“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck – The them of the independent reading

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What is the theme of your independent reading novel? Clearly explain by expanding your thinking and using two pieces of evidence to support.

The theme of the fiction book that I am currently reading, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, is the nature of human dreams and the forces that work against them.

In the story, the two main characters, George and Lennie, both have the dream to someday own a little farmhouse and raise the animals. The desire for this dream is so huge, that they work and live just to achieve this dream. For instance, even when the conditions were not favorable on a farm and the people were mean, George still wanted to stay to get money and to be able to achieve his dream of buying the house. For example, the author included a quote in the book that stated, “Every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever'body wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land.” This shows that George and Lennie have a very strong desire to own a piece of land. This shows the American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They work extremely hard throughout the whole book just to “live off the fatta the lan.”

The death of Lennie at the end of the book signifies humans' solitude from realizing the impossibility of the American dream, a wish for untainted happiness and fulfillment of desires. I can prove this from a quote included in this book which stated, “You…an’ me. Ever’body gonna be nice to you. Ain’t gonna be no more trouble. Nobody gonna hurt nobody nor steal from ’em.” This shows that George decided to kill Lennie so that Lennie would not have to suffer in this world with cruelty and sadness.