Who is mice in 'Of Mice and Men'?

Answer 1

Of Mice and Men it is a quote from Robert Burns's poem To a Mouse, on Turning up her nest with a Plough:

"The best laid schemes of mice and men

Gang aft agley, "

Which may be translated as "the best laid plans of mice and men often go askew"

It could be argued that all of the characters can, to some extent, be likened to the mice in this poem as they all have dreams which will never come true ("go askew").

For example;

• Curley dreams of being a boxer, but this dream is shattered when Lennie breaks his hand.
• Curley's wife dreams of being a movie star, but this dream is shattered when she marries Curley.
• Crooks dreams of having friends, but this will never happen because of the racism in 1930s America.
• George and Lennie dream of owning their own land, but this will not happen as it is an unrealistic dream.

All of the characters are like mice in that they are all controlled by something bigger than them; as mice are controlled by men, so the characters are controlled by the social and economic circumstances in the Great Depression, which led to a huge increase in the number of "lonely" itinerant workers. Steinbeck's theme of determinism reflects this point.

Answer 2

In "Of Mice and Men," the character Lennie Small is often associated with mice. He enjoys petting soft things but has a tendency to be too rough, resulting in accidentally killing the mice he tries to care for. This pattern foreshadows later events in the story involving the treatment of animals and other vulnerable characters.