Of Mice and Men Essay

Of Mice and Men Essay

In the novella, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck is about George Milton and Lennie Small. These two men are migrant workers struggling to survive in the agricultural valleys of California during the Great Depression. George and Lennie hope to achieve their dream of being land owners of a ranch filled with livestock. To achieve their dream goal, they need to start off small and work their way up. So then they work at a farm where many problems are to be dealt with because of Lennie lacking control. The central conflict of Of Mice and Men by: John Steinbeck is character vs. self. That’s because Lennie lacks control over himself which then causes the problems at the ranch. He not only causes problems for himself but also for George. The bad thing is that George has to solve Lennie’s problems one way or another.
A big mistake that Lennie makes was feeling Curly’s wife’s hair. For some reason, Lennie found a pleasure in touching her hair. This was going well, but then Lennie got too excited and from there, everything went down hill. This Quote here shows how Lennie lacks control and how a distraction causes big conflict. (91) “Lennie said “oh! That’s nice!”…and he stroked harder…”you stop it now, you’ll mess it all up…Lennie’s fingers closed on her hair and hung on. Let go she cried…Lennie was in a panic…Lennie’s other hand closed over her mouth and nose…she struggled violently under his hands…”Don’t you go yellin” he said and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck…he lifted her arm and let it drop…he whispered in fright, “I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing. This quote also shows that Lennie admits that he has done a bad thing. He understands that what he has done is wrong and expects George to give him hell.
Now, because of what Lennie had done, Curly is now infuriated with him. Curly will not just give him a beating of his life, but he will kill Lennie. Curly won’t just shoot Lennie where he won’t fell pain at all; he will shoot him in the gut where Lennie would feel all the pain. This is a quote that shows how Curly feels about Lennie now that he has killed Curly’s wife. (96) Curly came suddenly to life... “I know who done it” he cried “that big son-of-a-bitch done it…he worked himself into a fury, I’m gonna get him. I’m going for my shot gun. I’ll kill that big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot him in the guts. As you can see, because of Lennie’s mistake of killing Curly’s wife by accident Curly will now kill Lennie for what he has done. But, wait, Curly’s wife told Lennie to feel her hair. Lennie has a history of not having control over himself. For example, there was one time when Lennie had seen a woman’s red dress and then started to fell it. He got to excited and lost control over himself. The lady panicked and reported that she was raped by Lennie. This is almost the same of what had happened between Curly’s wife and Lennie, except that Lennie killed Curly’s wife. It seems that Curly’s wife was never told that Lennie is a dangerous man when he is provoked.
If there was someone that had to kill Lennie for what he has done, that person shouldn’t be Curly, but it should be George, his best friend. (105) George began. He reached in his side pocket and brought out Carlson’s Luger. He snapped off the safety, and the hand and the gun lay on the ground behind Lennie’s back. He looked at the back of Lennie’s head; at the place where the spine and the skill were joined…”Go on” said Lennie…”said Lennie. “How’s it gonna be. We gonna get that little place” Lennie giggled with happiness… (George has his last conversation with Lennie...) Lennie begged “les do it now”. And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head…He pulled the trigger…Lennie jarred and then settled slowly forward to the sand…Lennie never expected this from George. He thought that George would only yell at him, but not kill him. When George shot Lennie, he shot him in the head where he Lennie wouldn’t fell a thing and die instantly. Lennie never new what George was going to say next.

In conclusion, the central conflict of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is Character vs. self. Through out the story, many problems where encountered. The problems where developed by Lennie. But, remember that Lennie had mental issues. That is also why he lacked