One could argue that the main conflict in Steinbeck's celebrated novella Of Mice and Men is that of man versus fate, which is illustrated by George and Lennie's inability to escape their inevitable destiny. As migrant workers, George and Lennie experience difficult, arduous lives traveling throughout the country in search of manual-labor jobs. The life of a migrant worker is transient, insecure, lonely, and dangerous. In order to mentally escape their challenging situation, George and Lennie daydream about owning an estate, where they will grow food, raise rabbits, and "live off the fatta the lan'." According to George, he has already found the perfect property, and Candy offers to contribute his life savings to live alongside the two men.
Just when their dream is within reach, Lennie jeopardizes everything by accidentally killing Candy's wife. Given Lennie's history of causing trouble and the hopeless circumstances of all migrant workers, Steinbeck suggests that their dreams were never attainable and that they were destined live difficult, insecure lives. Steinbeck alludes to their fate in the title of the novella, which was taken from a Robert Burns poem. Similar to the mouse's plight in the poem, George and Lennie's "best laid schemes" go awry.
Despite their pleasant dreams, the characters in the story are destined for destruction from the beginning and cannot avoid their tragic fate. Therefore, the main conflict in the story is one of man versus fate.
There are two main conflicts in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. One conflict is an internal one: Man verses Himself; the other conflict is external: Man verses Man.
In regard to the internal conflict, George feels responsible for Lennie. He made a promise to Lennie's aunt which forces George to care for Lennie. This conflict is highlighted through Lennie's, inevitable, getting into trouble. The problems that Lennie cause force George to feel held back and unable to move on for himself. In the end, George must come to terms with what is best for Lennie.
In regard to the external conflict, Man verses Man, this is exampled in many different ways throughout the novel. 1) Lennie against Curley. 2) Lennie against George. 3) Lennie against Curley's Wife. 4) George and Lennie against Society. While examples 1-3 are basic physical conflicts, example 4 is not. Lennie and George are conflicted with society as a while because they cannot find a place where they fit in. They, like many ranchers at the time, would find work, make enough money to move on, and leave. George and Lennie wanted more; they wanted a place to call their own. Unfortunately, there is no place for them.
The main conflict in Of Mice and Men is the struggle for survival in hard times. George and Lennie have nothing in the world but some blankets and three cans of beans. Then have to get jobs at the ranch or die. But George finds it hard to get the Boss to take them on, even though they were sent here from the hiring hall in San Francisco and given bus tickets. The Boss is suspicious of Lennie because he doesn't talk and suspicious of George because he talks too much. George has to put up with a lot of verbal abuse before they get signed on.
Candy and Crooks are also struggling to survive in this heartless environment. Both of them know that their days are numbered. Others see that they have longer futures but that eventually they will end up in the same situations as Candy and Crooks. The men who are capable of working in the fields are driven to exhaustion. Currently they spend their whole days in the hot sun lifting 100-pound sacks of barley onto wagons. It can become excruciating, but still they have to keep on doing it. They work six days a week and probably for ten hours a day. When they get through loading all the existing barley, there will be no further use for them for a while, and they will be sent back on the road looking for something else to do. Meanwhile there are more and more hungry men tramping the road.
The struggle involves competition for jobs. The competition evokes hostility. The hostility leads to outright violence. The men become hard and bitter. Carlson is an example of that. Slim is relatively secure because he is a skilled worker. He can do something that nobody else can do. Young readers should learn from this book that the most important thing in life is survival, and the best way to survive is to have some kind of a marketable skill. There is an old saying:
A useful trade is a mine of gold.
Learn to do something that other people want to have done. The men who suffered the most during the Great Depression were those who were ignorant and unskilled. All they had to offer was their muscles. Muscles are even less marketable today because of the machinery that has been invented to do the hard work, including bulldozers, forklifts, and ditch-diggers. When the unskilled "working stiff" got old and/or handicapped the system had no use for him. There was little protection for such men in those days. It was every man for himself. Steinbeck is implicitly suggesting that there should be a safety net for all Americans, and it should be provided by the federal government--because who else could do it? Steinbeck was one of the many writers who influenced public opinion, which influenced legislation, which led to the protections we all enjoy now.
In his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck shows a camp established for migrant workers by the federal government. It seems like paradise in comparison to what the Joads have been living through. It even has flush toilets. When two of the children accidentally flush one of them, they are terrified because they think they have broken it. It has showers and facilities for washing clothes. Unfortunately no family can stay for more than a certain length of time. They have to move on to make way for other migrants, and there are still very few of these clean, hospitable migrant camps.
People who like Of Mice and Men should go on and read other books by Steinbeck, and especially The Grapes of Wrath.
What is the conflict of man versus self in Of Mice and Men?
The conflict of man versus self is when a character is fighting issues within himself. The most prominent example of this in Of Mice and Men is George. George is an upstanding man who made a promise to take care of Lenny. He truly loves Lenny, but keeping Lenny out of trouble is taking a toll on George. George wants to be free to live a normal life and be successful, but Lenny tends to hold him back because he is always messing things up. Throughout the book, George struggles with his conflicting feelings about Lenny. He cares about him and he wants to take care of him, but at the same time, without Lenny, George could be free to live the life he wants. When Lenny accidentally kills Curly's wife, George comes to the realization that there is no saving Lenny this time. Running away, like they have in the past, won't work. Because he loves Lenny, George kills him so that no one else can. He takes Lenny's life in a moment of peace for Lenny.
