Character Vs Fate. Of Mice and Men

The novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck portrays two migrant workers who seek a farm of their own. Throughout the story, Steinbeck provides characters who oppose this, saying it is ‘impossible’.  One of them, George, is very practical and straightforward. He really cares about his traveling partner, Lennie, and takes care of him even though he is a burden.  Lennie is what one would call a ‘gentle giant’.  He is overly powerful, yet he cannot control it.  to make it even worse, Lennie does not have a good understanding of anything, and doesnt even know his own strength.  On their quest to earn their farm, they face many people who say it is impossible, and they have to work hard to keep a low profile, in order to earn enough money.  This is difficult because the boss’s son, Curley, is always looking for random fights.  They have a conflict with fate through out the whole book.

For example, George tells Lennie a story about their fate and heavily contrasts it with what they yearn to actually do:

”’Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest of guys. They got no family... no place... but with us it ain’t like that. We got a future... Some day we’re gonna get a jack together and we’re gonna have a little house’...And ‘Live off the fatta the lan’’” (page 13-14)

George tells about what all ranch people live like.  In those days, if one does not have a ranch of their own, they would never get one, but Lennie and George try to break free of this fate by earning their own farm.  They seem hopeful because they think they are different, better, than the other, and they are.  But Lennie seems to always get into trouble, so George has to especially look out for him and be extremely cautious, in order to keep him out of trouble.  However, Lennie seems to pull trouble towards himself, though.

Even though Lennie tries the hardest to keep out of trouble, he is always drawn into it, without intention. For example:

“‘Of course he ain’t mean but he gets into trouble alla time because hes so God damn dumb. Like what happened in Weed...’” (page 41)

...In Weed, Lennie had seen a red dress a girl was wearing.  Being himself, he wanted to touch it, so he went up and grabbed the dress.  Since he was so big and strong, the girl thought that he was trying to rape her.  She started to scream.  This frightened Lennie and he held on tighter.  It took many men and a hit over the head to get him to release the poor girl’s dress.  She was not hurt though.

Lennie seems to attract problems with his own actions, but they are not his fault.  He has this metal block that does not allow him to understand things as well as most people.  He also does not think that much, so his actions are usually wrong, and because he is so strong, someone may get hurt or scared by what he did wrongly.  As George said, he is not mean, but he is so ‘dumb’, that his actions make him seem like he is mean.  Throughout this book, however, Lennie tries especially hard to stay out of trouble.  He fights against fate to keep out of trouble and to actually earn his coveted farm.
Also, Lennie and George face another fate throughout trying to stay out of trouble.  Once Curley takes a glance at Lennie, he feels jealous of Lennie’s size and immediately sets out for trouble, and George warns Lennie to stay out of any fights and make as little contact with him as possible but George says:

“‘Ya know, Lennie, I’m scared I’m gonna get tangled with that bastard myself.  I hat his guts. Jesus Christ!...” (page 37)

Although George warns Lennie to stay out of trouble, Curly makes it impossible for anyone to like him.  They must stay out of the fight in order to earn enough to buy the farm.  It seems inevitable because Curly wants the fight so bad.  In time, it will happen, and it is a matter of fighting with fate to stay out of it.

Lennie and George face trying to stay out of a fight, in order to stay out of trouble, in order to earn enough money for their little house.  All of these fates work against their goal.  Even though they work extremely hard to try and make it, fate prevails, and George stays a migrant worker forever.  Even now, people strive to earn their own business.  They want to work their own hours (ball game) and not get bossed around by unfair superiors (Curley).  They strive for something to call their own, and even now, few actually make it.  The struggle against fate to work oneself up the economic ladder is always present.