Of Mice and Men

What does the title Of Mice and Men mean? Steinbeck took the title Of Mice and Men from a poem by Robert Burns that was addressed to a mouse whose nest the poet had inadvertently destroyed while plowing. The phrase suggests that mice and men, apparently so different, are similarly helpless in the face of fate. It also symbolically represents the way mankind carelessly destroys those who seemingly hold no value within society. Mice represent those who are looked upon with scorn, much as Lennie is.

John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men was published in 1937 and is considered Steinbeck’s first major achievement as an author. Steinbeck later adapted the novella into a play, and it has since seen multiple film adaptations. Steinbeck borrowed the novella’s title from Robert Burns’s poem “To a Mouse,” which contains the line “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, / Gang aft agley,” meaning “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Set over the course of three days on a ranch in Northern California’s Salinas Valley during the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men focuses on the lives of George Milton and Lennie Small, two friends and migrant workers who dream of one day owning their own piece of land. The novella explores themes of human interaction, dependence, and the damaging effects of isolation. It was inspired, in part, by Steinbeck’s own experience of working alongside migrant ranch workers during the summers of his teenage years.