We’d just finished John
Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” When we read the end together out loud in class,
my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little, and so did I. “Are
you crying?” one girl asked, as she crept out of her chair to get a closer
look. “I am,” I told her, “and the funny thing is I’ve read it many times.”
But I had never actually read the book. I wanted to know what, in a
story written over seventy years ago, could cause a teenage basketball player
to cry in public. So I picked up a copy
from my local library.
written in 1937 and takes place during the Great Depression. And here’s what surprised me: I couldn’t put it down.
couple of itinerant ranch workers who are emotionally dependent on each other.
Lennie is “not very bright,” as George is always pointing out. But he is kind, loyal,
and strong. George is the leader of the pair, quick tempered, but looks out for
Lennie. The two share a dream of saving enough money to buy a small house on a
bit of land where they can raise their own food along with chickens and
rabbits.
having been run out of town and their former jobsite when Lennie’s love of
touching soft things (puppies, rabbits) got him in trouble for touching the
dress of a woman who then accused him of rape.
Steinbeck uses “place” to put the reader into the story, describing a clearing by a pond, the bunkhouse, the harness room using simple language but evoking a clear,
emotional picture. The dialogue is rife with conflict and tension, often lying
just beneath the surface. The characters – Lennie and George in particular, but
even the secondary characters like Slim, Candy, and Crooks – are men both
flawed and beguiling.
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| John Steinbeck |
I read Steinbeck’s novella both as someone who
loves to read and as a writer learning to hone my craft. As a reader, I am totally engaged and find
myself reaching for it whenever I have a few minutes. As a writer, I am in awe
of the seeming simplicity of the prose and the complexity of the
characters. The dialogue is of the age
(1930’s) and reflects a culture of men in a man’s world; but every bit of it
moves the story forward and offers an insight into a world into which I would
never have thought I’d care to venture.
that, because of when he wrote and the topics he chose to write about, I never
thought his work would be emotionally accessible to me. But I was wrong. After
reading Of Mice and Men, I am now eager to try Grapes of Wrath.
writers, but don’t want to take a lot of time away from your regular reading
indulgences, give Of Mice and Men a try. You might be as surprised as I was by
your reaction to this little seventy-plus-year-old story. And yes, I get it why that teenage boy wept at the end.
