Essay Topic:

Discuss the psychological conflict of the characters in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”. Can be a murder justified by any reason?

Essay Questions:

• What is the depth of George’s psychological conflict?
• How are the characters of Lennie and George similar and different?
• What is the “tragedy” of each of the characters of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”?

Thesis Statement:

Each of the characters of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” is very controversial and has a deep psychological conflict inside.

Essay Introduction:

    One of the outstanding traits of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” is the depth of the depicted characters which at first glance seem rather superficial and simple. Nevertheless, each of the characters of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” is very controversial and has a deep psychological conflict inside.

George – is a very cautious person. He spends his whole life taking care of Lennie and getting him out of trouble. He is tired of such a responsibility but at the same time he needs Lennie to be near. George dreams of buying a piece of land of his own and live and farm there with Lennie. George looks for a place to be safe and know that Lennie is safe with him.

Lennie – is a man with mental disabilities who is not capable of controlling his physical strength. He is kind; he blindly believes George and does not doubt the possibility of their dream. George means the world to Lennie as he is the only person who cares about him and protects him. He enjoys petting everything soft and so he pets a mouse, a puppy and Curley’s wife eventually accidently killing each of them.

Curley’s wife – is the no-name character of the story. She is constantly flirting with men, trying to hide her loneliness, boredom, unrealized dreams and being totally unhappy behind the mask of fancy dresses and teasing manners. All of the above make her husband furious.

Candy – is a handyman who is afraid of losing the ability to work and therefore to earn money for living. He falls for Georges and Lennie’s dream of a farm.

Curley – is the mean son the boss who likes to dominate on other people in the attempt to compensate his own physical “insignificance” and inability to control his own wife.

Essay Conclusion:

    Each of the characters presented in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” has a personality controversy which makes each of them unhappy, incomplete. All of the characters cannot deal with their psychological conflicts and are unable to help themselves and to free themselves from the social and internal psychological pressure.