Of Mice and Men Thematic Comparison: Book Versus Movie

The 1937 novel ​Of Mice and Men​ by John Steinbeck tells the tale of two workers who have a dream. The two workers by the name of George Milton and Lennie Smalls. These two men have two different personalities that do not take long to understand. They have a lifelong friendship together and are on the road to making their dream true. The central theme of ​Of Mice and Men​ are that friendship can give life meaning. Both the movie and the book represent the theme through the addition and subtraction of scene’s, the relationship of characters, and music throughout the scene’s.

Throughout the movie and book, there are scene’s that are not being shown in either the book or movie. According to the movie in the train scene, Lennie asks where they were heading and George who takes care of Lennie, tells him to get some sleep. Lennie leans on George for help and George gives it to him. This scene is not given in the book which tells us this scene is important to understand the relationship between the two. The scene is trying to show that Lennie needs George and this scene is added to portray how tight of a bond these two have together. The book, however, has a scene that shows how George has trust in Lennie. The book states “He got his hand’ caught in a machine” (Steinbeck, 78). This section in the book is not included in the movie, which tells us the importance of this scene. This section portrays how Lennie is close to George and George has trust in Lennie. Both of these scenes are not included in either the book or movie; however, both examples show the friendship between them and this contributes to the theme by giving each other meaning in life.

As the book and the movie both progress, there are scene’s where the relationship of characters shows how life is meaningful with friendship. According to the movie scene where Lennie is executed, the actor of George portrays a terrible, depressed, and awful reaction to what event has just occurred. The actor stares at Lennie and shows a dreadful and more depressing type of mood as he is devastated for what had to be done. This shows the audience the importance of Lennie as a person to George. Even though Lennie was a bit different, he still meant something to George and they had some good times together that George will never forget. The book represents their relationship by stating “Who hurt George?” he demanded (Steinbeck, 70). This represents how much George means to Lennie. When crooks suppose George getting hurt, Lennie is defensive and protective showing Lennie loves George and will always remember who George is and what he has done for him. Both examples show how a relationship can give life meaning even though they are in different sections and different examples of the storyline. The relationship shows how each person is affected and given a more meaning to life.

Throughout the movie, there is different music that is played to show the effect of a scene. In the movie scene where George kills Lennie, a slow, dark, and depressing song is played in the background of the scene. This shows the relationship between these two because the gloomy music portrays how terrible it is for George even though what was done had to be done no matter how good of friends they were. In the book, music cannot be shown to the reader; however, the author does a wonderful job portraying the same feeling. The book states “George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it from him, back up on the bank, near the pile of old ashes” (Steinbeck, 104). This implies that without music, George is still shocked and miserable for what he has done. This is shown from a slight pause of him looking at the gun. Only the movie shows the relationship through music; however, this theme is still developing through the storyline of the book. The theme is developed because music shows how each character’s life was affected by the other and how each life was made more meaningful.

In conclusion, these examples show many ways how friendship help makes life meaningful by adding and deleting scene’s, the relationship of character’s, and music throughout the scene’s. The adding and deleting of scene’s shows the importance of each scene and what they mean to each character’s life. The relationship between some character gives an example of titebond friends whose lives were affected from each other. The music in the movie shows how important the character’s are to each other and explain a scene’s importance of effecting the characters life. In the end, both the book and movie are well designed to work together and show the audience the theme of friendship and how it helps make life meaningful.

Works Cited

1. Sinise, Gary, director. Of Mice and Men. MGM Studios, 1992.
2. Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. Oxford University Press, 2017.