Of Mice and Men is a tale about the ultimate kindness - it is hard to talk about kindness without turning sentimental but John Steinbeck was the one who really could.

His ear heard more than what was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.

Simple-minded men of this cruel world live in their own dreamlands and they dream of rainbows.

3.5 ⭐
این تمِ غالب جارى در نوشته‌های جان استاین‌بک؛ یعنی زدن بی‌رحمانه‌ی سیلیِ سنگین واقعیت -در قالب پایان‌هایی تراژیک- به عالم هپروتِ شخصیت‌های بی‌نوای داستان‌هایش را همیشه دوست داشته و دارم... حس می‌کنم می‌فهممش، از جنس زندگیه.
در «موش‌ها و آدم‌ها» این‌ بار اما در فرم رمان-نمایشنامه، با همان آدم‌های بختْ گمراهِ آشنایی سروکار داریم که خوشبختی از ابتدا به آن‌ها پشت کرده بود. همان‌ها که برای زندگی بهتر به هر دری می‌زنند و هر بار زندگی از روی غیظ، دندان کین خود را محکم‌تر به هم می‌ساید.

بر آستانه تسليم سر بنه حافظ
که گر ستيزه کنی روزگار بستيزد

After long years of avoiding him, I finally managed to sum up my courage and read John Steinbeck. Now one may ask me why I had to "sum up the courage" to read Steinbeck books since they are not particularly difficult to read. It's not the writing I feared to face, but the subject matter, for I've entertained a preconceived notion that the chosen subjects for his books were depressing. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Of Mice and Men, deriving its title from the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns, tells us a tale of friendship, of shattered dreams, of loneliness, of not being belonging to any place, and of human nature. "The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry, and leave us naught but grief and pain for promised joy" said Burns in his poem. And that is what happens to Lennie and George in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie dream of having their own land to cultivate and live free from "masters" ending their drifting lives. But their beautiful dream is shattered and their friendship is tested. And in the end, nothing is left but sadness and loneliness.

While telling his story, Steinbeck also exposes different sides of human nature. George's and Lennie's relationship shows the power of friendship. Despite being mentally handicapped and because of the very reason somewhat difficult to handle, George looks after Lennie without abandoning him. This power of love and compassion is not easily understood. Most of the coworkers in the ranch, even the boss, were cynical about it, making insinuations. But people like Slim and Candy understand and sympathize. Steinbeck shows that, while some men are cold, harsh, and bullying, there are still others who are warm, sensitive, and understanding.

The masterful descriptions of the setting bring the surrounding California landscape to life. Steinbeck, while glorifying nature, contrasts it with the gloomy human condition. The foreboding aura overshadowing George and Lennie is captured beautifully and is contrasted against the surrounding beauty of nature quite brilliantly. John Steinbeck is undoubtedly a gifted writer.

The only drawback for me was that I couldn't fully feel the emotions it aroused. It was sensitive and touching, and the ending was heartbreaking. But for some queer reason, I just couldn't rise to the emotions it generated, which was unfortunate.

What more can I possibly add to a discussion of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men without drawing a high school English teacher's salary? Considering I'm not drawing bored glances from teenagers, I doubt that a check from LAUSD will appear in my mailbox anytime soon.

-- Published in 1937, this is the work that the Goodreads algorithms seem to have agreed is the author's most renowned. For Stephen King, it's The Shining, for Elmore Leonard it's Get Shorty and for John Steinbeck it's Of Mice and Men.

-- This is a novella, approximate length 34,720 words. I read it in under forty-eight hours.

-- The story revolves around two ranch hands traveling the highways and ranches of California, looking out for each other and trying to build enough of a stake to put down on their own piece of land.

Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls slung over their shoulders. The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely.



-- George Milton is the small man, the thinker. Lennie Small is the child in a hulk's body. Walking ten miles to a barley ranch south of Soledad after a bus driver with a grudge drops them off on the highway far short of their destination, Lennie is fascinated by petting mice or rabbits or anything with a nice texture. Lennie has never laid a hand on George, enamored by the tales his traveling partner tells of the land they'll settle someday. When the men finally arrive for work, George does the talking.

