WARNING!!! This article contains spoilers!

John Steinbeck, often referred to just by his last name, is a famous author from the 1900’s. He’s written plenty of books, a few that you might’ve read in school too. One of his most well-known books is Of Mice and Men. It’s pretty controversial, but it’s also really old. Of Mice and Men is another book that’s been banned in schools. Though, it can also be a required book depending on the school. After you read it, it’ll pretty much stick with you.

                Of Mice and Men was originally published in 1937, shortly after the depression era. The book itself takes place in the depression era. It follows the story of two migrant ranch workers who move around a lot. Their names are George and Lennie, they’re cousins. Lennie is where a big part of the controversy comes in. Lennie has a mental disability, which isn’t named, where he can’t remember anything and he’s a bit wild without realizing it. Lennie is also extremely strong and can’t control his strength either, this causes a lot of problems, such as him killing things because he’s too rough with them. George’s job is really to look after Lennie. George is pretty strict with Lennie and isn’t very fond of him. Though, George still cares about him. The two protagonists switch to a new ranch because of an incident Lennie caused. The work is fine for them, and the lifting is easy for Lennie.

Lennie is problematic, as previously mentioned, he’s extremely strong and kills things on accident. Problems arise for Lennie when he first kills a puppy he received from another ranch worker, Slim. He ends up being too rough with it without realizing it. He hides its body in the barn, where the wife of another worker, Curley, tries to talk to him. Curley’s wife tells Lennie about her issues and about her crushed dreams. She learns of Lennie’s habit of petting soft things, and asks him if he wants to per her hair. Though, his strength ends up scaring her and she starts screaming. Lennie then violently shakes her to get her to stop, and ends up snapping her neck and killing her. Shortly after this comes the end of this depressing book. Lennie and George meet in the place where they were in the beginning of the book. George distracts Lennie and shoots him in the head, killing him. George killed him to save him from a worse death by Curley. That’s pretty much where the book ends. George is alone now.

Of Mice and Men is a really sad book, but that should be expected. It does take place during the Great Depression after all. I will say, I didn’t like the ending, most people don’t. Though, it’s still a relatively good book. If I had to rate it, I’d probably rate it a solid 7.5/10. I do recommend this book, though most people read it at some point in their life because it can required by schools.