How does 'Of Mice and Men' relate to 'to a mouse'?

Answer 1

Of Mice and Men gets its name from the poem "to a mouse". The poem says "the best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft a glay" which means - the best planned out plans often go wrong. This links to the novel as many characters have the American Dream. None of these come true e.g. George and Lennie have a dream to own a ranch. This goes wrong when Lennie accidently kills Curleys wife which leads to Lennies downfall. The poem says "o' mice and men", this is where Of Mice and Men gets its name.

Answer 2

I think what is even more telling than the likenesses are the dissimilarities between LENNIE and a mouse. LENNIE - big, bulky, ignorant, and bumbling - is the opposite of a mouse, that we imagine as coniving, premeditating, tiny, quick on its feet, et cetera.

I think that Steinbeck was playing with irony when he chose this particular title.

The title was mainly influenced from a poem by Robert Burns. The line reads "The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry". Steinbeck alludes to this line to show how Lennie and George's dream will never be accomplished and this is representative of many of the ranch workers at the time who shared a common dream of owning land etc.

Although Lennie is physically opposite to a mouse, his personality is similar: meek-mannered and mild. Also, Lennie carries a dead mouse at the beginning of the novel to 'pet' because he likes soft things.

Answer 3

It's an allusion to a line from the poem "To A Mouse" by Robert Burns: "The best schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley". This means that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. This is a very cynical statement, saying that nothing is ever easily done, or plans never will work out.

Answer 4

Of course any phrase, saying or quote is context specific, thus for the sake or argument I will answer as treating the phrase context free (in terms of any authors who used it or larger phrases that it is pulled from).

The earliest known popular use of the phrase came from the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns. In this the phrase is modified as being the "best laid plans of mice and men" which simply refers to how even the best of plans made can be flawed.

John Steinbeck also made use of the phrase (likely drawing it from Burn's poem) in his novel "Of Mice and Men".

As to what the phrase actually means, I can think of two different albeit very similar interpretations of it. The first is that Mice and Men is referring to all of human kind, collectively denoting some of us as being "mice" (people who are perhaps weaker, cowardly, limited by some nature of their being) and some being "men" (people who are strong, who impact the world, who are brave, who have power). In this way the phrase would simply be referring to all of humanity, no matter how weak (absence of power) or large (presence of power). Whatever is being used as the topic of the phrase is then compared to being owned by all of human-kind.

The second way one could look at the phrase is to look at "mice" representing the non-human world and "men" representing the human world. In this sense the phrase takes on a more worldly sense and denotes some sort of association or ownership between some idea external of this specific phrase and the phrase ("of mice and men"). Taken this way the external attribute being associated is compared to being owned by all of the living earth.

In both cases, it is simply making a reference to the idea or attribute which falls outside of the phrase (the external modifier) and says that it is held (owned or possessed) by both "mice" and "men".

Answer 5

The title from John Steinbeck's novel 'Of Mice and Men' relates to a poem written by Robert Burns entitled 'To a Mouse'. 'The best-laid schemes o' mice an men/Gang aft agly', meaning no matter how hard or well we plan for something, our plans can often fail to become reality… or worse, they can end up going terribly wrong.

Sometimes the best laid plans can be lost or broken. Failure to complete what we desire leaves us in pain and grief at the present time, the outcome of the situation will bring us joy in the end. Not because we always like the outcome but because it was the right thing to do, this connects with George's situation in the book. He and Lennie discuss big plans that he never believed would come true, George even admits it when he talks to Candy after they discover the corpse of Curley's wife.

George suspects already that he may have to kill Lennie, and he knows with all the men out to punish Lennie, his death is inevitable, following Candy's statement that he had wished he had killed his own dog. Even though it hurts George, he realizes it is the best thing to do. He does it for the "promised joy" and also to give Lennie peace. When Lennie says "Let's go there now, George" on page 105, George believes he is sending Lennie there, to Lennie's heaven with rabbits and their own place to live off fatta' the land. I believe George thinks that he will meet Lennie again one day. A 'best laid scheme' (getting the house) 'often goes awry' (Lennie killing Curley's wife) 'and leaves is nothing but grief and pain' (George knowing that he has to kill him) 'for promised joy' (George promising to get the house with the rabbits right before he kills Lennie).

In conclusion, the title in John Steinbeck's book 'Of Mice and Men' is relevant to the poem written by Robert Burns entitled 'To a Mouse'. 'The best-laid schemes o' mice an men/Gang aft agly.' This poem relates to the events and characters within 'Of Mice and Men'

Answer 6

It suggests that it's going to be about mice and men. Only one of those things is true.

It does also refer to a poem in which the best laid plans of mice and men are said to "gang aft agley", which is certainly true of the plans of George and Lenny in the book.

Answer 7

'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck takes its title from the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns. Both works explore themes of fate, loneliness, and the fragility of dreams. The title serves as a metaphor for the characters in the novel who, like the mouse in the poem, struggle against forces beyond their control.

Answer 8

The story "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck has a strong reference to the Cain and Abel story in The Bible.