"He ain't no cuckoo," said George. "He's dumb as hell, but he ain't crazy. An' I ain't so bright neither, or I wouldn't be buckin' barley for my fifty and found. If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I'd have my own little place, an' I'd be bringin' in my own crops, 'stead of doin' all the work and not getting what comes up outta the ground." George fell silent. He wanted to talk. Slim neither encouraged nor discouraged him. He just sat back quiet and receptive.

-- One of the reasons John Steinbeck is my favorite author is that when he pens description, I don't want it to end, and when he switches to dialogue, I don't want his characters to stop talking either. Stephen King's dialogue can be tin, while Elmore Leonard's attentiveness when it comes to prose is short spanned to say the least, but Steinbeck's descriptions and dialogue achieve a purity that captivates me. It's like the difference between drinking water from a garden hose that's been drying in the sun with who knows what crawling inside it and one day, someone hands you a bottle of Perrier.



-- While most authors have been around people, with Steinbeck, I'm always left with the undeniable impression he watched and achieved a wisdom about people. Then he works that knowledge into his books and passes it along to the reader. I find myself able to relate to Steinbeck more than I can the majority of contemporary authors, who often seem to have never been around humans who dreamed, drank, lusted, got into fights or trouble with the law, fell out with family members or worried about where their next meal might come from.

Crooks said gently, "Maybe you can see now. You got George. You know he's goin' to come back. S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunkhouse and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody--to be near him." He whined, "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long as he's with you. I tell ya," he cried, "I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick."

-- For those joining late, I'm no English teacher, but if I encountered someone who was adamant that they didn't read fiction (I'm thinking men here) and I wanted to try to get them to change their attitude, Of Mice and Men would be the novel I'd hand them. It's short, it's about men and work and figuring out a better future and loyalty and how things don't always work out the way you dream they will. Yet the writing takes me away to another place. I couldn't last a day bucking barley or bucking a sack of anything, but as Steinbeck knows well, we all yearn to be on the open road, traveling, camping out on a river and maybe eating beans just because we felt like it.

-- Lastly, Of Mice and Men has been adapted to film twice: a 1939 production starring Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie and a 1992 film with Gary Sinise as George and John Malkovich as Lennie. Reading the novel, I heard Sinise's voice as George. As Lennie, I heard the Abominable Snowman from the 1949 Looney Toons short directed by Chuck Jones, The Abominable Snow Rabbit. References to Steinbeck's novel have been dropped by a ton of cartoon series, perhaps as much a tribute to Jones as to Steinbeck, but the homage that stands out for me are the characters of Pinky and the Brain on Animaniacs.

‎داستانی بسیار زیبا و خواندنی و البته خلاقانه از <جان استاین بک> که یادش گرامی باد
‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، داستان در موردِ دو دوستِ صمیمی به نامِ <ژرژ> و <لنی> میباشد که برایِ کار در مزرعه ای استخدام شده اند... <لنی> هیکل و اندامِ بسیار بزرگی دارد و از هوشِ کمی برخوردار است و به قولِ معروف شیرین عقل میباشد و حافظهٔ ضعیفی دارد، ولی با تمامِ این تفاسیر، قلبِ بسیار مهربانی دارد و زورِ بازویش بسیار زیاد است و از نوازش زیبایی ها و بخصوص حیوانات، لذت میبرد... ولی <ژرژ> اندامِ کوچک و قدِ کوتاهی دارد، ولی بدنش متوازن است و همیشه از <لنی> مراقبت میکند... قرار است این دو پولهایشان را جمع کنند و برای خودشان خانه و تکه زمینی خریده و برای خودشان کار و زندگی دست و پا کنند
‎با ورودِ این دو همسفر به مزرعه، اتفاقاتی برایشان رخ می دهد... پسرِ ارباب یعنی <کورلی> بسیار عقده ای است و از آنجایی که اندام کوچکی دارد، نسبت به کسانی که قد و قوارهٔ بزرگی دارند حساس است و همیشه باید به نوعی به همه گیر بدهد و البته قهرمانِ بوکسِ سبک وزن ها نیز میباشد... <کورلی> پا پیِ <لنی> بیچاره میشود... علاوه بر اینها <کورلی> زنی دارد که همیشه دوست دارد لایِ مردها و کارگرها بپلکد و بدنش را به آنها نشان دهد و البته زیر پایِ سرکارگرِ مزرعه <اسلیم> نیز نشسته است تا با او بخوابد... <اسلیم> مردِ خردمندی است که حواسش نیز به این دو دوستِ تازه وارد هم میباشد و از آنها حمایت میکند
‎دوستانِ عزیزم، بهتر است خودتان این داستانِ زیبا را بخوانید و از سرانجامِ این دو دوست و پایانِ داستان آگاه شوید
‎من در زمانِ خواندنِ این کتاب، مدام در حال دلسوزی برایِ شخصیتِ با مزه و مهربانِ این داستان، یعنی <لنی> بودم و با خودم میگفتم اگر <لنی> دوستِ من بود اجازه نمی دادم هیچ کسی آزاری به او برساند
---------------------------------------------
‎در هرحال امیدوارم از خواندنِ این داستان لذت ببرید
‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>

