After just a few pages of reading Of Mice and Men, any observant reader would realise that the story is leading up to a crisis. As the plot wears on, the sense of suspense turns to a feeling of doom, as the trouble that Lennie inevitably gets himself into looms closer.
Foreboding in the Title
The first hint of disaster is given even before the story opens, in the title of the book. Of Mice and Men is taken from a poem by the Scottish poet Robert Burns, called To a Mouse. In context, it goes:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley [go often astray]
And leave us naught but grief an’ pain
For promis’d joy.
The title also brings to mind Lennie’s love of mice. At the start of the book he is petting a dead mouse that he keeps in his pocket. It is revealed that Lennie’s Aunt Clara used to give him live mice to pet, but stopped because he always accidentally killed them.
This uncontrollable strength of Lennie’s is a constant problem. Later Lennie is given a puppy, but accidentally kills that too. These deaths foreshadow the death of Curley’s wife, when once again Lennie doesn’t realise his own strength and kills without meaning to.
“What Happened in Weed”
In the first scene of the novella, while George and Lennie are resting by a river, the subject of what happened in Weed comes up. George warns Lennie,
“You ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done in Weed, neither.”
Weed is the last ranch they worked at, and the incident there, which caused them to have to flee, is mentioned again and again throughout the novel, anticipating the trouble that is to come. George is under no illusions that this kind of thing couldn’t happen again, and so he makes plans for the eventuality, telling Lennie to hide out by the river if he should happen to get into trouble, “like you always done before.”
Eventually George unburdens himself to Slim on the subject, and it turns out that, in Weed, Lennie had stroked a woman’s skirt, the way he would stroke a mouse. When she, predictably, misunderstood his intentions, Lennie panicked and seized hold of the fabric, giving the impression that he was trying to sexually assault the woman.
This particular feature of Lennie’s, that in a panic he finds himself unable to let go of whatever he has grabbed, is shown again in the fight with Curley. Trying to defend himself, Lennie grabs Curley’s fist and just holds on. Curley's hand ends up mangled and useless. It is this inability to let go in a panic, the very thing that caused the trouble in Weed, which will cause the trouble in Soledad, too. Therefore the frequent references to Weed increase the tension, because it is clear that it could happen again.
The Impossible Dream
Lennie and George speak often about their dream of owning their own property where they will grow crops, keep rabbits, and answer to no boss. This is the thing that keeps them going and stops them squandering their wages as soon as they are earned. The way George tells the plans to Lennie in the same words each time makes it sound like a fairy story, and that is what it seems to be. With Lennie constantly getting himself into trouble, it is not likely that they will ever get together a big enough financial stake. The treasuring of this impossible dream adds poignancy to the narrative.
In Soledad, however, they run into a man, Candy, who may be able to complete their stake, so that they can buy their property at the end of the month, not in some distant future. The emotional impact is huge:
“They looked at each other, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true.”
Once the dream is a possibility, however, the tension is ramped up. Suddenly there is something to lose. This massively increases the suspense, and for a while the feeling of doom is lessened. The reader wants to know if they can escape the curse they seem to be under and make it good. They only have to make it to the end of the month!
The hope does not last. Within pages this plan that they must not talk about has been blabbed to two more people, one of them Curley’s very dangerous wife. The sense of foreboding returns. From that point, it is obvious that the tragedy will continue to play out as it seemed bound to – the way it did with the mice, with the puppy and in Weed, but this time the consequences will be much, much worse.
Join the Conversation