes in Of Mice and Men

Choose one of the following questions that interests you most to respond to in this week’s blog post:

1.)  What different forms of power exist in Of Mice and Men?  What kind of power does Lennie have?  What kind of power does George have?  What kinds of power or powerlessness do other characters possess?

2.)  What kind of relationship do George and Lennie have?  Is their relationship a friendship?  How does this relationship express Steinbeck’s position on the individual versus the community?

3.)  Is the American Dream a real possibility in the story?  If yes, what characters, symbols, events, or other details from the story confirm that the American Dream is within reach?  If not, what characters, symbols, events, or  other details from the story represent the American Dream as out of reach?


Check out the info History.com has to offer about the American 1930s!  Who had power in the 1930s?  Who did not?  What kinds of power existed then?  What important relationships were formed in the 1930s?  Was the American Dream still alive in the 1930s? 

2) Lennie and George have a realtionship where they rely on the other.  George relies on Lennie for protection.  Lennie on the other hand relies on George to tell him what to do.  Without eachother they woudn't be able to survive. 
      This is a true friendship becuase if George didn't want to be Lennie's keeper he could have left him years ago, but instead he has stayed with him for all these years.  They both need to be with eachother otherwise they wouldn't succeed in their goals.

     Steinbeck's expresses this relationship by having Lennie to keep asking George what their doing and where they are going.  He has George tell everyone not to mess with Lennie or him becuase Lennie will beat them to the pulp.  if they were by themselves they would ahve no goals and they would be lonely.  By doing this it shows how they both rely on eachother.
     To know what loneliness me means click here--Many definitions to loneliness