The Struggle In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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As the time goes on and problems come up, people will find a scapegoat, instead of fixing the problem. In today’s age, it seems this “honor” has fallen on the millennial generation. Millennials are killing everything from the American dream to cereal. The problem isn’t the newer generation trying to differentiate, it’s the older generation trying to stay the same. Throughout history, this struggle of old vs new has always been the cause of problems. The struggle is seen in one of American history’s greatest novellas, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. In the novella, each character has their own set of goals, whether is be as small as owning a farm or as big as hitting it big in Hollywood, and Steinbeck finds a way to crush their dreams. …show more content…
To “live off the fatta the lan’”(Steinbeck, Pg 14). They just wanted to own a little plot of land, a couple of farm animals, and live into the sunset. The ideal American dream. The only difference between them and every other farm worker is that they want to do it together. George and Lennie’s relationship is certainly an odd one, where the only thing that’s for certain is that they are close. So, whenever they get in a situation that determines whether they split up or get ahead, they choose each other. This mirrors Steinbeck’s own life. He just wanted to publish books and be with his family, a prime example being his first wife Carol. He wanted to stay with her and keep writing, but he couldn’t do both, due to the unstable economy, so instead he got to work to preserve their marriage (Benson, pg 133). At this point, Steinbeck still thought he could have a writing career and have good relations with his family. But as he kept writing, he realized he couldn’t have it all, and by the time he published his 8th book, he and his wife divorced (Benson, pg 147). Although he marries again, he realizes that he can’t have it all, which is one of the main ideas of “Of Mice and Men”. But this pessimistic way of looking at things isn’t only indirectly represented through his own life, it’s represented directly through a character's
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