Reoccurring Motif Commentary

One of man’s many flaws is not taking responsibility for his actions. Man is selfish, and does what is best for him at all times. Man will do nothing to jeopardize his pleasant “reality”. John Steinbeck criticizes this flaw, by including it in Of Mice and Men as a reoccurring motif through the characters of Lennie and George, the men of the ranch, and Curly’s wife. In Of Mice and Men, the characters escape responsibility in order to hide the unpleasant mess of reality.

George and Lennie never take responsibility for their actions; they just escape when faced with trouble. In Weed, when Lennie was accused of harassing a girl, George and Lennie didn’t stay and face the accusation, on the contrary, they ran away in search for new lives. This mentality of escaping responsibility suits their lifestyles perfectly though, for they are constantly on the go because of being migrant workers. George makes it very clear to Lennie that he should escape if ever faced with trouble: “Lennie – if you just happen to get into trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here and hide in the brush” (Steinbeck, 15). It is highly possible that George developed this way of thinking because Lennie is not capable of taking responsibility for his actions, because most of the time he doesn’t even know what he’s doing wrong. George seldom gets into trouble, so he is never tested on this matter. Throughout the entire novel, Lennie has been hiding things, hidden, or trying to be hidden. Lennie’s rough handling of animals, led to many of their deaths, which Lennie would try to cover up. Lennie does this because of fear. He is scared of George, because George has warned him time and again to be gentle with the animals. This fear is evident at the end of the novel, when Lennie hides Curly’s wife’s body because he was afraid of George’s reaction, on account of George’s previous warning. The animals that Lennie played with were not the only animals in this novel to be hurt, so was Candy’s dog.

Candy’s dog became old, stinky, and useless. But instead of growing old gracefully, he is killed. He is killed, because Candy was encouraged into getting rid of his dog by the men of the ranch: “He’s all stif with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?” (44). All the men complained of the dog’s foul odor, but instead of doing something about it and coming up with a helpful solution, they decide to kill the dog. They want to escape this “inconvenience”. These men only do what is best for themselves, they do not care what is in their path. And one of the ways in which they better their lifestyles, is to escape the things in their lives leading to inconvenience, or trouble. Candy has had the dog for a very long time, but suddenly because the dog has grown old; it is now a hassle to the men of the ranch. A dog is like a member of a family. When one of the members of your family gets sick or old, it is your responsibility as a member of that family to care for that particular member, especially if you are that member’s superior. But the men of the ranch wanted to rid themselves of the dog, so they persuaded Candy that it was better off to kill the dog. All the men of the ranch wanted, was an escape from the dog’s presence. They wanted to wash their hands clean of the old, such as Curly’s wife did with her old life.


Curly’s wife wanted to be an actress. She was promised a letter by a local agent that she never received. Her journey of fame had ended before it even begun. But instead of taking responsibility for her actions, and picking up the shattered pieces of her life, she decided to escape her current situation. She achieved this by marrying the first man who came along: “Well, I wasn’t gonna stay no place where I couldn’t go nowhere or make something of myself, an’ where they stole your letters. I ask her if she stole it, too, an’ she says no. So I married Curly. Met him out to the Riverside Dance Palace that same night” (88). The fact that she married the first man who she met clearly shows her need to escape. She was only attracted to one thing in her husband, the fact that he provided her with an escape. The accusation she threw at her mother of stealing the letter shows that she doesn’t want to take responsibility for her actions; she is just blaming other people. Curly’s wife couldn’t stand the fact that her dream wouldn’t be fulfilled. Instead of dealing with it like a mature adult, she escaped her life, and started a new one.

The characters of Of Mice and Men escape responsibility by hiding the unpleasant mess of reality. This motif, is exhibited through Lennie and George’s need to escape, Candy and the ranch men’s escape of Candy’s dog, and Curly’s wife’s escape after her failure in the acting field. Steinbeck displayed this motif through characters in order to make it more personal, and easier to relate to. Man is a coward, and will always run away from his problems.

Works Cited:
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men, London: Penguin Books, 1993.

Samar Al Ansari
Grade 10.3