به طرز عجیبی دلنشین بود. روایت سریع و جذابی که تا آخرین صفحه خواننده رو درگیر میکنه به همراه یک پایان شوک کننده.

شاهکار فوق‌العاده ای از روابط انسانی و سرگذشت غم انگیز دو دوست کارگر.. نثر نمایشنامه ای و ریتم بالای این اثر بهمراه شخصیت پردازی فوق‌العاده و گیرایی روایت، خوانش اثر رو بشدت لذت بخش میکنه و درنهایت پایان تراژیک کتاب هست که جای هیچ بحثی رو باقی نمیگذاره..

I was fully not expecting to vibe with this one, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved seeing the exploration of the friendship between George and Lennie & I could've never foreseen where things would end up. I felt it's impact & loved seeing the bold choices that the author made.

'چطور میشه یه کتاب رو انقدر ساده نوشت ؟
و در عین سادگی، نویسنده بتونه با پنبه سرت رو ببره؟'

در باب جورج و لنی

شاید ماها ترکیبی از این دو شخصیت باشیم.
مثل جورج واقع بین ، رنجور ، گاها خسته از اتفاقات بد زندگی ، گاها عصبانی ، مراقب و محتاط .
و مثل لنی خیالات ببافیم . نه رویاهای محال و دست نیافتنی . همین که یه کنجی پیدا کنیم و درش ساکن بشیم . یه حیاطی داشته باشیم ، به حیوانات و محصولاتمون رسیدگی کنیم و شکممون رو سیر کنیم . زندگی ساده ای رو بگذرونیم و از پس اموراتش بر بیایم. و ایا این خواسته ی بزرگی هست؟

این دو شخصیت برای من به قدری واقعی بودن که در وجودم حسشون می کردم. عقلی که مثل جورج من رو با واقعیت دنیا رو به رو میکنه و قلبی مثل لنی که خواستار خرگوشی هست که بتونه تو مزرعه ی خودش ازش مراقبت کنه!همین قدر کوچیک و همین قدر تلخ .

شاید لنی مثل کسایی هست که آرزوی اون بهشتی که ندیده رو داره و جورج،مثل کسایی هست که میگه وقتی که بهشت رو از ما گرفتن،چطور وعده ش رو میدن!

در سکانس نهایی فیلم Alien : covenant ، فضانورد در یخچالی که بخاطر سفر طولانی ای که در انتظارش هست ، دراز میکشه تا به خواب بره . همزمان با رباتی که در سفینه هست حرف میزنه . از کلبه ای که دوستش داره . از خاطراتی که داشته و براش خوشایند بودن. ناگهان وقتی پلک هاش سنگین میشن متوجه میشه که ربات ، رباتی که فکر میکرده نیست . رباتی هست که به شدت براش میتونه خطرآفرین باشه . اما موقعی متوجه میشه که کار از کار گذشته . ربات نیشخندی میزنه و فضانورد به خواب میره.
برای من اون ربات حقیقت تلخ جهان هست . اینکه موقع خیالبافی سر میرسه و با نشون دادن حقیقت ماجرا ، یادآوری میکنه که ممکن نیست از این رنج رها بشی . و اون فضانورد برای من، نشونه ای از ما هست . آدم هایی که در طلب کاخ نیستن ، همین که کلبه ای باشه براشون کفایت میکنه . طمع چیزهای بزرگ و دست نیافتنی رو در سر نمی پرورونن، بلکه زندگی رو در جزئیات ساده میبینن.

