Saturday on the Couch… with John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck intended to write this as a story for children, the tale of a gentle giant and his minder; instead it became a poignant, ultimately tragic, account of human care and adult love.

Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men (to me it was always an essay, albeit a bit longish) was set in 1930s California. Itinerant men, provided they were prepared to put in a good day’s work, and despite the world coming through depression, drifted from district to district, ranch to ranch, seeking ‘fifty and keep.’  Hours were long and the work hard but, by working a six-day week, Monday through Saturday, they could earn fifty dollars a month. Accommodation was generally a bunkhouse with the most basic facilities. Every evening they received a hot meal. On Sunday, the day of rest, games were organised and two hot meals provided. Those so inclined went off to church. Others, their needs more prosaic, might need a day to get over squandering their money on Saturday night on drink and other pursuits at a local flophouse.

The story begins with a scene of such tranquillity it is impossible to envision the tragic event that will later unfold:

“The Salinas River… is lined with trees – willows fresh and green with every Spring; and sycamores with mottled, white recumbent limbs and branches that arc over the pool. On the sandy bank under the trees the leaves lie so deep and crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them. Rabbits come out of the brush to sit on the sand in the evening and the damp flats are covered with the night tracks of ’coons… and with the split-wedge tracks of deer that come to drink in the night.”

Two men enter, late afternoon, and decide it’s a perfect place to spend a night; time enough tomorrow to walk the extra quarter mile to the next ranch. One of them, George, “…is small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him is defined…” Lennie follows behind, “…a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; he walks heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms… hang loosely.” 

George would be unlikely to put it in such words but his world is effectively one of care and compassion for his big companion. But then, too, he gave his word to Lennie’s Aunt Clara to take care of her nephew following her death. In the first few pages Steinbeck ensures the reader gains an understanding of Lennie’s strength, as well as his inability to comprehend its potential. In a mind that never developed much beyond infancy, Lennie has one desire, to touch soft, pretty things; it is this touching that creates problems for the pair, leading to their constant movement from place to place.

Wherever they go, whatever trouble befalls them, Lennie has George repeat, time and again, their dream of a small acreage of their own so they might “…live off the fatta the lan’” and have rabbits. Lennie loves rabbits, they are nice to touch. Dreamers among the readers might see the dream eventuating, especially when old Candy enters the story and tells George quietly he has $300 in the bank. Cynics, though, will see it as an impossibility, with George forever doomed to blow his income on bawdy women and drink.

The same differential will remain at the story’s desperately sad conclusion. Even as Lennie is about to die, George convinces him to look out across the river, to picture their dream,

“Look across the river, Lennie, an’ I’ll tell you so you can almost see it. We’ll have a cow, an’ we’ll have maybe a pig and chickens… an’ down the flat we’ll have a… little piece alfalfa…”
“For the rabbits,” Lennie shouts.
“For the rabbits,” George repeats.

The optimist will see George portraying man’s love for mankind, love of one man for another, for a damaged human about to die. On the other hand, the pessimist will believe that, with Lennie’s death, long years of support and disappointment for George will soon be a thing of the past.

Have you read Of Mice And Men? Do you see George providing support and succour or do you see cunning and opportunism in his actions?

Is the book, to you, light and uplifting or do you see it heavy and dark?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

BOOKNOTES:

• Steinbeck borrowed from Robbie Burns’ poem, To A Mouse, “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, / Gang aft agley…” for the title. (The Grapes Of Wrath, too, came from Julia Ward Howe’s stirring song of patriotism, Battle Hymn Of The Republic.)
• In May 1936, most of the manuscript was destroyed by the author’s dog when he was well through the first draught.
• The book was first published eighty years ago in March 1937, becoming a resounding success for Steinbeck, as were the stage play and movie adaptations. A sign of its longevity is that you can still purchase Of Mice and Men. Click here to order a copy.