Inevitability is one of the major themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. The journey of two migrant laborers to fulfill their objectives is the plot of Of Mice and Men.
Lastly, the end itself was inevitable. From the beginning of the novel, to the very end, it was always leading up to that one moment. Of Mice and Men is a story about broken dreams, which eventually lead to tragedy.
The ending to Of Mice and Men is tragic yet inevitable because the dream that George and Lennie share can never be achieved. Their dream is to own their own ranch where they can “live off the fatta’ the land” and not have to answer to anyone (Steinbeck 102). However, this dream is impossible because they are constantly on the move and can never save enough money.
In addition, Lennie is not smart enough to take care of himself or remember to do things that are necessary to make the dream come true. He always gets into trouble and George has to take care of him. For example, when they are first introduced to the reader, Lennie has gotten into trouble in Weed and they have had to leave town quickly. If Lennie had not been with George, he would have probably been killed because he killed a woman’s pet mouse. This event also foreshadows the death of Curley’s wife later in the story.
The death of Curley’s wife is an important event in Of Mice and Men because it leads to the climax of the novel. Curley’s wife is never given a name and she is generally disliked by all of the men on the ranch. They think that she is a “tart” and that she is only interested in flirting with them.
However, Lennie does not understand that she is only playing with him and he is scared of her. When she comes into the barn to talk to Lennie, he thinks that she is going to hurt him. In order to protect himself, he grabs her and accidentally breaks her neck. Of Mice and Men is a story about how one event can lead to a chain reaction of events that are beyond your control.
The ending of Of Mice and Men is tragic yet inevitable because it was always leading up to that one moment. From the beginning of the novel, George tells Lennie that he will have to kill him if anything goes wrong. This is foreshadowing the events to come. When Lennie kills Curley’s wife, he knows that George will have to kill him because he does not want to get into trouble.
Of Mice and Men is a story about how one event can lead to a chain reaction of events that are beyond your control. The ending is tragic because Lennie dies even though he did not mean to hurt anyone. However, it is also inevitable because there was no other way for the story to end.
Lennie, a grown man yet dense and simple, died in the narrative. Around this period, there was anger and dread, and George (Lennie’s close friend) shared both of them. The tragic conclusion to ‘Of Mice and Men’ is unavoidable. George and Lennie’s ambition was to own a large amount of property and care for animals, especially rabbits, which Lennie preferred.
Lennie’s innocence and childlike wonder at these animals led to his downfall, and George’s too, as he had to kill Lennie to prevent any more pain and suffering.
Lennie’s character was one of the main parts of the novel that made the ending so tragic, yet inevitable. He was not able to understand his own strength, which led him to accidentally kill creatures he loved, such as mice and rabbits. This ultimately led to him killing a human being, which he did not mean to do. Even though Lennie did not understand his own strength, George still loved him and stuck by him until the end.
The ending of Of Mice and Men is truly tragic, yet it was inevitable given the events that took place throughout the novel. George had to kill his best friend in order to protect him, and Lennie died not understanding why. This ending highlights the cruelty of life, and how dreams are often unattainable.
The ranch’s old buck, known as Crooks, thinks that George and Lennie will never achieve their ambition. He states that all migrant workers have the same goal, but none of them succeed. Page 79-80 According to him, you guys are just kidding yourselves. You’ll talk about it a lot but won’t get any land.
Lennie’s childlike innocence and George’s protectiveness of him resulted in the death of Lennie. Curley’s wife was also a big problem that lead to the tragic ending. She created false hope in Lennie which then got him killed because he couldn’t control his strength. Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to hint at what is going to happen at the end of the book, making the ending less shocking but no less tragic.
The ending to Of Mice and Men is indeed tragic, but considering all that has happened throughout the story, it seems like an inevitable outcome. Crooks is right in saying that the dream of owning their own land is one that many migrant workers share, but very few are ever able to achieve.
For George and Lennie, their dream is further out of reach than most, given Lennie’s mental disability. Throughout the story, Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to hint at the tragic ending that awaits these two characters. In the end, Of Mice and Men is a tragedy not only because of the death of Lennie, but also because the dreams of so many others have been dashed.
Certainly, George and Lennie, who together kept the dream alive throughout the book. For Lennies sake, George frequently maintained the vision throughout the novel, and we had faith that it would succeed at one point. It was inevitable, however , that the ambition would never come to fruition. Many characters in “Of Mice and Men” were pessimistic about ever seeing their dream come true. George often discussed his ambition with Lennie but never truly believed in it himself.
Lennie on the other hand, always believed in the dream and wanted it to come true. This can be seen when Lennie is talking to Crooks about the farm “An’ now an’ then I wanta set in a movie show… An’ we gonna have rabbits. Go on, George! Tell how it is gonna be”.
From this we see that even though George might not of thought the dream would work out, Lennie still had hope. Curley’s wife also showed that she was never going to let the dream come true as she flirted with Lennie and caused trouble for him. If Curley’s wife never did this then maybe the dream could of worked out but her actions made it impossible.
Even though the dream was impossible from the start, it was still a heartwarming story to read about and showed that even in the darkest of places there is still hope. Of Mice and Men is a novel which will stay with readers for a long time, due to the tragedy yet beauty of the ending.
