Of Mice and Men

An American novel from 1937 by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men is a tragic tale of dreams, loneliness, and the harsh realities of life during the Great Depression. George Milton and Lennie Small are two migrant workers wandering through California in search of jobs. George is intelligent but poor, while Lennie is a physically powerful man with the mind of a child, unable to control his strength. They share a dream of one day owning a piece of land and living freely, but fate and society prove unrelenting. The bond between the protagonists, their struggle against an unforgiving world, and the novel’s devastating conclusion make it one of the most powerful works of 20th-century American literature.