Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men (1937) is John Steinbeck's novella about two displaced migrant ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, who move from place to place in Depression-era California searching for work and dreaming of owning their own piece of land. The title is taken from Robert Burns's poem 'To a Mouse': 'The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley' (often go wrong).

Setting

The novella is set near Soledad in the Salinas Valley, California, during the 1930s Great Depression. The action takes place over a long weekend, moving between a clearing by the Salinas River and a ranch where the men find temporary work. The bunkhouse, the barn, Crooks's room and the river pool form the novella's enclosed world, a world defined by itinerant labour, loneliness and the harsh economics of survival.

The central movement

George and Lennie arrive at the ranch with a shared dream: to save enough money to buy a small farm where Lennie can tend rabbits. The dream briefly seems achievable when the old swamper Candy offers to contribute his savings. But a chain of events driven by Lennie's uncontrollable strength - the killing of a puppy, the accidental killing of Curley's wife - makes the dream impossible. George, knowing that Curley's lynch mob will torture Lennie, shoots his friend himself at the river pool where their journey began, reciting the dream one last time as he does so.

Why it matters for the exam

For Pearson Edexcel Component 1, Section C (Modern Prose), this is a closed book examination worth 40 marks (AO1 and AO4). You cannot refer to the text during the exam, so you must know the plot, characters, key quotations and Steinbeck's methods from memory. This guide provides chapter-by-chapter analysis, character studies, themes, memorisable quotations, key passages and full essay practice to help you prepare.