Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In every bit of honest writing in the world there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other.

— John Steinbeck in his 1938 journal entry

In John Steinbeck's book, Of Mice and Men,he was able to clearly mirror how it is to truly understand a person through George's character. Lennie, a physically able but mentally challenged man, had been George's companion for a long time. Lennie caused him such big troubles but he was still able to tolerate him, because to him, Lennie was like a brother. The kind of friendship between George and Lennie is very rare nowadays. It is not often that one can find a person who can understand and who is willing to sacrifice for you.

The ending of the book was a tearjerker. I could almost feel the weight of the gun in George's hand and the emotional burden he had to carry when he shot Lennie. He had no other choice but to pull the trigger because he cannot bear the thought of other people killing Lennie out of mere cruelty and spite. But George did it out of brotherly love.

This book is genuinely human.



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