Bible/3
When presented with the Herculean task of writing a 500 word essay during Mr. French's third period class, I found myself at a loss. "Describe the relationship between Lennie and George and what it represents" was the tasking assigned and it couldn't be more difficult! I have often found myself deeply effected by The South's Great Depression that swept across the country as quickly as a dust covered Audi, but it is rare to actually sit and think about the relationships of the people who have taken part in it.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is at it's heart a story of a shifty conman and his simple minded friend and their misadventures across the country. There is a real thread of nihilism that John Steinbeck, author of
Of Mice and Men, is incapable of keeping out of his characters. The conversations that are had are often frustrating as Lennie refuses to talk about anything but the rabbits, much to my annoyance. Any attempts to expand their characters beyond simple caricatures is seemingly avoided as John Steinbeck is more interested in discussing the working conditions on the farm or whatever silly dreams he may have sprinkled throughout.
"What about the rabbits, George?" is as frustrating as it gets! I do not understand how George could go from page to page hearing his friend talk about the same thing, non stop, for weeks on end, without shooting him sooner. But just as our mothers sometimes force us to hang out with papists we secretly hate, George is bound to Lennie by some strange feelings he has towards the retarded man. Maybe he is, deep down, a homosexual but those themes are never explored as the author John Steinbeck is much more interested in vilifying Curley, the only interesting character in the entire book.
A better question would have been, "What does Curley's wife represent?" and the answer to that question would be "a whore". She is the cause of all the problems in John Steinbeck's
Of Mice and Men, and if it wasn't for her the lovable simple minded Lennie would not have been violently murdered in the only exciting scene in the entire book. In conclusion, I think that George and Lennie represent homosexuals and laziness, and also they represent good men who find their entire lives destroyed by sluts who flirt with them for their own amusement.
