One of the most cherished parts of my time teaching freshman English was reading Of Mice and Men with my students. Steinbeck is one of my favorite writers, and I consider his works to be practically timeless. Of Mice and Men, while set in a technology-barren, different dialect-using world than the one we are familiar with today, is no less relevant to me and my students than I’m sure it was to readers when it was published in 1937.
I first read the novella as a sophomore in high school myself, but I’ve learned more about the book with each class that has read and discussed it than I ever could have on my own. That’s one of the best parts of teaching; students can become mirrors to reflect your own beliefs and prejudices back on to you. I love talking about their conceptions of the book each year, and they never fail to widen my viewpoint and make me reconsider my own conclusions.
As I’ve just taken a leave from teaching, these past few weeks were possibly the last time I’ll ever have taught this book, so I’m taking some time to reflect on the relevancy of this work once again. If you haven’t read the novella, there are obvious SPOILERS ahead, and if you just came here because you googled “plot of Of Mice and Men” so you wouldn’t have to read it for your English class, SHAME ON YOU! (Now go read it, it’s really good, I promise.)
Here are four things I’ve learned from teaching Of Mice and Men to several hundred students that hold true in 2017:
- We all want just a little more personal freedom than we have.
George, Lennie, and all of the ranch hands don’t dream of fame, glory, or the latest iphone. Their deepest dream is to get their own piece of land that will be all theirs. To have no one to answer to and to say “to hell with workin’” when they don’t feel like it.
Ain’t that the truth! I don’t know a person today who isn’t chasing that dream. It seems like almost everyone is trying to be their own boss, make their schedule, work their side hustle, whatever they can to get that little extra personal freedom. To get away from the boss and the grind and work for their own dreams instead of someone else’s. Maybe that’s the new American Dream? Not security, not even success, just sweet, sweet freedom.
- Everyone in the world really is afraid of each other.
This is one of my favorite quotes from the book, said nonchalantly by two different characters with two very different impacts in the book: Slim and Curley’s Wife. In today’s climate, it seems especially poignant. We are exceptionally distrusting of strangers. Everyone is a threat. Posts all over social media warn about strange men in strange vehicles acting strangely and they are spread like wildfire.
Now, obviously the world can be dangerous, and I’m not naive enough to think that all this paranoia isn’t at least a little necessary. But it certainly seems that human connection suffers most with all this fear.
- Dreams can slip away as easily as rabbits into the brush.
This is probably the most somber take away from the book, but it is one that bears remembering. There isn’t a single character in this work who makes it out with their hopes and dreams intact. Whether those dreams are shattered with a single bullet like those of George, Lennie, and even Candy, or crushed like bone in the cases of Curley and his unfortunate wife, they don’t see these dreams fulfilled in the slightest. I don’t think anyone would argue that Steinbeck was an overly cheerful writer, but he was a realist, and he knows how slippery dreams are. Of Mice and Men at it’s most basic reading could be interpreted as a cautionary tale, and a reminder that it doesn’t just take hard work to shape your ideal world, but a whole lot of luck and good circumstances.
- The toughest choices we make are the ones that define us most.
Every time I reach page 106, I look up at my class and I really, really look at them. I’m watching for their reactions, and if the other classes haven’t already ruined the ending (unlikely), I’ll get to see the gamut of emotions spread: genuine surprise, sadness, awe, shock, incredulity, triumph. Everyone experiences George’s decision to shoot Lennie (I warned you there were spoilers!) in their own way. The discussions I’ve had with students around this decision show me so much of their individual character. It is always fascinating to see which of them value loyalty above all else, which of them value freedom, and which value life and happiness.
Just as George’s decision defines who he is in the end, when he is all alone at last, students’ reactions to it define their character and who they are becoming as people as they sort out their values and beliefs at this still relatively young age.
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