Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is studied at GCSE across several exam boards including Edexcel. Set in 1930s California during the Great Depression, it explores friendship, the death of a dream, and social exclusion through two migrant ranch workers, George and Lennie.
What is Of Mice and Men about?
The novella (published 1937) follows George Milton and Lennie Small — two itinerant ranch workers who travel together through California during the Great Depression, dreaming of owning a small farm of their own. George is sharp, quick-witted, and protective; Lennie is physically enormous but has an intellectual disability, and unwittingly causes destruction wherever he goes.
The novella is short (around 30,000 words) but tightly structured. Steinbeck wrote it as a "play-novelette" — each chapter is designed to function like a scene, with minimal narrator intrusion. Events move from the opening beside the Salinas River, to the ranch, to the tragedy of the closing chapter, with a circular and deliberate symmetry.
What are the key themes?
| Theme | What Steinbeck explores | Key moments |
|---|---|---|
| The American Dream | The dream of independence is real as a sustaining hope but unachievable for the powerless | George and Lennie's farm plan; Candy and Crooks joining the dream; the dream's destruction |
| Friendship and loneliness | George and Lennie's relationship is set against the profound isolation of every other character | Crooks's speech about loneliness; Curley's wife's confession; the bunkhouse relationships |
| Discrimination and marginalisation | Race (Crooks), gender (Curley's wife), disability (Lennie), and age (Candy) are each used to exclude | Crooks's segregated room; Curley's wife locked out of male spaces; Candy's fear of being "canned" |
| Power | Who has power and who does not determines everything on the ranch | Curley vs. the ranch workers; the boss vs. everyone; Slim's quiet, earned authority |
| Fate and predetermination | The ending feels inevitable — the title itself (from Robert Burns's poem "To a Mouse") signals doomed plans | The title reference; Candy's dog; the parallel of the rabbits |
The title comes from Burns's 1785 poem To a Mouse: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley" — meaning the best-made plans often go wrong. Knowing this sets the reader's expectations from the very first page.
Who are the key characters and what do they represent?
George Milton is defined by his protective relationship with Lennie and by his suppressed dream. He is not simply generous — his relationship with Lennie costs him freedom and comfort — but it gives his life purpose. The dream farm is ultimately as much George's escape as Lennie's. His final act is both an act of love and an act of tragic necessity.
Lennie Small is a study in how society fails those who cannot protect themselves. Lennie is not evil — he craves affection and softness — but his strength combined with his inability to understand consequences makes him dangerous. Steinbeck presents him sympathetically; the reader mourns him as a victim of a world built for the capable and the powerful.
Crooks is one of the novella's most important voices. Isolated by racism in his own segregated room, he articulates the novel's bleakest insight — that without someone to share a dream, it withers: "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody." His brief investment in George and Lennie's farm plan, and his rapid withdrawal, charts the rise and collapse of hope in a single scene.
Curley's wife is the novella's most complex figure. Named only as a possession — "Curley's wife" — she is trapped by marriage and by the ranch's suspicion of women. Her confession to Lennie in the barn reveals a woman of real ambitions and real losses, reduced by circumstance to seeking attention in the only way available to her.
Candy represents the fear of uselessness — of being "canned" because you are no longer productive. The shooting of his old dog is a direct foreshadowing of the novella's ending.
Slim functions as a moral touchstone — the one character whose authority is earned rather than coerced and whose judgements the reader trusts.
What context is essential for high marks?
The Great Depression (1929–1939): Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, unemployment in America reached 25%. Migrant workers — called "bindle stiffs" — travelled looking for work, often alone. George and Lennie's friendship is explicitly noted as unusual: most bindle stiffs had nobody.
The American Dream: The belief that any American could, through hard work and determination, achieve independence and prosperity. Steinbeck questions whether this dream was ever accessible to the poor, the marginalised, and the powerless — or whether it was always a sustaining illusion that benefited the powerful by making the poor blame themselves for their own poverty.
Steinbeck's political context: Steinbeck was deeply sympathetic to the plight of migrant workers. His journalism for the San Francisco News in 1936 — visiting migrant worker camps — directly informed the world of Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
How do you approach exam questions on this text?
- Never summarise plot — assume the examiner knows the story. Every word of your response should analyse.
- Always link character, theme, and context — the best responses weave all three together.
- Use Steinbeck's methods: focus on language choices (verbs, adjectives, imagery), structure (the circular opening and ending, the play-like chapter structure), and form (the novella as a condensed form that limits what can be explored).
- Address the ending carefully — it is the most examined passage. George's killing of Lennie has been read as mercy, as tragedy, as betrayal, and as a political statement about which lives society values. Your reading must be supported by textual evidence.
Example analytical sentence structure:
"Steinbeck presents the dream as simultaneously beautiful and doomed: the verb 'rabbits' in 'Tell me about the rabbits, George' reduces Lennie's aspiration to a child's fantasy, suggesting that the dream's emotional appeal lies precisely in its simplicity — and therefore in its impossibility."
Frequently asked questions
Is Of Mice and Men still on the GCSE syllabus?
Of Mice and Men was removed from AQA's list of required texts in 2014 but remains available on other boards including Edexcel. Check your own specification with your teacher to confirm which set texts apply to your exam.
Why does Steinbeck name the characters "Small" and "Milton"?
Lennie's surname "Small" is ironic — he is physically enormous. George's surname "Milton" is a likely allusion to John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost, which deals with the loss of paradise through human failing. George and Lennie's lost dream of the farm is their paradise lost.
How should I write about Curley's wife?
Treat her as a fully realised character, not simply as a plot device or victim. Steinbeck gives her complexity: she has dreams, she has been failed by the world, and she is simultaneously a threat and a figure of sympathy. Avoid reducing her to either "villain" or "simple victim" — the most interesting responses hold both dimensions together.
What is the significance of Candy's dog?
The shooting of Candy's old dog by Carlson — efficiently, without ceremony — directly foreshadows George's killing of Lennie. Both are presented as merciful acts by those who care; in both cases, the owner/friend is unable to do the act themselves until the very end. The parallel forces the reader to examine whether George's final act is mercy, murder, or both.
Professor Quill can help you develop your argument on any aspect of this text — through questions, not ready-made answers. Start a free session at aitutors.me.