Analysis of 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck is a classic novel, tragedy, written in a social tone. The author's attitude is idyllic, however, as the story develops, it turns skeptical. It is evident that Steinbeck knew the setting and places he was writing about. In my opinion Steinbeck drew the topic from his experience working on ranches, he was interested in special types of relationships between the men who worked on ranches with him. different themes of the novel. The main theme is the careless nature of people caused by weakness. Nearly all of the characters, including George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife, feel alone, isolated, and weak, and seek to destroy those who are even weaker. Perhaps the most obvious example of this cruel tendency is when Crooks criticizes Lennie's farm dream and his dependence on George. Having just admitted his own vulnerabilities - he's a black man with a crooked back who longs for companionship - Crooks focuses on Lennie's weaknesses. In scenes like this, Steinbeck records a profound human truth: oppression does not come only from the hands of the strong or powerful. Crooks feels powerful when he nearly reduces Lennie to tears out of fear that something bad has happened to George, just as Curley's wife feels more powerful when she threatens to lynch Crooks. The no……middle of paper……life, run away from the stable. George finds him in the clearing and, as he tells the story of life on their farm, shoots him in the back of the head to spare his friend from a merciless lynching. The last sentence of the novel means, as I have already said, that Carlson and Curley were unable to understand the relationship between George and Lennie. 'Of Mice and Men' was the first book I read by John Steinbeck and it surprised me. I very much. The ideal friendship between men seems old-fashioned to me, but I liked the simplicity and immediacy of the story and George's devotion to Lennie.