You can also see an example of man versus self within Lenny. Lenny wants to be good and do the right thing. He really tries, but ultimately, he knows he can't truly control himself. This is why he consistently looks to George for reassurance. He recognizes that what he wants and how he acts don't mesh.
What is the conflict of man versus self in Of Mice and Men?
Conflict is all over the place in the novella, Of Mice and Men. One type of conflict is the conflict within a person's own heart. To put it another way, the world of Of Mice and Men is so filled with conflict that it is also internal in a person's heart.
The most pronounced example of this is George. On the one hand, it is clear that George loves Lennie as a friend, perhaps even as a brother. Even though people dismiss Lennie as a fool, George stands by him. On the other hand, there are times when George cannot stand Lennie and berates him. Within George's heart there is tension. Should he be faithful to Lennie or just let him go his own way?
At the end of the book, Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife. When this happens, George, conflicted, decides to take Lennie's life. He struggled within, but he made his choice.
We can look at other characters to see conflict within. In particular, you can see this dynamic in Candy, the old swamper and Crooks, the lone black man on the ranch. We can also see this conflict in Curley's wife.
What are the major conflicts (man v. himself, man v. man, man v. nature, man v. society) in Of Mice and Men?
In general, there are four types of conflict in literature. Three of these conflicts are external and one is internal. There are excellent examples of two types of external conflict and an internal conflict in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The most common of the external types is probably a conflict between two people or groups of people, often labeled man vs. man. An example of this is the antagonism that arises between Curley, the boss's son, and the common laborers who work on the ranch and live in the bunkhouse. This conflict intensifies in chapter three when Curley believes that Slim is in the barn with his wife. The conflict ultimately leads to the fight between Curley and Lennie at the end of the chapter and leaves Curley with a deep resentment of Lennie.
Another type of conflict is when an individual or group are set against the norms or laws of society (man vs. society). There are three good examples of this. One involves the old swamper Candy and his dog. Society, represented by Carlson and Slim, deem the old dog unfit to keep living. Candy, who loves the dog and doesn't want to part with it, is eventually overruled by society and the dog is euthanized. Later, Candy comments that he should have shot his dog rather than having Carlson do it. Another example is the racism which is exhibited by the larger white society against the stable buck Crooks. Crooks is ostracized from the bunkhouse because he is black, and he is often not able to associate with the group of white workers who are the majority on the ranch. Curley's wife is much like Crooks in that she too is an outcast because she is a woman living on a ranch dominated by men. The society of men will generally have nothing to do with her and they usually refer to her with derogatory remarks.
The best example of internal conflict (man vs. himself) is George's feelings about his friendship with Lennie. On one hand, he loves the big man and seeks to be his caretaker and protector from a society which has little patience for people who are mentally challenged. But, on the other hand, George yearns to be free of his responsibilities. He frequently comments that life would be good without Lennie on his tail. This internal conflict comes to a head in the final chapter when George brings the gun to the clearing by the Salinas River where he has told Lennie to hide. While he definitely brought the gun to kill Lennie, there is a hesitation as George ponders the awful deed he knows he must carry out. He laments that someday the world will be different; everybody will be nice to each other and there will never be any trouble. George's conflict is only slightly mollified at the end of the book when Slim suggests that George had no choice in the killing of Lennie.
What are the major conflicts (man v. himself, man v. man, man v. nature, man v. society) in Of Mice and Men?
This is a good question. The whole book is filled with conflict. This is why the book is so tragic.
First, we have the conflict between the rich, who own land, and the day workers. The poverty of workers like Lennie and George is great. They really have nothing, whereas those with wealth are far better off, and they have power. Moreover, they use this power to exploit the laborers.
Second, even among the workers there is conflict. For example, when George and Lennie arrive at the ranch, they have to make a place for themselves. No one really accepts Lennie; they tolerate him as long as he keeps to himself. Curley is downright hostile towards Lennie. Candy is always filled with insecurity because of his age, and Crooks, as a black man, always feels alienated.
Third, there is also conflict among the sexes. Curley's wife is not even given a name. She also feels alienated from the men, as they avoid her. She is almost made to feel non-existent.
Fourth, there is also conflict within. This comes out when George has to make a decision of what to do with Lennie when he accidentally kills Curley's wife. In the end, he shoots him.
What are the major conflicts (man v. himself, man v. man, man v. nature, man v. society) in Of Mice and Men?
man v. society= neither man have the abilities or means to achieve the dreams they have in the society in which they live. man v. society=the inability of people to accept Lennie's disability man v. self=Lennie's disability and size cause him to do things he doesn't understand nor can control (the desire to pet soft things and getting carried away) man v. self=George understanding that killing Lennie himself is better than what society would doSee eNotes Ad-Free
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