Is ‘Of Mice and Men’ Pessimistic? Essay

The two main themes of ‘Of mice and Men’ are loneliness and prejudice. These two elements create a depressive and pessimistic background. You can feel the pessimism all through the book, but some parts have different levels of pessimism. John Steinbeck chose the title from a poem called ‘To a Mouse’ and written by Robbie Burns, from which the book is clearly inspired: â€Å"But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!† The last two verses refer to the dream and how it doesn’t succeed. The dream is destroyed by loneliness, which in this case, is represented by Curly’s wife. When Lennie kills her everything is over; Lennie knows this, but he is too slow to realise it’s true. In this verse Robbie Burns tries to tell us that men are as weak as mice, and that often our plans don’t succeed and we only get the opposite. Curly’s wife is one of the most important characters in the book because she represents both loneliness and prejudice; and is also a victim of both. She is prejudged for being a woman and is not even given a name; this is how John Steinbeck shows the prejudice in the book. â€Å"If I catch any one man, and he’s alone, I get along fine with him. But just let two of the guys get together an’ you won’t talk. Jus’ nothing but mad. You’re all scared of each other†, in this quotation you can see how she and all the workers in the ranch feel; they are all lonely but they’re all too scared of being prejudged for talking to Curly’s wife. She is married, even if Curly doesn’t love her; but he is very possessive, and cnat stand that she flirts with the workers in the ranch. â€Å"Got no teeth, he’s all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?† Candy’s dog is his only friend, this shows all the loneliness in the ranch. Candy is left to no other option than to shoot the dog, his only companion, and this will lead him to complete loneliness. This is an obvious metaphor to what’s going to happen to Lennie, which is no good for George or any one else. Another small metaphor, which gives a clue to what’s going to happen to Lennie, is that the same gun is used to kill the dog and Lennie. When George and Lennie are in the bunkhouse, Lennie plays a solitaire. This is a metaphor to George’s loneliness. He has Lennie but he knows he’s not capable of doing difficult tasks, and in some way Lennie is to George no more than a pet dog; this fact ‘highlights’ George’s situation: loneliness. When George kills Lennie, slim is the only one that realizes it was him, and knew it was going to happen: â€Å"Never you mind. A guy got to sometimes†. Lennie has sometimes in the book got a dead mouse or animal in his pocket; he loves them, and never intends to kill them, but he does. This reflects what’s going to happen to the dream, Lennie loves it, but unconsciously, he destroys it. Optimism takes a good part in the book; Lennie’s relationship with George is optimistic because Lennie is always thinking in the future and in the dream. Candy too is optimistic about the dream, but knows it’s all over when Lennie kills Curly’s wife. George is the cleverest from the three and knows from the beginning that the dream is never going to happen, and that it’s impossible. Lennie keeps going on about the dream and so George finally with optimism and for a short period of time, thinks its possible but it all comes to an end when Lennie accidentally kills Culys’s wife. This is a book with a pessimistic atmosphere, and it’s set in a bad time for the world. John Steinbeck had the same life as a worker like George and had similar experiences. Lennie’s relationship with Gorge in the beginning is very optimistic, but in the end it all changes and their lives turn into a ‘blind alley’. In conclusion, this book is pessimistic, and it’s a masterpiece of modern literature.