how would you describe the mood of the book "of mice and men"?

Answer 1

depressing, lacking hope, full of people with unfulfilled wishes who are struggling just to make ends meet in a horrilbly poor era in America.

Answer 2

G'day Iris,

Thank you for your question.

Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck, first published in 1937, which tells the tragic story of George and Lennie, two displaced Anglo migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The story is set on a farm a few miles from Soledad (Soledad is Spanish for Solitude) in the Salinas Valley.

The title of the story refers to a line in the Scots poem To a Mouse by the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns: "The best-laid schemes o mice an men, Gang aft agley" (Eng: "Often go awry"). Theoretically, the mouse is Lennie who is lost in the big world in which he has to find a way to survive. The man refers to George who takes the mouse in and shows it the way. Like a real mouse Lennie gets in trouble being in places he shouldn’t be, and doing things he shouldn’t be doing. George is there to be the disciplinarian to the mouse (Lennie) so that he doesn’t get into such mischief.

Another interpretation could be taken from the inspiration Burns drew for the poem. Burns was plowing in a field when he found the plow had destroyed a mouse in its nest burrowed into the field. The incident—the destruction of this mouse and its home when it surely seemed to the mouse that its life had been carefully laid out—caused him to reflect on the ability for the most carefully-planned ambitions and hopes of the mouse—and man, in the larger sense—to go awry with a simple change of fate. The events in the novel tamper with the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of Lennie and George set out from the beginning, and become the vessel through which Steinbeck illustrates the book's themes of the plight of mankind and his dreams.

I have attached some sources for your reference.

Regards

Answer 3

I'd describe it as emotional kinda sad, heroic, sweet story. A little scary when Candy's dog dies a horrific death. Heroic when in the end George kills Lennie because he understands that it's not fair to Lennie. Always getting into trouble and what not. So he shoots Lennie by the river bend.

Answer 4

While it has, as others have stated, an overal depressing mood, there is also an element of hope. The two characters have their dreams, which keep them sane. Unfortunately, these hopes and dreams ultimately fail them.

Answer 5

Hopeful, even through all of the tragedy people dream and plan for a better tomorrow. Steinbeck believed in Humanity, the indominitable will to survive and compassion for your fellow man.

Answer 6

"Of Mice and adult males" is a very solid e book which you could not be cheating your self out of reading. You look very lazy to me, and that i'm no longer likely to do your homework for you. solid luck and can God bless you.

Answer 7

Glum, melancholy, tragic and sad.

If you are even borderline depressed you should stay away from Steinbeck, Faulkner, and Hemmingway. These guys can push you right over the edge.

Answer 8

Definitely lonely, depressing, needy...stress the loneliness though because that is a major theme of the book.

Answer 9

Depressing, lonely and sad

Answer 10

Very depressing and lonely