Many books have titles that are meaningful. The titles can be made of from the character, the theme, or the events that occurred. Of Mice and Men is an appropriate title for Steinbeckss book because the characters are mice and men, the plot moves from mice to men, and the theme applies to unfulfilled dreams of mice and men.
The title is appropriate because the characters demonstrate traits of mice and men. Lennie is one of the biggest mice in the book. He depended on George who had to always take care of him. Lennie was a quiet guy that only talked when George told him to. Lennie twisted his neck and looked over his shoulder. Huh? What you want, George. I told you you couldn’t bring that pup in here. What pup, George? I aint got no pup. George went quickly to him, grabbed him by the shoulder and rolled him over.
He reached down and picked the tiny puppy from where Lennie had been concealing it against his stomach. (Pg. 40) Lennie didn’t have any of his own rights; he always had to follow by Georges rules. Also, another mouse in this story is Candy. Candy was a quiet person that tried to mind his own business. One specific incident that seemed like he was a mouse was when Carlson wanted to shoot Candys dog, and he couldnt stop him. He had that dog since he was very young, and when Carlson wanted to shoot it Candy could not say anything about it. Candy looked about unhappily. No, he said softly. No, I couldn’t do that.
I had im to long. He don’t have any fun, Carlson insisted. And he stinks to beat hell. Tell you what. Ill shoot him for you. Then it won’t be you that does it. Candy threw his leg off his bunk. He scratched the white stubble whiskers on his cheek nervously. Im so used to him, he said softly. I had him from a pup. (Pg. 42) Carlson shot the dog anyways, but Candy had to let him go, and didn’t speak up to anyone. On the other hand, there are few men in this story too. One of them is George. George was the boss of Lennie, and told him when to speak and what to say. He was very independent and thought he would have been better off without Lennie. He is treated with respect unlike how Lennie is treated. George, very softly. No answer. George! Whatta you want? I was only fooling, George. I don’t want any ketchup. I would eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me. If it was here, you could have some.
But I wouldn’t eat any, George. Id leaves it all for you. You could cover your beans with it and I wouldnt touch none of it. (Pg. 11) That explains a lot that Lennie is scared of George, and George can rule over him. In addition to that Carlson would be considered another man. That is because he killed Candy’s dog, and thought Candy wouldn’t mind. Well, I can’t stand him in here, said Carlson. That stink hangs around even after hes gone. He walked over with his heavy-legged stride and looked down at the dog. Got no teeth, he said Hes all stiff with rheumatism. He aint no good to you, Candy. He ain’t no good to himself. Why you shoot him, Candy? (Pg. 11) The mice all relate in this story and so do the men. Its always good to be the man and be someone, then being a mouse and stay quiet while people just rule your life for you.
The title is meaningful because the plot moves from killing mice to men. Lennie always liked to feel soft and smooth things. That is one of the reasons all of the deaths occurred from little mice, to a puppy, and then a men. In the beginning of the story when they were going looking for there job Lennie had a small dead mouse in his pocket. No-Look! I was fooling, Lennie. Cause I want you to stay with me. The trouble with mice is you always kill em. He paused. Tell you what Ill do, Lennie.
The first chance I get I’ll give you a pup. Maybe you wouldn’t kill it. That’d be better than mice. And you could pet it harder. (Pg. 12) Then, that led to killing a puppy. Lennie got up and brought the puppy back and laid it on the hay and sat sown. He stroked the puppy again. You wasn’t big enough, he said. They tol me and tol me you want. I didn’t know you’d get killed so easy. He worked his fingers on the pups limp ear. (Pg. 81) The dog died because Lennie smacked him around. Soon after that, it led to Curleys wifes death. She let him feel her hair, because it was soft. He wouldn’t let go of her hair so he cracked her neck, and that’s how she died. Don’t you go yellin, he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck. (Pg. 87) Because of Curley’s death George had to kill Lennie because he knew that Curley was going to anyways. All of this took place because Lennie was such a mouse, and no one really cared much about him.
The title is significant because the theme applies to the unfulfilled dreams of mice and men. The main dream they had in this novel was that George and Lennie wanted to have a farm of their own, and Lennie wanted to tend the rabbits. However, their dream was unfulfilled. The theme is very important to the book. That is one of the main reasons they worked so hard, and got where they were. Candy was involved with their dream too, and paid them some money to get there. Furthermore, they could have gotten to there dream, but there were a few obstacles that couldnt take them there.
The novel written by John Steinbeck called Of Mice and Men is an appropriate title for the book, because of the characters who are mice and men, the plot moves from mice to men, and the theme applies to unfulfilled dreams of mice and men. The title is significant to the book because there are a lot mice and men. Also, the plot relates to mice and men. Killing a mouse, then a puppy, and then a human. The theme relates to there dream that they couldnt accomplish do to the death of the mice to men. Steinbeck really had the title, characters, the theme, and the plot all connected. Which were the mice and men.
