Final Essay

Im done with this class. Yay. Here's that piece of crap.

The Best Laid Plans of Lennie and George
“The best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley,” were the words written by Scottish poet Robert Burns. The idea behind the poem “To A Mouse” is that the difference between a man and a mouse is that the man will constantly question why things have to be the way they are. The mouse, however, will just continue to work. These same words drove John Steinbeck to write the award-winning novel Of Mice and Men. Though it is clear to the reader which of the characters represents the man, and which represents the mouse, it is even clearer which of their plans go “aft agley”.
At the beginning of the novel, the heroes live with an idealistic heaven that drives them to continue with their tedious work. They have a proverbial “American Dream” of living on a big farm and working for no one but themselves. They would get up in the mornings when they chose, and retire in the evenings when they chose. In their fantasy, no one persecutes Lennie for being mentally handicapped, or George for taking care of Lennie. They simply live together happily. Unfortunately, a mix of poverty and lack of jobs causes society to crush their dream.
Being in the Great Depression, there was a lack for industrial workers, so men often had to look into being field hands. This brought George and Lennie to the Salinas Valley in California. They were quick to find a job at a nearby ranch. At the farm, the heroes begin a continuous struggle to keep their dream alive. They encounter characters that push their beliefs to the limit: Curley, who would stop at nothing to bring Lennie down; Carlson, who was a depressing realist; and Slim, who delivered the burden of society by being the leader. Through their journeys they encounter death, disease, racism, and depression. Life on the farm is pitiful. The workers are in the fields early in the morning until late at night. Nothing drives them but their next paycheck and the thought of going into town to see a prostitute.
This did not hold true for George and Lennie, though. Through the midst of the depression, they managed to holdfast to their dreams. They even got the old man, Candy, to want to join in. Candy offers a portion of his saving to help the boys pay. It all seems as though everything is falling into place. Unfortunately, it all comes crashing down with the death of Curley’s wife. When the members of the farm find her dead and Lennie is to blame, they begin a manhunt. After some time running, they come across an already dead Lennie. George, having killed his best friend, walks away in shame. In the final scene, George asks Lennie to remember the dream. This helps George with what he is about to do, but it also helps Lennie, in that he will not feel pain in his final moments. With the boys envisioning paradise, it brings the novel to a close similar to the way it opened, the two fantasizing over what may never be.
Steinbeck most likely chose this way to end the novel similarly to the way he ended other scenes in the book. For instance, Candy’s dog was old and helped no one, and Candy had him put down, similarly to Lennie; or the way the novel began with the boys on the run and ended with the boys on the run. Perhaps what Steinbeck is trying to get at is that even though mice and men have plans, they will go “agley.” That no matter how hard they try, there will never be anything but more work.