و اما باز هم میخوام برای توصیف بیشتر به داستان دیگه ای رجوع کنم . داستان زندگی پنهان والتر میتی . شخصیت داستان کسی هست که در تخیل_حال زندگی رو سپری میکنه . به قدری در زندگیش دستاوردی نداشته که در تخیلاتش یک قهرمان از خودش میسازه . و به قدری این تخیلات قوی هستن که موقع جراحی حواسش به دنیای خیالیش میره و دوباره بر میگرده به زمان حالش ! روانشناسا حتی بعد این داستان سندرومی به اسم والتر میتی ابداع کردن. سندروم والتر میتی به افرادی تلقی میشه که در زندگی خیالی و دلخواهشون زندگی می کنن و کمتر در دنیای واقعی به سر می برن . برای من لنی دچار این سندروم بود . به قدری در دنیای خیالیش غوطه ور بود که متوجه حال نبود . گفته ها باید چند بار تکرار میشدن تا به خاطر بسپارتش و چرا؟چون در عالم خودش بود . چند نفر از ما این حالت رو تجربه کردیم ؟ به قدری اون دنیای خیالی رو شیرین متصور شدیم که از حقیقت فرار کنیم ؟ چقدر در کار غرق شدیم تا افکار آزاردهنده برای مدتی هر چند کوتاه کمتر به ذهنمون هجوم بیارن؟ چقدر بی دلیل خوابیدیم و بیدار شدیم به امید اینکه این جریانات فقط کابوس باشن و بس؟

در باب مترجم

ترجمه به شدت روان بود . سخن آخر مترجم که در انتهای کتاب بود به درک بهتر کتاب کمک می‌کرد . البته باید تشکر کنم که در مقدمه ی ابتدای کتاب ، حرف ها گنجونده نشد، چون تمام ماجرای کتاب لو میرفت .

در باب داستان

جورج و لنی کارگرای مهاجری هستن که از یه مزرعه به مزرعه دیگه عازم میشن . آرزوی داشتن خونه و مزرعه و حیوانات اهلی رو دارن .اینکه دستشون تو جیب خودشون باشه و زیر دست اربابی نباشن .
برای کار جدید به مزرعه ای میرن که با ادم های جدید آشنا میشن . ماجراهای جدید براشون پیش میاد و سرنوشت براشون چه طور رقم میخوره؟
داستان ساده ست اما گول این سادگی رو نخورید . به قدری به موضوعات مختلف در همین متن ساده اشاره شده که میتونین از دغدغه های اون دوره بطور مختصر مطلع بشین .
از این کتاب فیلمی هم دیدم به اسم of mice and men 1992 که پیشنهاد میکنم بعد خوندن کتاب ببینینش و شخصیت ها و داستان به طور دیگه ای در خاطرتون ثبت بشه .

حرف آخر

متشکرم که خوندین ❤ امیدوارم که حق مطلب رو در قبال این کتاب ادا کرده باشم.

written by a man

[12/18/2o19] - I now regret reading ahead because every time we read an adorable Lennie scene... I'm just dying inside because I know what's coming. I literally have tissues in my pencil case because I'm preparing myself for when we read the final scene in class
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[12/09/2019] -



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[12/09/2019] - I'm not required to but I'm going to go ahead and finish this tonight

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[12/06/2019] - AHHH! Lennie is so adorable!!!

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[12/04/2019] - currently reading this for english class...

so far... eh... i love Lennie

i can't wait to see where this goes

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I know that this is a reread for me, but I never had Of Mice and Men marked as read in Goodreads. I am pretty sure it was required reading in high school and I know I enjoyed it the first time around. And, as luck would have it, I enjoyed it this time as well.

I can sum it up by saying that Steinbeck can write (and that is an understatement)! I have loved every book I have read by him. The descriptions are vivid, the characters are richly developed, and stories are powerful. Of Mice and Men is no exception. In fact, if you have been wanting to try Steinbeck but find the size of Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden daunting, this is a great place to start.

Even if you have never read this book, you have probably seen many tributes/homages to its main characters George and Lenny; cartoons, movies, tv shows, etc. George is the gruff and scrappy brains of the operation while Lenny is a mentally challenged giant who does not know or understand his own strength. Their relationship is an odd one but kind of beautiful. Without it, this story would just not be the same.

Also, this book has one of the most tragic and gut-wrenching finales in literature

This is a classic that I feel everyone should read. And, I feel like Steinbeck is an author that everyone should read at least once. The writing is just too amazing to miss out on and it is so awesome how consistently amazing Steinbeck was.