Of Mice and Men Quotes

“Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place …With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in out jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us.”

Analysis

These lines by George at the end of Section 1 portray the beautiful relationship he shares with Lennie. This passagex explains the special bond that the two men share, which forms the basis of this novel. Steinbeck has repeatedly emphasized the essential loneliness of men in Of Mice and Men, especially in the world of migrant workers. These men travel from one place to another, searching for work and wages. They have no family, no one to look after them, and in this wilderness, each man is to his own. Much of their suffering emanate from this isolation and insecurity, combined with the random violence they often encounter from the more powerful. Hence, George and Lennie, two friends who are devoted to each other and protect each other, is a rarity. They share a dream where they view their future entwined. Steinbeck idealizes this male friendship, implying that this relationship is a more satisfying and dignified way of combating the loneliness that pervades the world.

Few understand this relationship though. When George is faced with the heartbreaking decision of having to kill Lennie, Candy is more anxious about his future and whether they can still buy the farm rather than empathize with George. Similarly, when George mourns Lennie’s death and the loss of a cherished relationship that made him different from the others, the rest of the men cannot appreciate his loss. It is only Slim who understands the gravity of the grief and consoles him.

“A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by.”

Analysis

When Lennie comes to visit Crooks in his room in Section 4, Crooks says this to him in a conversation that reveals his loneliness. As a black man with a physical handicap, Crooks is pushed to the periphery of ranch life. He is not allowed to enter the white men’s bunkhouse; nobody comes to visit him. While each man on the ranch is alone, Crooks’ race makes his isolation even harder, which has embittered him. However, though caustic, these words display his vulnerability and deep anguish. He has no friend to “measure” things with; no one to converse or bounce his thoughts and emotions with, thereby echoing George’s earlier description of the solitary life of a migrant worker.

“A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.”

Analysis

This beautiful description portrays a paradisiacal landscape, the Eden-like natural surroundings. This beautiful clearing is described by Steinbeck both at the beginning and the ending of the story. Serene and idyllic, it is regarded as a safe place, as evident in George’s instruction to Lennie at the beginning when he asks Lennie to come here in case there is any trouble.

However, paradise is lost now. A master of symbolism, Steinbeck uses snakes in his description which hints at the fall from grace and the imminent death that will befall Lennie now. He skillfully uses both the snake and heron to emphasize the predatory nature of the world. While the snake had moved through the water harmlessly at the beginning of the novel, the heron swoops on it, and the snake meets its swift death. Lennie too, similar to the snake, continues to be unsuspecting about his death till the last moment.

“Trouble with mice is you always kill ‘em.”

(George, Section 1)

“Guys like us got nothing to look ahead to.”

(George, Section 1)

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s

why.”

(Lennie, Section 1)

“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”

(Slim, Section 2)

“S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing.” Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. “We’d just go to her,” George said. “We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, ‘We’ll go to her,’ an’ we would. Jus’ milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an’ go to her.”

(George, Section 3)

“I can still tend the rabbits, George? I didn’t mean no harm, George.”

(Lennie, Section 3)

“We could live offa the fatta the lan’.”

(Lennie, Section 3)

“I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . 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.”

(Crooks, Section 4)

“A guy needs somebody―to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick.”

(Crooks, Section 4)

“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. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head.”

(Crooks, Section 4)