I read “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck. The reason that I chose to read this novel is that I was familiar with this novel before.
Although, I didn’t like it at first, I soon changed my mind. I realized that humans are helpless when there is a huge change in their environment. It changes their ability to meet their basic needs. After reading it a second time, I have learned to appreciate change.
 This story is about two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, who leave their home town to California because of the Great Depression. The atmosphere of the story is sadness. Everyone feels lonely and they are physically alone too. George is not lonely because he takes care of a Lennie, physically powerful man who is mentally handicapped. Lennie tends to pet soft things. He is powerful but he can’t release his grip when he holds something, especially when he gets nervous. When George and Lennie work in a ranch, Lennie gets into trouble because he pets a girl’s clothes as hard as she interprets Lennie’s a little too hard pets as rape and screams. Lennie is chased by angry people who want to punishment him.
However, George and Lennie escape from the Weed ranch. When they arrive a safe place, George assigns a place for Lennie to go to if he has a problem. They go to another ranch and start working there.
California’s ranches owners are characterized as well-off people who exploit migrant workers. They make laws and have gun to enforce. George likes to be independent and doesn’t like to be controlled. He reveals his real connection with Lennie to Slim who is a respected character in the story and also hates to be controlled. There is a minor character called Candy who has an old dog. He is forced to agree t having his dog shot. He regrets that he allowed Carlson-- a bold man who has a gun-- to kill his dog. He should have killed his dog himself. This incident foreshows the death to come. Candy is not only left lonely after killing of his dog, he feels immensely depressed. The reason for his depression is he is getting old and useless which will make him the same candidate for being killed. This situation also helped George to be more independent.
As the migrants worry about their future, they form a coalition to buy their own land to work on. If their dreams come through, George will have his own land, Lennie will be allowed to pet rabbits, Candy won’t die because of uselessness and Crooks, another lonely migrant worker, won’t be isolated because he is a black man.
They get near to their dreams when Lennie meets Curley’s wife, the daughter in law of the Boss. She finds out that Lennie loves to pet soft things, so she allows him to touch her hair. Doing so, her hair gets messy. She screams at Lennie to stop but Lennie panics and wants to stop her from screaming. Because Lennie is very powerful he ends up broking her nick. After Lennie Kills Curley’s wife, he escapes to the place that George had assigned to him before. Curley realizes Lennie is the killer of his wife so, he orders Lennie to be killed.
George doesn’t want a allow Curley to kill his friend. So, he steals Carlson’s gun and goes to the appointed place where Lennie is waiting for him. As George gets there he encourages Lennie to talk about a future when they will meet their dreams. Lennie is in the middle of his colorful dreams when George shoots him in the back of his head so he can die peacefully without feeling of any pain. The killing takes place before Curly gets there with his gun.
Mercy killing of Lennie makes George as lonely as Candy and Curley. It tells us the affect of the Great Depression on people. Even prosperous people are affected by the Great Depression. It also tells us that love between human doesn’t always have a sexual aspect to it. The love between Gorge and Lennie compelled Gorge to kill his best friend.
The mercy killing of Lennie was the thing that I hated to accept but as time went by, I have come to understand   the constraints that the Great Depression brought to society and now I like the story for the same reason that I hated it.
       Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin Group, 1993. Print.