Investigating Themes in Of Mice and Men

Choose one of the following questions that interests you most to respond to in this week’s blog post:

1.)  What different forms of power exist in Of Mice and Men?  What kind of power does Lennie have?  What kind of power does George have?  What kinds of power or powerlessness do other characters possess? 

2.)  What kind of relationship do George and Lennie have?  Is their relationship a friendship?  How does this relationship express Steinbeck’s position on the individual versus the community?

3.)  Is the American Dream a real possibility in the story?  If yes, what characters, symbols, events, or other details from the story confirm that the American Dream is within reach?  If not, what characters, symbols, events, or other details from the story represent the American Dream as out of reach? 


Check out the info History.com has to offer about the American 1930s!  Who had power in the 1930s?  Who did not?  What kinds of power existed then?  What important relationships were formed in the 1930s?  Was the American Dream still alive in the 1930s?

I chose to answer question number 1 in this response.

    

     There are different types of power demonstrated in Of Mice and Men.  George may be smaller and a bit weaker than Lennie, but this does not mean he doesn't have power. Lennie obeys anything that George tells him to do (He would literally jump off a cliff if he was told too), giving George substantial power over Lennie. This doesn't mean Lennie doesn't have any power at all, though. Lennie has pure strength, which would give him power over anyone that decides to mess with him (like Curly did in chapter 3). The book gives both characters thier own type of power, each one being necessary for the other one to work. For example, if Lennie was just strong, but didn't know it, the power would be non-existent. This goes the same for George, where if he did not have anyone to command like Lennie, he would not have any significant power.