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Symbols in Of Mice and Men

Use the chart below to analyze the symbolism in Of Mice and Men. You can look through the book and online to find the answers. Choose to complete as many you want for points.

Symbol / Pages Found / Meaning
The dream of owning a farm 10pts / The dream of owning a farm represents:
Lennie’s Puppy 10pts / Lennie’s puppy represents:
Candy’s Dog
5pts / Candy’s dog represents:
Rabbits
5pts / The rabbits represent:
Crooks’ Quarters
10pts / Crooks’ quarters represents:
The Bunkhouse
10pts / The bunkhouse represents:
Mice
5pts / The mice represent:
Curley’s Wife
10pts / Curley’s wife represents:
Symbol / Pages Found / Meaning
Curley
5pts / Curley represents:
Slim
5pts / Slim represents:
Lennie
5pts / Lennie represents:
George
5pts / George represents:
Crooks
5pts / Crooks represents:
Candy
5pts / Candy represents:
Card Games
10pts / The card games represent:
Sunlight
15pts / The ever-changing sunlight represents:
Choose one symbol and explain its effect on one overall theme in the novel. 25pts

Answers to Symbols in OMaM

  • The dream of owning the farm—essentially the American Dream. This may represent freedom, self-reliance, and the payoff from hard work.The ranch that George and Lennie dream of symbolizes their desire (and the human desire) for a worthwhile life of freedom and independence. Because of their social circumstances and the economic system that imprisons them, their dream is unattainable, always just beyond their reach. Much the same can be said of the many who live on the fringes of American society, the homeless and the hopeless whom Steinbeck championed in this novel and many of his other works
  • Lennie’s puppy—this represents the ongoing theme of strong vs. weak.Lennie and his puppy are very similar in the way that they are both innocent and weak and need strong people to take care of them. George is the strong person that takes care of Lennie. And to the puppy, Lennie is strong. The death of the puppy also foreshadows Lennie’s death.
  • Candy’s dog—this represents the loss of value of a once-lively creature and relates to Candy himself (who is no longer useful on the ranch). Candy’s dog also parallels Lennie’s death; both are killed in the same manner. Candy's beloved old dog can be seen as a symbol of the fate that awaits all of these homeless men. The dog had lived many years, serving Candy well as friend and companion, easing his loneliness. Once the old dog had become a burden, however, the "society" in the bunkhouse determined that he must be destroyed. Candy cannot stand up to the pressure of this attitude, and gives in, feeling the deep pain of having his dog destroyed. The clear symbolic suggestion is that once these men have outlived their usefulness and become a burden, they, too, will receive no sympathy or support from others. Theirs is a grim future.Candy's once powerful sheepdog is now old and useless. Carlson's killing of the dog makes it clear that during the Depression only the strong survive. The way in which Carlson kills the dog—with a gunshot to the back of the head—foreshadows Lennie's death and likens Lennie to Candy's dog: they're both powerless, innocent, and doomed.
  • Rabbits—although no real rabbits appear in the story for any significant time, they remain a strong symbol for Lennie of the American Dream, freedom, and a simpler, non-complicated life. Lennie's dream is to tend the rabbits on the farm that he and George hope to one day own. This dream establishes Lennie's complete innocence. But Lennie loves the rabbits because of their soft fur, and his love of touching soft things leads to his doom. The rabbits, then, symbolize not only innocence, but also the downfall of innocence in a harsh world.
  • Crooks’s living quarters—because Crooks is isolated from the others due to his skin color, this could represent isolation, racism, prejudice, and repression. The separate quarters where Crooks must live mirrors the racist society at large.
  • The bunkhouse—much of the action of the novel takes place in the bunkhouse. This setting can be symbolized as a representation of class status. If George and Lennie's ranch symbolizes the life they dream of, the bunkhouse symbolizes the life to which they are consigned. Bare and utilitarian, it offers no sense of home; it is a stopping-off place for George, Lennie, and the others who will never have homes of their own.
  • Mice—Lennie constantly (and unintentionally) hurts the things he loves—soft things, such as mice (and, of course, his puppy and Curley’s wife).This could represent love and, again, the strong vs. weak theme.The mouse that Lennie carries in his pocket can be interpreted as a symbol for Lennie himself. A mouse is generally of no value to others, and it occupies a low place among other animals. It is frequently reviled as being undesirable, and destroying it generally causes no concern. Much the same can be said of Lennie among his own species. Unlike others, however, Lennie values the mouse he carries in his pocket, just as George, unlike others, finds much in Lennie to value.
  • Characters themselves—George and Lennie are the only two characters in the novel who are explained in any detail. The other characters are all "types," or people whom the reader might recognize as one of a certain group. Even the names of the characters, short and descriptive, say something about them. Lennie Small, for instance, is anything but small physically, and other characters seem to notice and comment on that. His brain is small and his ability to reason is small, but his body is huge and very powerful.Each character has symbolic significance; ask students to further explore this. Each of the characters represents a kind of person in American society and often one that is a victim of discrimination. For example, Crooks represents a segment of American society that is discriminated against because of race; Curley's wife, because of gender; Candy, because of old age and physical handicap. Carlson is a perfect example of a selfish oaf, interested only in his creature comforts and oblivious to any one else's feelings. Slim is the consummate example of understanding and gentleness beneath a wise and experienced exterior.
  • Curley’s wife may represent frustration, lost ambitions, and the seeking of status. The portrayal of women in Of Mice and Men is limited and unflattering. Lennie and George are on the run from the previous ranch where they worked, due to encountering trouble there with a woman. George berates Lennie for his behavior, but is convinced that women are always the cause of such trouble.A visit to the “flophouse” is enough of women for George, and he has no desire for a female companion or wife. Curley’s wife, the only woman to appear in Of Mice and Men, seems initially to support George’s view of marriage. Dissatisfied with her marriage to a brutish man and bored with life on the ranch, she is constantly looking for excitement or trouble. In one of her more revealing moments, she threatens to have the black stable-hand lynched if he complains about her to the boss. Her insistence on flirting with Lennie seals her unfortunate fate. Although Steinbeck does, finally, offer a sympathetic view of Curley’s wife by allowing her to voice her unhappiness and her own dream for a better life, women have no place in the author’s idealized vision of a world structured around the brotherly bonds of men.
  • Curly may represent the middle man trying to prove something but still living without respect. Curley, as a symbol of authority on the ranch and a champion boxer, makes this clear immediately by using his brutish strength and violent temper to intimidate the men and his wife.
  • Sunlight - The area near the river where Lennie and George are first introduced. The light image here depicts a safe place for the men. Here, the bunk house is described in the opening of Chapter Two. While there is some light coming into the bunkhouse, it is actually a reference to darkness. There is only a beam of light coming in. Therefore, the bunk house can be looked at as being a place where something bad will happen. In Chapter Three, the bunkhouse is described as being dark. Only a little light illuminates a small part of the room. Again, this illustrates that the bunk house, although some light may penetrate its darkness, can be defined as a "bad" or dark place. Chapter 4, while there is light, it is fragmented and isolated.In the final chapter of the book, the light is fading. This cues readers in that something is about to change dramatically. At the opening of the novel, this area was the place associated with complete light. Now, the light is changing and the river is changing with it. It will no longer be the place of light which Lennie and George first came upon.
  • Card games-George's Solitaire game in the bunkhouse is exactly that. It symbolizes the random appearance of events just as cards are drawn out at random from the deck. All is a matter of chance in Solitaire, and the same is true of the events in the book